Working-class couple Shirley and Cyril are in conflict over whether they should have children, their problems with 'yuppies' moving into the neighbourhood and outpricing them, and the advent of Cyril's ageing mother's seventieth birthday.
Directed by Mike Leigh
london, england
working class
class differences
family
elderly lady
Trailer
IMDB
N/A
Letterboxd
3.9 / 5
Cast
Phil Davis
Cyril Bender
Ruth Sheen
Shirley
Edna Doré
Mrs Bender
Philip Jackson
Martin Burke
Heather Tobias
Valerie
Lesley Manville
Lætitia Boothe-Brain
David Bamber
Rupert Boothe-Brain
Jason Watkins
Wayne
Diane-Louise Jordan
Chemist Shop Assistant
Linda Beckett
Receptionist
Crew
Mike Leigh
Director
Mike Leigh
Writer
Roger Pratt
Director of Photography
Simon Channing Williams
Producer
Morag Ross
Makeup Artist
Roger Pratt
Camera Operator
David Appleby
Still Photographer
Graham Broadbent
Production Runner
Marc Munden
Second Assistant Director
Lindy Hemming
Costume Design
Popular Reviews
29 reviews
Erin FlintPRO
10.0★ · 04/16/26
the day they machine gun the royal family i’ll comb me hair and put a tie on
the day they machine gun the royal family i’ll comb me hair and put a tie on
Lucien WD
8.0★ · 08/25/25
The mother ending up in the rich neighbours’ house has to be the single funniest scene in any Leigh film.
The mother ending up in the rich neighbours’ house has to be the single funniest scene in any Leigh film.
Jaiden
7.0★ · 06/15/25
“The day they machine gun the royal family I’ll come here and put a tie on”
“The day they machine gun the royal family I’ll come here and put a tie on”
Issa Francois
10.0★ · 03/22/25
Mad watching a film based around the street I live and have grown up on. I walk past the flats Cyril lives daily. Every single conversation in this film rings as true today as I’m sure it did in Thatchers Britain. Every character in this exists today almost unchanged. Interesting to see the earlier stages of the gentrification of Islington we accept as standard now.
Mad watching a film based around the street I live and have grown up on. I walk past the flats Cyril lives daily. Every single conversation in this film rings as true today as I’m sure it did in Thatchers Britain. Every character in this exists today almost unchanged. Interesting to see the earlier stages of the gentrification of Islington we accept as standard now.
