Three of Terence Davies's earliest short films, shown together as trilogy, reveal a filmmaker of great promise.

In stark black and white, Davies excavates the life of his fictional alter ego, Robert Tucker, to examine the painful conflict between homosexuality and religion. Children (1976) introduces Robert as a handdog child beaten into silence by bullies, Catholic schoolteachers, and a violent father. Madonna and Child (1980) sees Robert as a middle-aged Liverpool office worker ravaged by guilt over his sexualuty and inability to find solace in the Church, while Death and Transfiguration (1983) shows him as an old man in a hospital bed, haunted by images from his troubled life.

Over the course of these three short films, we witness the emergence of Davies' singular talent and style, the refinement of his technique, and a director growing in confidence, soon to become feted as British cinema's greatest film poet.

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