''The Martins'' is a comedy, produced and released in 2001, written and directed by

Tony Grounds Tony Grounds (born in East London) is a British playwright and screenwriter, who has worked extensively in television. Described by ''The Independent'' (11 October 2002) as "the best TV writer of his generation", Grounds has written for all four ...

, starring Lee Evans and

Kathy Burke Katherine Lucy Bridget Burke (born 13 June 1964) is an English actress, comedian, writer, producer, and director. She achieved fame with her appearances on sketch shows such as ''French and Saunders'' (1988–1999) and her recurring role as Mag ...

. The film was released in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

on 14 September 2001.

Synopsis

Out of work scrounger Robert Martin lives with his

dysfunctional family A dysfunctional family is a family in which conflict, misbehavior, and often child neglect or abuse and sometimes even all of the above on the part of individual parents occur continuously and regularly, leading other members to accommodate such ...

who are long-suffering wife Angie, accident-prone son Little Bob, who is bullied at school even by his teacher who Robert brandishes a gun at, and pregnant teenage of 14 daughter Katie. They live in a shabby house in Hatfield, next door to the Galleria Shopping Centre above the A1, about twenty five miles north of London. Competition addict Robert dreams of winning a holiday for his family to a dream island, which turns out to be the Isle Of Man. He fails to win a competition. Feeling cheated out of a win, he flips and first goes to the editor's office with a gun and steals his suit, then to an ice cream shop with his family and steals a parrot from a pet shop for Little Bob's birthday. Robert tracks down the elderly winners, threatens them with a gun, ties them up in the cellar and steals their tickets. The police find them tied up. Upon arriving, Angie finds out Robert has cheated on her with their next door neighbour, however, the family enjoy the holiday. The Police eventually catch up with Martin; he is convicted and sent to prison. He is later released to find his family life has improved.

References

External links

* * 2001 films British comedy films 2001 comedy films Films set on the Isle of Man Films produced by Bruce Davey 2001 directorial debut films 2000s English-language films 2000s British films {{2000s-UK-comedy-film-stub