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= = Lyrics and structure = =
The first and most commonly repeated verse is :
Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water .
Jack fell down and broke his crown ,
And Jill came tumbling after .
Many verses have been added to the rhyme , including a version with a total of 15 stanzas in a chapbook of the 19th century . The second verse , probably added as part of these extensions has become a standard part of the nursery rhyme . Early versions took the form :
Up Jack got , and home did trot ,
As fast as he could caper ;
To old Dame Dob , who patched his nob
With vinegar and brown paper .
By the early 20th century this had been modified in some collections , such as L. E. Walter 's , Mother Goose 's Nursery Rhymes ( London , 1919 ) to :
Up Jack got and home did trot ,
As fast as he could caper ;
And went to bed and bound his head
With vinegar and brown paper .
A third verse , sometimes added to the rhyme , was first recorded in a 19th @-@ century chapbook and took the form :
Then Jill came in , and she did grin ,
To see Jack 's paper plaster ;
Her mother <unk> her , across her knee ,
For laughing at Jack 's disaster .
Twentieth @-@ century versions of this verse include :
When Jill came in how she did grin
To see Jack 's paper plaster ;
Mother vexed did whip her next
For causing Jack 's disaster .
The rhyme is made up of quatrains , with a rhyming scheme of <unk> ( with occasional internal rhymes ) , using falling rhymes ( where the rhyming sound is on a relatively unstressed syllable : de @-@ emphasising the rhyme ) and a trochaic rhythm ( with the stress falling on the first of a pair of syllables ) , known as a ballad form , which is common in nursery rhymes . The melody commonly associated with the rhyme was first recorded by the composer and nursery rhyme collector James William Elliott in his National Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Songs ( 1870 ) . The Roud Folk Song Index , which catalogues folk songs and their variations by number , classifies the song as <unk> .
= = Meaning and origins = =
The rhyme has traditionally been seen as a nonsense verse , particularly as the couple go up a hill to find water , which is often thought to be found at the bottom of hills . Vinegar and brown paper were a home cure used as a method to draw out bruises on the body . The phrase " Jack and Jill " , indicating a boy and a girl , was in use in England as early as the 16th century . A comedy was performed at the Elizabethan court in 1567 @-@ 8 with the title Jack and Jill and the phrase was used twice by Shakespeare : in A Midsummer Night 's Dream , which contains the line : " Jack shall have Jill ; <unk> shall go ill " ( III : ii : 460 @-@ 2 ) and in Love 's Labour 's Lost , which has the lines : " Our wooing doth not end like an old play ; Jack hath not Jill " ( V : ii : 874 – 5 ) , suggesting that it was a phrase that indicated a romantically attached couple , as in the proverb " A good Jack makes a good Jill " .
Jack is the most common name used in English language nursery rhymes and by the 18th century represented an archetypal Everyman hero , while by the end of the Middle Ages Jill or Gill had come to mean a young girl or a sweetheart . However , the woodcut that accompanied the first recorded version of the rhyme showed two boys ( not a boy and a girl ) , and used the spelling Gill not Jill . This earliest printed version comes from a reprint of John Newbery 's Mother Goose 's Melody , thought to have been first published in London around 1765 . The rhyming of " water " with " after " , was taken by Iona and Peter Opie to suggest that the first verse may date from the first half of the 17th century .
= = Interpretation = =
While the true origins of the rhyme are unknown there are several theories . As is common with nursery rhyme exegesis , complicated metaphors are often said to exist within the lyrics of Jack and Jill . Most explanations post @-@ date the first publication of the rhyme and have no corroborating evidence . These include the suggestion by S. Baring @-@ Gould in the 19th century that the events were a version of the story told in the 13th @-@ century Prose Edda Gylfaginning written by Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson , who stated that in Norse mythology , Hjúki and Bil , brother and sister ( respectively ) , were taken up from the earth by the moon ( personified as the god Máni ) as they were fetching water from the well called <unk> , bearing on their shoulders the cask called <unk> and the pole called <unk> . Around 1835 John Bellenden Ker suggested that Jack and Jill were two priests , and this was enlarged by Katherine Elwes in 1930 to indicate that Jack represented Cardinal Wolsey ( <unk> – 1530 ) ; and Jill was Bishop Tarbes , who negotiated the marriage of Mary Tudor to the French king in 1514 .
