''Cider with Rosie'' is a British

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

of 1998 directed by Charles Beeson, with a screenplay by

John Mortimer Sir John Clifford Mortimer (21 April 1923 – 16 January 2009) was a British barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author. He is best known for novels about a barrister named Horace Rumpole. Early life Mortimer was born in Hampstead, London, ...

, starring

Juliet Stevenson Juliet Anne Virginia Stevenson, (born 30 October 1956) is an English actor of stage and screen. She is known for her role in the film ''Truly, Madly, Deeply'' (1991), for which she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leadin ...

, based on the 1959 book of the same name by

Laurie Lee Laurence Edward Alan "Laurie" Lee, MBE (26 June 1914 – 13 May 1997) was an English poet, novelist and screenwriter, who was brought up in the small village of Slad in Gloucestershire. His most notable work is the autobiographical trilogy ...

. The film was made by

Carlton Television Carlton Television (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties from 9.25am every Monday to 5.15pm every Friday. The company is now managed with London Weekend Televi ...

for

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

and was first broadcast in Britain on 27 December 1998. It was broadcast in the US as the second episode of Series 28 of ''

Masterpiece Theatre ''Masterpiece'' (formerly known as ''Masterpiece Theatre'') is a drama anthology television series produced by WGBH-TV, WGBH Boston. It premiered on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) on January 10, 1971. The series has presented numerous acclaim ...

'' and was later issued as an

ITV Studios ITV Studios is a British multinational television production and distribution company owned by the British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadcas ...

DVD.

Plot

The film is about the poet

's childhood and youth, between the ages of four and twenty-one, growing up in the

Cotswold The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale. The area is defined by the bedrock of Juras ...

village of

Slad Slad is a village in Gloucestershire, England, in the Slad Valley about from Stroud on the B4070 road from Stroud to Birdlip. Slad is notable for being the home and final resting place of Laurie Lee, whose novel ''Cider with Rosie'' (1959) ...

, Gloucestershire, in the years following the First World War. It follows the ending of the traditional English village way of life, with the coming of motor cars and electricity, the death of the local

squire In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shield- or armour-bearer of a knight. Use of the term evolved over time. Initially, a squire served as a knight's apprentice. Later, a village leader or a lord of the manor might come to be known as a " ...

, and the influence of the church ebbing away. As part of that breaking-down process, Lee's father abandons his family, leaving his wife to bring up eight children. One theme is Lee's awakening sexuality, as he grows older, and the title refers to his first flirtation, with a village girl called Rosie. The main action of the film ends before Lee sets off on his early travels, which are dealt with in ''

As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning ''As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning'' (1969) is a memoir by Laurie Lee, a British poet. It is a sequel to ''Cider with Rosie'' which detailed his early life in Gloucestershire after the First World War. In this sequel Lee leaves the securit ...

''. ''Videohound'' says of the film "Laurie's childhood consists of school, church, village festivals, eccentric relations and neighbors, and the usual childhood tribulations".

Production

John Mortimer and Laurie Lee had been friends from the 1950s on.

Valerie Grove Valerie Grove (née Smith, born 11 May 1946) is a British journalist and author, who for many years worked as a feature writer, interviewer and columnist for ''The Times'' newspaper. Grove was born in South Shields. Her father, William Douglas "D ...

, ''A Voyage Round John Mortimer'' (2008), p. 98 Soon after Lee's death in 1997, Mortimer spoke at a memorial service for Lee and then turned his friend's autobiographical book ''

Cider with Rosie ''Cider with Rosie'' is a 1959 book by Laurie Lee (published in the US as ''Edge of Day: Boyhood in the West of England'', 1960). It is the first book of a trilogy that continues with ''As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning'' (1969) and '' A ...

'' into a screenplay, persuading Carlton Television to produce it.Valerie Grove, ''Laurie Lee: the well-loved stranger'' (Viking, 1999), p. 520 Charles Beeson was appointed as Director. Lee's home village of Slad was found to have changed too much since the 1920s to be used as the main film location, with conservatories added to cottages and other modern alterations.Barbara Hooper, ''Cider with Laurie: Laurie Lee Remembered'' (Peter Owen Ltd, 1999), p. 181 In its place another village, Sapperton, near

Cirencester Cirencester (, ; see below for more variations) is a market town in Gloucestershire, England, west of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswolds. It is the home of ...

