WHO will ever forget the television images of a wild-eyed, fist-pumping Gerry Conlon, storming up to a bank of microphones outside The Old Bailey in London and proclaiming to the world, "I am a totally innocent man."
Conlon - together with Paul Hill, Paddy Armstrong and Carole Richardson - was wrongfully convicted of two pub bombings in Guildford, which killed five people and injured dozens more.
The so-called Guildford Four were released in 1989 after 15 years behind bars and the injustice was the subject for the Oscar-nominated 1993 movie In The Name Of The Father, in which Conlon was portrayed by Daniel Day-Lewis.
But what happened next? What kind of man emerged? With over a million pounds in compensation money, Conlon seemed to have it all, running in the same circles as Johnny Depp and Shane MacGowan and becoming a cause célèbre at the Oscars, where he ended up singing a duet with Bruce Springsteen.
But behind the glamorous headlines, Conlon had severe problems adjusting to life outside of prison, as well as dealing with his feelings of guilt over the death in prison of his father Giuseppe, one of the so-called Maguire Seven, whose convictions were also quashed.
Conlon suffered two nervous breakdowns, attempted suicide, became addicted to crack cocaine and even searched bins in the backstreets of London for food.
His story of life after prison is now being told in a new play, which takes to the stage of his home city, Belfast, for the first time next month.
Based on the book of the same title by Conlon's childhood friend, Richard O'Rawe, In The Name Of The Son captures the highs and lows of Conlon's life right up to when he died of cancer in 2014 at the age of 60.
Written with Belfast playwright Martin Lynch, the pair agree that overall the play is a story of "hope and redemption" as Conlon beats his demons and becomes a world-renowned campaigner against miscarriages of justice, similar to his own.
"It's a story about a man reared in the back streets of Belfast, who didn't think much of himself, got into all that trouble and then redeemed himself," sums up Lynch.
"The play shows a brilliant transformation of one man. He became a decent, honest man, which no-one who knew Gerry Conlon in the early days would ever believe."
Lynch recalls his own early memories of Conlon. "Richard and I started working at the docks as teenagers and kept in touch over the years. One day he asked me if I wanted to go out for a drink with Gerry Conlon, and I went, 'Oh, not sure about that'.
"I remembered Gerry Conlon as a wee hood, breaking and entering and creating a lot of disturbances in the area," he explains.
"I was very apprehensive, but eventually I agreed and I had one of the best nights ever. We went to the Duke of York pub and he told stories about the Krays, the Richardson gang, mad Frankie Fraser and all the gangsters. It was hilarious, but also powerful at the same time.
"Richard and Gerry later started coming to my plays and I got to know him as the very articulate, intelligent and forceful campaigner for prison rights that he became."
Conlon's human rights triumphs included persuading the US Congress to hold an inquiry into the case of the Birmingham Six.
It was eight months before his death, when Conlon asked O'Rawe to write his life story, telling him "my life didn't start until I got out".
Whilst known for his many high-profile friendships, including an infamous drink-fuelled trip to see the Dingle dolphins with actor Johnny Depp, O'Rawe, who grew up on the same street in Belfast, has many memories of Conlon.
"Gerry was bigger than life. He was a character with natural born wit and the women loved him; but he was also a great listener. When you spoke to him, he would look at you with his piercing eyes and give you 110 per cent attention," he says.
"Gerry's life was very convoluted and very colourful. It's a true story, but it's a dramatic story."
When Lynch first read O'Rawe's book In The Name Of The Son he immediately saw the potential for it as a stage play.
"Forget the particular colouring of the politics in Gerry's life, his story is a human story and an emotional roller coaster as he made up for the lost years in prison and packed in so much. It had everything: tragedy, despair, drug addiction, guilt, humour, joy and redemption."
Their biggest challenge in adapting it for the stage was deciding what to leave out. "We could have gone on for four hours, no trouble," adds O'Rawe.
A Green Shoot production in association with the Lyric, In The Name Of The Son was the first show to be cancelled in Belfast's Lyric theatre last March at the start of the Covid pandemic.
It was rescheduled twice, only to be cancelled each time due to on-going government restrictions.
So when Lynch rang up actor Shaun Blaney, who plays all 32 characters in the one-man play (including Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro, Liam Neeson and Tony Blair), and told him the play was definitely going on this November, he was sceptical.
Replying down the phone from his London home he said, "Yeah, I believe ye. Tell yiz what. If it is on, I'll come up the Lagan in a bubble."
Keeping him to his word, Blaney arrived for rehearsals inside a giant floating zorb he walked up the River Lagan.
Lynch first spotted the Downpatrick-born actor's talent when he starred in his play Three's a Shroud, about the undertaker rivalry in Belfast, when he would spend his rehearsal breaks entertaining the cast with mimics to the likes of Barack Obama.
"Sean's capacity for accents and dialogue and accents is amazing. Anyone that achieves that level of accuracy has put in a lot of work. It's what separates the lazy actor from the really good actor."
In The Name Of The Son had been due to tour to the 2020 Edinburgh Festival and Lynch "who has a great belief in the play" hopes to bring it there next summer, as well as to Dublin, London and New York.
Members of Conlon's family as well as Joey Cashman, the former manager of The Pogues, and one of the many Conlon bantered with in the toilets at the 1994 Oscars, is amongst those attending the opening night of the play in Belfast.
And how do they think Gerry Conlon himself would have enjoyed the play about his life?
"Gerry would have loved it. And I'm sure he would have arranged a before and after party," laughs O'Rawe.
:: In The Name Of The Son – The Gerry Conlon Story runs at Belfast's Lyric Theatre from November 2-14 (lyrictheatre.co.uk). It will also be performed at Armagh's Market Place Theatre on November 27 (marketplacearmagh.com). Suitable for ages 16+