It has also been suggested that the rhyme records the attempt by King Charles I to reform the taxes on liquid measures . He was blocked by Parliament , so subsequently ordered that the volume of a Jack ( 1 / 2 pint ) be reduced , but the tax remained the same . This meant that he still received more tax , despite Parliament 's veto . Hence " Jack fell down and broke his crown " ( many pint glasses in the UK still have a line marking the 1 / 2 pint level with a crown above it ) " and Jill came tumbling after " . The reference to " Jill " ( actually a " gill " , or 1 / 4 pint ) is said to reflect that the gill dropped in volume as a consequence .
The suggestion has also been made that Jack and Jill represent Louis XVI of France , who was deposed and beheaded in 1793 ( lost his crown ) , and his Queen , Marie Antoinette ( who came tumbling after ) , a theory made difficult by the fact that the earliest printing of the rhyme pre @-@ dates those events . There is also a local belief that the rhyme records events in the village of Kilmersdon in Somerset in 1697 . When a local spinster became pregnant , the putative father is said to have died from a rock fall and the woman died in childbirth soon after .
= Florida State Road 878 =
State Road 878 ( SR 878 ) , named the Snapper Creek Expressway or the Snapper Creek Tollway for its entire length , is a 2 @.@ 7 @-@ mile @-@ long ( 4 @.@ 3 km ) east – west electronic toll road south of Miami , Florida . The expressway is named for the nearby Snapper Creek which runs parallel to SR 878 . It acts as a spur route of the Don Shula Expressway ( SR 874 ) , providing access to U.S. Route 1 ( US 1 ) near South Miami and local access to the eastern Kendall area while bypassing the <unk> district . The road is maintained and tolled by the Miami @-@ Dade Expressway Authority ( MDX ) .
= = Route description = =
SR 878 's western terminus is integrated into the Don Shula Expressway 's interchange with Kendall Drive ( SR 94 ) across the boundary of the Kendall and Sunset districts . Motorists entering the Don Shula Expressway northbound from Kendall Drive are given the option of continuing onto SR 874 via a flyover , or else merging into the traffic leaving SR 874 for the Snapper Creek Expressway , which then heads under the Kendall Drive – Don Shula Expressway flyover . The westbound lanes of SR 878 , however , pass over SR 874 's mainline , and are then given an exclusive carriageway beside the southbound lanes for 0 @.@ 46 miles ( 0 @.@ 74 km ) , before merging into SR 874 just north of the Kendall Drive overpass . Southbound motorists from the Don Shula Expressway wishing to exit to Kendall Drive merge into this carriageway before leaving for SR 94 with those vehicles originating from the Snapper Creek Expressway . There is no direct connection for southbound motorists on SR 874 to head east on SR 878 ; likewise , westbound motorists on SR 878 cannot head north along SR 874 directly .
From here , SR 878 heads predominantly eastwards as a four @-@ lane @-@ wide expressway through residential neighborhoods for the remainder of its length , generally lying 0 @.@ 5 miles ( 0 @.@ 80 km ) north of Kendall Drive . After approximately 0 @.@ 4 miles ( 0 @.@ 64 km ) , the Snapper Creek Expressway passes through the 87th Avenue toll gantry . It then meets Galloway Road ( SR 973 ) shortly afterwards with a diamond interchange . The expressway then enters Glenvar Heights once it crosses SR 973 and remains in that district for the rest of its duration . Just before passing over the Palmetto Expressway ( SR 826 ) without an interchange ( approximately 1 mile ( 1 @.@ 6 km ) east of Galloway Road ) , SR 878 meets its second and final toll gantry .
