Awaydays 2009

In 1979, a spirited, starry-eyed teenager named Paul Carty [Nicky Bell] stands at his mother’s graveside with his sister Molly [Holliday Grainger] and their father, trying to make sense of a world that feels out of reach. After Molly guides their dad away, Paul checks his watch, sheds his normal clothes, and hops aboard a special football train that will pull him toward a dangerous new family. On the train, he encounters John Godden [Stephen Graham], the hard-edged leader of a football firm who makes it clear there’s no room for beginners or dreamers—only those who can prove they belong. The journey quickly leads him to Elvis [Liam Boyle], a charismatic but volatile presence who embodies the thrill and risk Paul craves. Paul’s fascination with The Pack runs deep; he watches their brawls at Tranmere and imitates their rough swagger, even as Baby Millan [Oliver Lee] ridicules him and Elvis slides him a wary invitation.

Their bond grows through a shared longing to escape Birkenhead and its gray mornings; Paul and Elvis discover they share taste in music and a desire to flee to Berlin. Yet Elvis remains cautious, calling The Pack a “gang of pricks” and insisting Paul isn’t ready to join. A moment of proof follows when Paul headbutts a rude shop clerk to showcase his fighting spirit, and Elvis relents, telling him to meet on the train at twelve on Saturday. The thrill of initiation intensifies as the firm stages a clash with a rival crew, and Paul, swept up in the adrenaline, begins to feel like he finally belongs. He returns home with a dangerous glow, only to realize that his sister already knows how consumed he has become by this new allegiance.

The next stretch of the story shifts toward a fragile balance between loyalty and longing. Paul promises to take Molly shopping for her birthday in Chester, but a row with Elvis pulls him away, and the day slips by as he heads to another night out, chasing the Pack’s next big moment. A trip to Wrexham with the firm turns into a showcase of bravado and brinkmanship, and Paul’s courage is rewarded with acceptance as the leader’s newest top man. The Pack’s HQ, The Pelican, becomes a stage for power, sex, and the uneasy chemistry of a crew that’s always on the edge. In a uneasy initiation that goes south, Godden warns Baby Millan against supplying heroin to the members, hinting at a corrosive turn the group might take—an exchange that reveals how fragile their camaraderie really is. The night ends with Paul and a girl in tow, but the environment feels hollow, and a jeer from the pack—“twat out of himself”—lands with a sting.

A new chapter unfolds when Paul and Elvis follow two women, Sonia [Rebecca Atkinson] and Jackie, back to Elvis’s bohemian-flat haven, a space dotted with stars on the walls and a noose that reminds him of death itself—a chilling symbol of the path they’re treading. Elvis’s habit of heroin use grows louder and more dangerous, and Paul’s avoidance of that fate strains their friendship. A romantic interlude with Sonia is interrupted by Molly’s distress; Sonia’s presence becomes a counterpoint to Paul’s bond with Elvis, and a confrontation on a distant promenade leaves Paul questioning what he owes to the people who have welcomed him into their world. When Molly is attacked by a gang, Paul and Elvis rally The Pack to defend her, and the aftermath is raw and emotional: Elvis sits crying by the water, and Paul feels a debt he cannot easily repay. In a tense moment, Elvis confesses during a funeral, asking Paul to come away with him to Berlin; Paul declines, torn between family and the pull of the old life. Elvis’s voice, both haunting and comforting, lingers: > He always loved you, Carty.

At Godden’s funeral, the weight of loss sits heavy as Elvis steps into a confession booth for a strange, drug-fueled moment, signaling that the path they chose may be leading them toward a cliff. He asks for one more away day, and the promise hangs in the air like smoke. The final away day arrives with unsettling silence: Paul waits on a station platform, expecting Elvis to join him, but Elvis is absent. When the train finally rolls by, Elvis is seen perched on a bridge above the tracks, surrounded by smoke, and then he’s gone—an ominous hint of suicide that leaves Paul adrift in a world without the one person who made the danger feel like belonging. The Pack remains a changing cipher, and on a last, brutal encounter with Baby Millan [Oliver Lee], Paul is cut with a knife and told he’s a “ponce.” The condemnation stings, but it also frees him. In a final, hard-won decision, he turns away from The Pack and walks into an uncertain future, whispering to himself, “How long had I waited for this day? Out of here. Out of this.”

• Paul Carty [Nicky Bell] emerges as a boy on the edge, drawn to someone larger than life and to a community that thrives on risk.

• Molly [Holliday Grainger] anchors the emotional heart of the story, offering warmth and loyalty when the world grows brutal.

• John Godden [Stephen Graham] embodies the pull and peril of leadership within a violent subculture.

• Elvis [Liam Boyle] is the volatile spark that can lift a boy toward dreams or drive him into ruin.

• Baby Millan [Oliver Lee] is the volatile counterpoint to loyalty, wielding power and menace in equal measure.

• Natasha [Sacha Parkinson] appears as a touchstone of tenderness and danger tied to Paul’s evolving life.

• Sonia [Rebecca Atkinson] crosses paths with Paul in a way that adds complexity to his loyalties.

• Uncle Bob [Ian Puleston-Davies] stands as the family member caught between work, crime, and kin.

• Janie [Dannielle Malone] enters the narrative as a sister’s companion in a world that rarely stays still.

• Mr. Carty [Ged McKenna] and Eddie [David Barlow] anchor the broader slice of life outside the Pack’s inner circle, reminding Paul of the world beyond their reach.