, was used for filming most of the outdoor scenes, with the main street gravelled to overcome the out-of-character 1990s road surface. Several other Cotswold villages and the town of

Stroud Stroud is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. The town's population was 13,500 in 2021. Below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the Five ...

were also used as locations, as was

Clevedon Clevedon (, ) is an English seaside town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, part of the ceremonial county of Somerset. It recorded a parish population of 21,281 in the United Kingdom Census 2011, estimated at 21,442 i ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, while Lee's final home in Slad, Rose Cottage, became the film location for the Slad village pub.

was cast to play the pivotal character of Lee's mother, Annie, and she read the late Mrs Lee's letters in preparation for the role. Laurie Lee's own voice, recorded in 1988, was used for the narration, which gave the film extra impact, and the scriptwriter's daughter

Emily Mortimer Emily Kathleen Anne Mortimer (born 6 October 1971) is a British-American actress. She began acting in stage productions and has since appeared in several film and television roles. In 2003, she won an Independent Spirit Award for her performanc ...

was cast as the mad Miss Flynn. Casting director Pippa Hall gave a small boy, William Moseley, a walk-on part in the film, and seven years later she remembered him and cast him as

Peter Pevensie Peter Pevensie is a fictional character in C. S. Lewis's ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' book series. Peter appears in three of the seven books; as a child and a principal character in '' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' and ''Prince Caspian'' ...

in ''

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe ''The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' is a fantasy novel for children by C. S. Lewis, published by Geoffrey Bles in 1950. It is the first published and best known of seven novels in ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' (1950–1956). Among all the ...

'' (2005).

Reception

'' Country Life'' said in its review

, John Mortimer's biographer, later wrote of Emily Mortimer as "ethereally haunting as mad Miss Flynn, who drowns in the village pond."

Cast

as Narrator, voice only *

as Annie Lee *Dashiell Reece as Laurie Lee (boy) *Joe Roberts as Laurie Lee (teenager) *Brad Simmons as Laurie Lee (older) *

Angela Pleasence Daphne Anne Angela Pleasence (born 30 September 1941) is an English actress. Trained in theatre, Pleasence's first major film role came in '' Hitler: The Last Ten Days'' (1973), followed by roles in horror films such as ''From Beyond the Grave'' ...

as Crabby *

David Troughton David Troughton (born 9 June 1950) is an English actor. He is known for his Shakespearean roles on the British stage and for his many roles on British television, including Dr Bob Buzzard in ''A Very Peculiar Practice'' and Ricky Hanson in ''Ne ...

as Uncle Sid *Margery Withers as Granny Trill *

Freda Dowie Freda Dowie (22 July 1928 – 10 August 2019) was an English actress. She was born in Carlisle, Cumberland. She was married to the art critic and film-maker David Thompson. Her television credits include: ''Dixon of Dock Green'', ''Doomw ...

as Granny Wallon *

Grant Masters Grant Masters (born 2 January 1965) is an English actor and comedian known for playing the role of Martin Campbell in the Channel 4 Soap Opera ''Hollyoaks.'' An early role came in ''Cider with Rosie'' (1998). He also played Dan in ''Casualty'', st ...

as Father Lee * Robert Lang as the Squire *

as Miss Flynn *

Hugh Lloyd Hugh Lewis Lloyd (22 April 1923 – 14 July 2008) was an English actor who made his name in film and television comedy from the 1960s to the 1980s. He was best known for appearances in ''Hancock's Half Hour'', ''Hugh and I'' and other sit ...

as Joseph Brown * Con O'Neill as Uncle Ray * John Light as Harold *Katharine Page as Hannah Brown *Lia Barrow as Rosie Burdock *

Rupert Holliday-Evans Rupert Holliday Evans (also Rupert Holliday–Evans) is an English actor. He is well known for his roles in programmes such as the ITV police drama ''The Bill'' and CBBC children's programmes ''The Giblet Boys'' and '' Powers''. In episodes of com ...

as Deserter * Amanda Boxer as Miss Biggs * Clare Clifford as Spinster *

Stephen Critchlow Stephen Anthony Critchlow (22 November 1966 – 19 September 2021) was a British actor, known for his work in the theatre and appearances on radio series such as '' Truly, Madly, Bletchley'', '' The Way We Live Right Now'', and '' Spats'', alon ...

as Fred Bates *

Elizabeth Kelly Elizabeth Kelly (born 29 March 1921) is a British actress, best known for her roles in television series and soap operas. Career She started acting on television in the late 1960s. She played Edie Burgess in the popular ITV soap opera ''Cor ...

as Miss Pimbury * William Moseley as Boy *Ian Gargett as Jester

Book

, ''

'' (Penguin Books, 1959), *Laurie Lee, ''Edge of Day: Boyhood in the West of England'', first US edition, 1960John T. Frederick, "Speaking of Books", in ''The Rotarian'' (Vol. 97, No. 2, August 1960), p. 39: "''The Edge of Day'', by Laurie Lee... this book appeared in 1959 in England, under the title ''Cider with Rosie''..."

Notes

External links

*{{IMDb title, 0169685, Cider with Rosie ''(1998) British television films British biographical films Carlton Television Stroud District 1998 television films 1998 films 1990s British films