About 0 @.@ 3 miles ( 0 @.@ 48 km ) east of the Palmetto Expressway , SR 878 has a partial diamond interchange with Southwest 72nd Avenue , which only allows westbound entry to and eastbound exit from the Snapper Creek Expressway . Immediately afterwards , SR 878 turns to the southeast and prepares to meet its eastern terminus at the South Dixie Highway ( US 1 ) at a surface intersection 0 @.@ 6 miles ( 0 @.@ 97 km ) later , passing under the Metrorail line and associated <unk> just before doing so . Traffic heading south along US 1 from eastbound SR 878 moves into a slip lane , while that wishing to head north along US 1 enters it at an oblique angle , aided by traffic signals . The only access onto SR 878 westbound from US 1 is for southbound traffic ; motorists heading north along US 1 are guided to SR 878 by signage along Southwest 67th Avenue and Southwest 80th Street .
= = Tolls = =
SR 878 's tolls are entirely electronic : cash cannot be accepted along its length . Payment is done either via SunPass transponders or via toll @-@ by @-@ plate billing , the latter of which attracts a higher cost . Two toll gantries are located along the Snapper Creek Expressway , the first between the Don Shula Expressway and Galloway Road , and the second between Galloway Road and Southwest 72nd Avenue . The relationship between the tolling points and interchanges along SR 878 and SR 874 is that all motorists are charged at least one toll for using the road ; there are no " free sections " . As of July 1 , 2013 , the cost for a two @-@ axle vehicle to travel the entire length of the Snapper Creek Expressway is $ 0 @.@ 50 with a SunPass transponder , or $ 1 @.@ 00 via the toll @-@ by @-@ plate program . Each additional axle on a vehicle attracts an extra $ 0 @.@ 25 via SunPass or $ 0 @.@ 50 via toll @-@ by @-@ plate for each toll gantry passed .
= = History = =
Planning by Dade County for a road named the " Snapper Creek Expressway " was underway as early as 1958 , with a final completion date set as late as 1975 . Funding for SR 878 's construction was made available in 1971 by the Florida Department of Transportation as part of plans to construct the Snapper Creek Expressway along with the South Dade Expressway ( now known as the Don Shula Expressway ) and the West Dade Expressway ( now known as the Homestead Extension of Florida 's Turnpike ) , with an expected completion date of early 1973 . Construction was halted in 1974 due to money issued from county bonds for expressway building running out , and the road was left partially completed ; however , $ 8 million in federal emergency funds was directed to completing the expressway in late 1977 . The Snapper Creek Expressway , designated SR 878 , finally opened in early 1980 , with the Southwest 72nd Avenue interchange opening a few weeks later .
No tolls were collected along SR 878 , in line with the road 's original plans , until MDX 's initial roll @-@ out of open road tolling from late 2009 to mid @-@ 2010 on its road network . Tolling along the Snapper Creek Expressway began on July 17 , 2010 . The move to toll the Snapper Creek Expressway angered local residents , but was tempered by MDX 's move to investigate toll rebates . Initially , tolls were $ 0 @.@ 25 for SunPass users , with a $ 0 @.@ 15 surcharge for motorists using the toll @-@ by @-@ plate system . The toll @-@ by @-@ plate rate increased by ten cents on July 1 , 2013 , to $ 0 @.@ 50 per toll gantry passed , while the SunPass rate was unaffected .
= = Exit list = =
The entire route is in Miami @-@ Dade County . All exits are unnumbered .
= James Nesbitt =
William James Nesbitt , OBE ( born 15 January 1965 ) is an actor and presenter from Northern Ireland . Born in Ballymena , County Antrim , Nesbitt grew up in the nearby village of <unk> , before moving to Coleraine , County Londonderry . He wanted to become a teacher like his father , so he began a degree in French at the University of Ulster . He dropped out after a year when he decided to become an actor , and transferred to the Central School of Speech and Drama in London . After graduating in 1987 , he spent seven years performing in plays that varied from the musical Up on the Roof ( 1987 , 1989 ) to the political drama Paddywack ( 1994 ) . He made his feature film debut playing talent agent Fintan O 'Donnell in Hear My Song ( 1991 ) .
