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''The Girl in the Café'' is a British
made-for-television 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 ...
drama film directed by
David Yates David Yates (born 8 October 1963) is an English film director, producer and screenwriter, who has directed feature films, short films, and television productions. He is best known for directing the final four films in the Harry Potter (film se ...
, written by
Richard Curtis Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis (born 8 November 1956) is a New Zealand-born British screenwriter, producer and film director. One of Britain's most successful comedy screenwriters, he is known primarily for romantic comedy films, among them '' ...
and produced by
Hilary Bevan Jones Hilary Bevan Jones is a British television producer. In 1994 she started Endor Productions, choosing the name from that of the novel ''The Road to Endor'' by E. H. Jones, her grandfather.Tightrope Pictures Tightrope Pictures is a British television production company, founded in late 2003 by writer Paul Abbott and producer Hilary Bevan-Jones, who had worked together that year on the successful BBC drama serial '' State of Play''. The company has been ...
and was originally screened on
BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...
in the United Kingdom on 25 June 2005. It was also shown in the United States on cable television station
Home Box Office Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
on the same day.
Bill Nighy William Francis Nighy (; born 12 December 1949) is an English actor. Nighy started his career with the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool and made his London debut with the Royal National Theatre starting with ''The Illuminatus! Trilogy, The Illuminatu ...
portrays the character of Lawrence, with
Kelly Macdonald Kelly Macdonald (born 23 February 1976) is a Scottish actress. She is known for her roles in '' Trainspotting'' (1996), '' Gosford Park'' (2001), '' Intermission'' (2003), '' Nanny McPhee'' (2005), '' No Country for Old Men'' (2007), ''Boardwa ...
portraying Gina. Nighy and Macdonald had previously starred together in the 2003 BBC serial '' State of Play'', which was also directed by Yates and produced by Bevan-Jones. ''The Girl in the Cafés casting director is
Fiona Weir Fiona Weir is a British casting director. In 2006, she received a Primetime Emmy nomination for the television film ''The Girl in the Café'', directed by David Yates with whom she worked with on the '' Harry Potter'' film franchise, her most no ...
who, at the time, was also the casting director for the ''Harry Potter'' films, the last four of which Yates directed. The film received seven nominations at the 58th Primetime Emmy Awards, where it won Outstanding Made for Television Movie, Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special for Curtis, and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie for Macdonald.


Overview

Lawrence (
Bill Nighy William Francis Nighy (; born 12 December 1949) is an English actor. Nighy started his career with the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool and made his London debut with the Royal National Theatre starting with ''The Illuminatus! Trilogy, The Illuminatu ...
), a civil servant working for the
Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...
(
Ken Stott Kenneth Campbell Stott (born 19 October 1954) is a Scottish stage, television and film actor who won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in 1995 in the play '' Broken Glass'' at Royal National Theatre. He portrayed th ...
), falls in love with Gina (
Kelly Macdonald Kelly Macdonald (born 23 February 1976) is a Scottish actress. She is known for her roles in '' Trainspotting'' (1996), '' Gosford Park'' (2001), '' Intermission'' (2003), '' Nanny McPhee'' (2005), '' No Country for Old Men'' (2007), ''Boardwa ...
), a young woman he meets by chance in a London café. Lawrence takes Gina to a G8 summit in
Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...
,
Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
, where she confronts the
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern pr ...
(
Corin Redgrave Corin William Redgrave (16 July 19396 April 2010) was an English actor and left-wing socialist activist. Early life Redgrave was born on 16 July 1939 in Marylebone, London, the only son and middle child of actors Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kem ...
) over the issue of
third world debt The debt of developing countries usually refers to the external debt incurred by governments of developing countries. There have been several historical episodes of governments of developing countries borrowing in quantities beyond their abilit ...
and poverty in Africa, much to Lawrence's embarrassment and the anger of his employers. However, he realises that she is right and tries to help persuade the Chancellor and others at the summit to do something about the issues concerned.


Cast

*
Bill Nighy William Francis Nighy (; born 12 December 1949) is an English actor. Nighy started his career with the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool and made his London debut with the Royal National Theatre starting with ''The Illuminatus! Trilogy, The Illuminatu ...
as Lawrence *
Kelly Macdonald Kelly Macdonald (born 23 February 1976) is a Scottish actress. She is known for her roles in '' Trainspotting'' (1996), '' Gosford Park'' (2001), '' Intermission'' (2003), '' Nanny McPhee'' (2005), '' No Country for Old Men'' (2007), ''Boardwa ...
as Gina *
Ken Stott Kenneth Campbell Stott (born 19 October 1954) is a Scottish stage, television and film actor who won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in 1995 in the play '' Broken Glass'' at Royal National Theatre. He portrayed th ...
as
Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...
*
Corin Redgrave Corin William Redgrave (16 July 19396 April 2010) was an English actor and left-wing socialist activist. Early life Redgrave was born on 16 July 1939 in Marylebone, London, the only son and middle child of actors Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kem ...
as
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern pr ...


Production

The production was conceived to tie-in both with the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
's ''Africa Lives'' season of programming, and with the global
Make Poverty History Make Poverty History are organizations in a number of countries, which focus on issues relating to 8th Millennium Development Goal such as aid, trade and justice. They generally form a coalition of aid and development agencies which work together ...
campaign, for which writer Curtis was a prominent campaigner. As such, it was also shown in South Africa on the same day as its UK and US premieres. Curtis was better-known as a writer of
romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...
films such as ''
Four Weddings and a Funeral ''Four Weddings and a Funeral'' is a 1994 British romantic comedy film directed by Mike Newell. It is the first of several films by screenwriter Richard Curtis to feature Hugh Grant, and follows the adventures of Charles (Grant) and his circle ...
'', ''
Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Road M ...
'' and ''
Love Actually ''Love Actually'' is a 2003 Christmas romantic comedy film written and directed by Richard Curtis. It features an ensemble cast, composed predominantly of British actors, many of whom had worked with Curtis in previous film and television proje ...
'' (the latter of which he also directed and had featured Nighy). Although ''The Girl in the Café'' does contain some of his trademark comedy elements, it is generally more serious in tone and attempts to highlight the issues of poverty and
fair trade Fair trade is an arrangement designed to help producers in developing countries achieve sustainable and equitable trade relationships. The fair trade movement combines the payment of higher prices to exporters with improved social and enviro ...
.


Reception

On BBC One, the programme gained an audience of 5.5 million, a 29% share of the total television audience watching over its 90-minute duration, winning its timeslot. The opinions, however, were divided.
Andrew Anthony Andrew Anthony is a journalist who has written for ''The Guardian'' since 1990, and ''The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', who ...
, for example, wrote a negative review in ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
'': Sarah Vine, herself the wife of a conservative politician, argued in ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' that the message was devalued by an oversimplification of the problem. In her opinion the film's main weakness is the belief that the G8 leaders can simply end poverty. However, the film gained positive reviews too with Alessandre Stanley from ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' stating: There were also more positive reactions. Previewing the programme before transmission, Sarah Crompton was very enthusiastic when writing for ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...
'':Crompton, Sarah
''The arts column: two routes to the heart of Africa''
''The Daily Telegraph''. 8 June 2005.


Accolades


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Girl In The Cafe, The 2005 television films 2005 films BBC television dramas Films directed by David Yates Films scored by Nicholas Hooper Films set in Iceland Films with screenplays by Richard Curtis Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Made for Television Movie winners 2005 romantic drama films British romantic drama films 2000s British films British drama television films