''Back Home'' is a 1989 British-American

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 In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

based on

Michelle Magorian Michelle Magorian (born 6 November 1947) is an English author of children's books. She is best known for her first novel, ''Goodnight Mister Tom'', which won the 1982 Guardian Prize for British children's books and has been adapted several tim ...

's novel of the same name. Directed by

Piers Haggard Piers Inigo Haggard, OBE (born 18 March 1939), is a British theatre, film and television director, although he has worked mostly in the latter. Haggard was born in London but grew up on a small farm in Clackmannanshire. He is the great-great-n ...

, the film starred

Hayley Mills Hayley Catherine Rose Vivien Mills (born 18 April 1946) is an English actress. The daughter of Sir John Mills and Mary Hayley Bell, and younger sister of actress Juliet Mills, she began her acting career as a child and was hailed as a promising ...

, Hayley Carr,

Brenda Bruce Brenda Bruce OBE (7 July 1919Some sources cite 17 July 1919. – 19 February 1996) was an English actress. She was focused on the theatre, radio, film and television. Career Bruce was born in Prestwich, Lancashire in 1919, and started he ...

and

Jean Anderson Jean Anderson (12 December 1907 – 1 April 2001) was an English actress best remembered for her television roles as hard-faced matriarch Mary Hammond in the BBC drama '' The Brothers'' (1972–1976) and as rebellious aristocrat Lady Jocelyn "J ...

and was broadcast on

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 ...

on 23 July 1989.''The Times'' page 15, 22 July 1989 It was first shown in the United States on the

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...

on June 7, 1990.

Plot

Virginia 'Rusty' Dickinson (Hayley Carr) left England during World War II, and comes back home in 1945. During the war she lived in a foster family and in this way absorbed American culture. She discovers that her family's situation is very different than it was before the war. She meets her mother, Peggy Dickinson (

), and her new five-year-old brother, Charlie. As Rusty returns, her father, Roger Dickinson (Rupert Frazer), is still stationed as a soldier in Burma. When Japan surrenders he comes back home. His old-fashioned behavior and nature make him unhappy with his modern self-sufficient wife, his Americanised daughter and especially Charlie's dislike of his "new" father. Rusty is sent to boarding school. As she is used to an American school, she finds the teachers and the other pupils very strict. The school's atmosphere makes her suffer and the other pupils mock her for being an American.

Cast

as Mrs. Peggy Dickinson *Hayley Carr as Virginia "Rusty" Dickinson *Adam Stevenson as Charles "Charlie" Dickinson *

as The Honourable Lady Beatrice "Beattie" Langley *

as Grandmother Dickinson *Rupert Frazer as Mr. Roger Dickinson *

Mary Ellen Ray Mary Ellen Ray (3 January 1931 – 10 September 2004) was an American-born actress who had a career in the United Kingdom. Early life She was born as Mary Ellen McPherson in Springfield, Missouri in 1931 to 17 year-old Hayzle McPherson and ...

as Aunt Hannah * Tracy Johns as School Child

References

External links

* * 1989 television films 1989 films 1989 drama films Disney Channel original films Films directed by Piers Haggard Television shows produced by Television South (TVS) American drama television films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films 1980s British films British drama television films {{tv-drama-film-stub