Nesbitt got his breakthrough television role playing Adam Williams in the romantic comedy @-@ drama Cold Feet ( 1998 – 2003 ) , which won him a British Comedy Award , a Television and Radio Industries Club Award , and a National Television Award . His first significant film role came when he appeared as pig farmer " Pig " Finn in Waking Ned ( 1998 ) . With the rest of the starring cast , Nesbitt was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award . In Lucky Break ( 2001 ) , he made his debut as a film lead , playing prisoner Jimmy Hands . The next year , he played Ivan Cooper in the television film Bloody Sunday , about the 1972 shootings in Derry . A departure from his previous " cheeky <unk> " roles , the film was a turning point in his career . He won a British Independent Film Award and was nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor .
Nesbitt has also starred in Murphy 's Law ( 2001 – 2007 ) as undercover detective Tommy Murphy , in a role that was created for him by writer Colin Bateman . The role twice gained Nesbitt Best Actor nominations at the Irish Film & Television Awards ( IFTA ) . In 2007 , he starred in the dual role of Tom Jackman and Mr Hyde in Steven Moffat 's Jekyll , which earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination in 2008 . Nesbitt has since appeared in several more dramatic roles ; he starred alongside Liam Neeson in Five Minutes of Heaven ( 2009 ) , and was one of three lead actors in the television miniseries Occupation ( 2009 ) . He also starred in the movies Outcast ( 2010 ) and The Way ( 2010 ) . He portrayed Bofur in Peter Jackson 's three @-@ part film adaptation of The Hobbit ( 2012 @-@ 2014 ) .
Nesbitt is married to former actress Sonia Forbes @-@ Adam , with whom he has two daughters . He is an advocate of numerous charities , and in 2010 he accepted the ceremonial position of Chancellor of the University of Ulster .
= = Early life and education = =
James Nesbitt was born on 15 January 1965 in Ballymena , County Antrim , Northern Ireland . His father , James " Jim " Nesbitt , was the headmaster of the primary school in <unk> , a hamlet near <unk> , while his mother , May Nesbitt , was a civil servant . Jim and May already had three daughters — Margaret , Kathryn and Andrea . The family lived in the house adjoining the one @-@ room school where Nesbitt was one of 32 pupils taught by Jim ; the other pupils were all farmers ' children . Nesbitt grew up " completely " around women , and spent a lot of time alone , " kicking a ball against a wall " . He had ambitions to play football for Manchester United , or to become a teacher like his father . The family was Protestant , and <unk> was in " Paisley country " . The <unk> spent Sunday evenings singing hymns around the piano . Jim marched in the Ballymena Young Conquerors flute band and Nesbitt joined him playing the flute . After the <unk> conflicts , they stopped marching with the band . The family 's residence in the countryside left them largely unaffected by The Troubles , although Nesbitt , his father , and one of his sisters narrowly escaped a car bomb explosion outside Ballymena County Hall in the early 1970s .
When Nesbitt was 11 years old , the family moved to Coleraine , County Londonderry , where May worked for the Housing Executive . He completed his primary education at <unk> primary school , then moved on to Coleraine Academical Institution ( CAI ) . In 1978 , when he was 13 , his parents took him to audition for the Riverside Theatre 's Christmas production of Oliver ! . Nesbitt sang " Bohemian Rhapsody " at the audition and won the part of the Artful Dodger , who he played in his acting debut . He continued to act and sing with the Riverside until he was 16 , and appeared at festivals and as an extra in Play For Today : The Cry ( Christopher Menaul , 1984 ) . He got his Equity card when the professional actor playing Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio broke his ankle two days before the performance , and Nesbitt stepped in to take his place . Acting had not initially appealed to him , but he " felt a light go on " after he saw The Winslow Boy ( Anthony Asquith , 1948 ) . When he was 15 , he got his first paid job as a bingo caller at Barry 's Amusements in Portrush . He was paid £ 1 per hour for the summer job and would also , on occasions , work as the brake man on the big dipper .
He left CAI at the age of 18 and began a degree in French at the University of Ulster , ( formally Ulster Polytechnic ) in <unk> . He stayed at university for a year before dropping out . In a 1999 interview , Nesbitt said , " I had the necessary in my head , but I just couldn 't be bothered . Being 18 is the worst age to expect people to learn things . There are other things to be bothered with , like girls and football . " He made the decision to quit when he was trying to write an overdue essay on existentialism in Les Mains Sales at 4 am one day . His father suggested that he should move to England if he wanted to continue acting , so Nesbitt enrolled at the Central School of Speech and Drama ( CSSD ) , part of University of London . Nesbitt felt lost and misrepresented when he first arrived in London , on account of his Northern Irish background ; " When I first came to drama school I was a Paddy the minute I walked in . And I remember going to drama school and them all saying to me , ' <unk> , yeah , Brits out ' , and I was like ' It 's a wee bit more complicated than that , you know . ' " He graduated in 1987 , at the age of 22 .
= = Acting career = =
= = = Theatre and Hear My Song = = =
The day after leaving CSSD in 1987 , Nesbitt got a bit part in Virtuoso , a BBC Two Screen Two television play about the life of John Ogdon . He worked for two days on the play , earning £ 250 per day . His first professional stage appearance came in the same year , when he played Keith in Up on the Roof . The musical ran at the Theatre Royal , Plymouth , before transferring to the London West End . Nesbitt reprised the role when the production returned to Plymouth in early 1989 . Roger Malone in The Stage and Television Today wrote that Nesbitt " steals the show with the best lines and best delivery as he laconically squares up to life with an easy contentment " . Nesbitt appeared in two other plays in 1989 ; in June , he played Dukes Frederick and Senior in Paul Jepson 's As You Like It at the Rose Theatre Club , and then appeared in Yuri Lyubimov 's version of Hamlet . Hamlet had been translated back to English from Boris Pasternak 's Russian translation . It ran at the Haymarket Theatre , Leicester for a month before a transfer to the Old Vic and then a nine @-@ month world tour . Nesbitt played Guildenstern , Barnardo and the second gravedigger . He recalled that the play received " shocking " reviews , but was exciting .
In the early 1990s , he lived with fellow actor Jerome Flynn and earned money by signing fan mail for the successful star of Soldier Soldier . In his debut feature film , Hear My Song ( Peter Chelsom , 1991 ) , Nesbitt played Fintan O 'Donnell , a struggling theatrical agent and friend of Mickey O 'Neill ( Adrian Dunbar ) . A New York Times critic wrote , " the jaunty , bemused Mr. Nesbitt , manages to combine soulfulness with sly humor " . The praise he received made him self @-@ assured and complacent ; in 2001 , he recalled , " When I did Hear My Song , I disappeared so far up my own arse afterwards . I thought , ' Oh , that 's it , I 've cracked it . ' And I 'm glad that happened , because you then find out how expendable actors are . " His attitude left him out of work for six months after the film was released . Until 1994 , he mixed his stage roles with supporting roles on television in episodes of Boon , The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles , Covington Cross , Lovejoy , and Between the Lines . In 1993 , he appeared in Love Lies Bleeding , an instalment of the BBC anthology series Screenplay and his first appearance in a production directed by Michael Winterbottom ; he later appeared in Go Now ( 1995 ) , Jude ( 1996 ) and Welcome to Sarajevo ( 1997 ) . A Guardian journalist wrote that " he showed himself to be a generous supporting actor " in Jude and Sarajevo .
Back on stage , he appeared as <unk> in Translations ( Gwenda Hughes , Birmingham Repertory Theatre , 1991 ) , Aidan in Una <unk> ( Mark Lambert and Nicholas Kent , Tricycle Theatre , 1992 ) , Damien in Paddywack ( Michael Latimer ) , Cockpit Theatre , 1994 ) , and Jesus in Darwin 's Flood ( Simon Stokes , Bush Theatre , 1994 ) . Paddywack , in which Nesbitt 's character is suspected by others of being an IRA member , transferred to the United States for a run at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven , Connecticut in October 1994 . A Variety critic called Damien " the play 's only fully developed character " and commended Nesbitt for giving " the one strong , telling performance [ of the cast ] " . In 1996 , Nesbitt appeared in an episode of the BBC Northern Ireland television drama Ballykissangel , playing Leo McGarvey , the ex @-@ boyfriend of <unk> Fitzgerald ( <unk> Kirwan ) and love rival of Peter Clifford ( Stephen Tompkinson ) . He reprised the role for four episodes in 1998 .
= = = Cold Feet and early films = = =
In 1996 , Nesbitt auditioned to play Adam Williams , the male lead in Cold Feet , an ITV Comedy Premiere about three couples in different stages of their romantic relationships . The audition came about through a mutual friend of Nesbitt 's and the director , Declan Lowney . The producer , Christine Langan , had also recalled his performances in Hear My Song and Go Now . Adam had not been written with an Irishman in mind to play him — English writer Mike Bullen had written the character as a thinly veiled portrayal of himself in his youth — but Nesbitt wanted to take the opportunity to appear in a contemporary drama as an ordinary man from Northern Ireland with no connection to the Troubles , especially after the Troubles @-@ based plot of Love Lies Bleeding . Cold Feet was a critical success ; it won the 1997 Golden Rose of Montreux and the 1997 British Comedy Award for Best ITV Comedy and was thus commissioned for a full series . Cold Feet 's first series aired at the end of 1998 and was followed by the second series in 1999 . A storyline in that series featured Adam being diagnosed with testicular cancer , which inspired Nesbitt to become a patron of the charity Action Cancer . By the time of the third series , Nesbitt and the other cast members were able to influence the show 's production ; an episode featuring Adam 's stag weekend was due to be filmed on location in Dublin but Nesbitt suggested it be filmed in Belfast and Portrush instead . Several scenes were filmed at his old workplace Barry 's Amusements , although they were cut from the broadcast episode . At the end of the fourth series in 2001 , Nesbitt decided to quit to move on to other projects . Executive producer Andy Harries persuaded him to stay for one more series by suggesting that Adam be killed off , so Nesbitt signed on for the fifth series . During pre @-@ production of the fifth series , Mike Bullen decided to kill off Adam 's wife Rachel ( played by Helen Baxendale ) instead .
Cold Feet ran for five years from 1998 to 2003 , and Nesbitt won the British Comedy Award for Best TV Comedy Actor in 2000 , the Television and Radio Industries Club Award for Drama TV Performer of the Year in 2002 , the National Television Award for Most Popular Comedy Performance in 2003 , and the TV Quick Award for Best Actor in 2003 . Nesbitt credits the role with raising his profile with the public . Further television roles during these five years included women 's football team coach John Dolan in the first two series of Kay Mellor 's Playing the Field ( appearing alongside his Cold Feet co @-@ star John Thomson ) , investigative journalists Ryan and David Laney in Resurrection Man ( Marc Evans , 1998 ) and Touching Evil II respectively , and womaniser Stanley in Women Talking Dirty ( Coky Giedroyc , 1999 ) .
Nesbitt 's performance in Hear My Song had also impressed first @-@ time screenwriter and film director Kirk Jones , who cast him in his 1998 feature film Waking Ned . Playing amiable pig farmer " Pig " Finn brought Nesbitt to international attention , particularly in the United States ( where the film was released as Waking Ned Devine ) ; the cast was nominated for the 1999 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Theatrical Motion Picture . In 1999 , he appeared as the paramilitary " Mad Dog " Billy Wilson in The Most Fertile Man in Ireland ( <unk> Appleton ) . The following year , he appeared in Declan Lowney 's feature debut , Wild About Harry . Lowney had personally asked him to appear in the supporting role of cross @-@ dressing Unionist politician Walter Adair . In 2001 , he made his debut as a lead actor in a feature film in Peter Cattaneo 's Lucky Break . He played Jimmy Hands , an incompetent bank robber who masterminds an escape from a prison by staging a musical as a distraction . On preparing for the role , Nesbitt said , " Short of robbing a bank there wasn 't much research I could have done but we did spend a day in Wandsworth Prison and that showed the nightmare monotony of prisoners ' lives . I didn 't interview any of the inmates because I thought it would be a little patronising as it was research for a comedy and also because we were going home every night in our fancy cars to sleep in our fancy hotels . " The film was a commercial failure , despite receiving good feedback from test audiences in the United States .
= = = Bloody Sunday = = =
Nesbitt had been approached at a British Academy Television Awards ceremony by director Paul Greengrass , who wanted him to star in a television drama he was making about the 1972 " Bloody Sunday " shootings in Derry . Nesbitt was only seven years old when the shootings happened and was ignorant of its cause ; he believed that there was " no smoke without fire " and that the Catholic marchers must have done something to provoke the British Army . He was filming Cold Feet in Manchester when he received the script . He read it and found that had " an extraordinary effect " on him . Nesbitt played Ivan Cooper in Bloody Sunday , the man who pressed for the march to go ahead . To prepare for the role , Nesbitt met with Cooper and spent many hours talking to him about his motives on that day . He met with relatives of the victims and watched the televised Bloody Sunday Inquiry with them , and also read Don Mullan 's Eyewitness Bloody Sunday and Peter Pringle and Philip Jacobson 's Those Are Real Bullets , Aren 't They ? . Greengrass compared Nesbitt 's preparation to an athlete preparing for a race , and told The Observer , " For an Irish actor , doing the Troubles is like doing Lear . " Nesbitt had questioned whether he was a good enough actor to effectively portray Cooper and was worried what Derry Catholics would think of a Protestant playing the lead , although Ivan Cooper himself is a Protestant .
Shortly before Bloody Sunday was broadcast , Nesbitt described it as " difficult but extraordinary " and " emotionally draining " . The broadcast on ITV in January 2002 and its promotion did not pass without incident ; he was criticised by Unionists for saying that Protestants in Northern Ireland felt " a collective guilt " over the killings . His parents ' home was also vandalised and he received death threats . During the awards season , Nesbitt won the British Independent Film Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a British Independent Film and was nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor . The film was also screened at film festivals such as the Stockholm International Film Festival , where Nesbitt was presented with the Best Actor award .
In an analysis of the film in the History & Memory journal , Aileen Blaney wrote that it is Nesbitt 's real @-@ life household name status that made his portrayal of Cooper such a success . She reasoned that Nesbitt 's celebrity status mirrors that of Cooper 's in the 1970s : " A household name across Great Britain , Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic [ sic ] , Nesbitt 's widespread popular appeal is emphatically not contingent upon his Protestant Ulster identity , and consequently the double @-@ voicing of the character he plays does not alienate viewers of an alternative , or no , sectarian persuasion . " Guardian journalist Susie Steiner suggested that his appearance in Bloody Sunday was an attempt to resolve the expression of his " Irishness " on screen : " Where he has taken part in a sectarian theme , his intelligence as an actor has often been masked by an excessive , cartoon @-@ style comedy . Yet in his more successful , high @-@ profile roles , ( notably in Cold Feet , and as Pig Finn in the gently pastoral film Waking Ned ) , Nesbitt 's Irishness has been exploited for its romantic charm . It has been sugared and , in the process , de @-@ politicised . " A critic identified Bloody Sunday as Nesbitt 's " coming of age " film , and Nesbitt called it a turning point in his career . He refers to his career since the film was released as " post @-@ Bloody Sunday " .