''Housewife, 49'' is a 2006 television film based on the wartime diaries of Nella Last. Written by and starring English actress and comedian

Victoria Wood Victoria Wood (19 May 1953 – 20 April 2016) was an English comedian, actress, lyricist, singer, composer, pianist, screenwriter, producer and director. Wood wrote and starred in dozens of sketches, plays, musicals, films and sitcoms over se ...

, it follows the experiences of an ordinary housewife and mother in the Northern English town of

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. In 2023 t ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancas ...

, during the Second World War. It was first broadcast in the UK by ITV on 10 December 2006.

Plot

The

Mass-Observation Mass-Observation is a United Kingdom social research project; originally the name of an organisation which ran from 1937 to the mid-1960s, and was revived in 1981 at the University of Sussex. Mass-Observation originally aimed to record every ...

project was set up in 1937 by

Charles Madge Charles Henry Madge (10 October 1912 – 17 January 1996) was an English poet, journalist and sociologist, now most remembered as a founder of Mass-Observation. Philip Bounds, ''Orwell and Marxism: the political and cultural thinking of George ...

, a poet and journalist and

Tom Harrisson Major Tom Harnett Harrisson, DSO OBE (26 September 1911 – 16 January 1976) was a British polymath. In the course of his life he was an ornithologist, explorer, journalist, broadcaster, soldier, guerrilla, ethnologist, museum curator, archaeo ...

, an anthropologist to 'record the voice of ordinary people'. They recruited volunteer 'observers' to report to them and in 1939 invited people to send them an account of their lives. Nella Last was one of 500 people who took up this offer. Her diaries sent weekly are headed "Housewife, 49", her age when she first began the correspondence. Her diaries sent to Mass-Observation, often written in pencil, provide the narrative of the play as it unfolds her life. Edited versions of her diary have been published: ''Nella Last's War'' edited by Richard Broad and Suzy Fleming appeared first in 1981 and has been more recently re-published by Profile Books in 2007. ''Housewife, 49'' is based on this book which covers the years 1939 to 1945. ''Nella Last's Peace'', which appeared in 2009, includes diary entries from her immediate post-war years. A third volume, ''Nella Last in the 1950s: Further diaries of Housewife, 49'', which includes material not published in ''Nella Last's War'', was published in 2010. In some scenes, the staff of Mass-Observation are seen reacting to, and sometimes visibly moved by, her letters. During the course of the programme, Last moves from being an introverted, isolated, and depressed individual in a difficult marriage, to become an outgoing character who, through her voluntary work during wartime, becomes a backbone of the local community. At the end of the programme it is explained that Nella continued to write to Mass-Observation until her death in 1968. The original diary, together with hundreds of other diaries and Mass-Observation's other papers, are now held within the Mass-Observation Archive, housed by the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

at The Keep, Brighton. It also documents the lead character's changing relationships with those around her; standing up to her domineering husband (

David Threlfall David John Threlfall (born 12 October 1953) is an English stage, film and television actor and director. He is best known for playing Frank Gallagher in Channel 4's series '' Shameless''. He has also directed several episodes of the show. In A ...

), developing a close but sometimes strained friendship with Mrs Waite (

Stephanie Cole Patricia Stephanie Cole (born 5 October 1941) is an English stage, television, radio and film actress, known for high-profile roles in shows such as '' Tenko'' (1981–1985), ''Open All Hours'' (1982–1985), ''A Bit of a Do'' (1989), '' Waiti ...

) the head of the Local

Women's Voluntary Service The Royal Voluntary Service (known as the Women's Voluntary Services (WVS) from 1938 to 1966; Women's Royal Voluntary Service (WRVS) from 1966 to 2004 and WRVS from 2004 to 2013) is a voluntary organisation concerned with helping people in need ...

, and her changing relationships with her eldest son Arthur (

Ben Crompton Benjamin Lorton Crompton (born 1974) is an English actor and standup comedian, best known for his performance on the BBC sketch show ''Man Stroke Woman'' and as Colin in the BBC Three sitcom ''Ideal''. From 2012 to 2019, Crompton portrayed Edd ...

), and her younger son

Cliff In geography and geology, a cliff is an area of rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. Cliffs are common on co ...

( Christopher Harper) who is altered by his experiences of combat. It is also implied that Cliff, who in real life became a sculptor in Australia, was gay; although Nella either does not realise or refuses to acknowledge it.

Cast

as Nella Last, Housewife 49 *

as 'Daddy', husband Will Last * Christopher Harper as Cliff Last, youngest son *

as Arthur Last, eldest son *

Lorraine Ashbourne Lorraine Ashbourne (born 10 April 1961) is an English actress. Career Ashbourne has appeared on British series and television films, including: '' The Street'', ''True Dare Kiss'', '' Thin Ice'', ''In a Land of Plenty'', ''Boon'', '' Playing th ...

as Dot, Nella's sister in law * Sally Bankes as Mrs Whittaker *

as Mrs Waite, head of the Local WVS

Reception

Critical

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' thought it revealed Victoria Wood "to be both a far better writer than we had ever guessed and a far better actor as well."

Awards

The film won two

British Academy Television Awards The BAFTA TV Awards, or British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the BAFTA. They have been awarded annually since 1955. Background The first-ever Awards, given in 1955, consisted of six categories. Until ...

in 2007: "Best Single Drama", and "Best Actress" for Victoria Wood for her portrayal of Nella Last.

Home media

''Housewife, 49'' was released on DVD in the US on 11 March 2008.

In other media

Theatre

In September 2013, Victoria Wood chose the small Old Laundry theatre in

Bowness-on-Windermere Bowness-on-Windermere is a town in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. It lies next to Windermere lake and the town of Windermere to the north east with which it forms the civil parish of Windermere and Bowness. The town was hist ...

as the venue for the premiere of the stage version of Housewife 49.

Bibliography

* Nellie Last (2006). Nella Last's War: The Second World War Diaries of 'Housewife, 49'. Profile Books. .

External links

*
Newspaper interview with Victoria Wood
''Manchester Evening News'', 2010–04.

References

{{Victoria Wood 2006 television films 2006 films Films set in Cumbria Films shot in England ITV television dramas Films with screenplays by Victoria Wood World War II films based on actual events Television series by ITV Studios Television shows produced by Granada Television British television films Films directed by Gavin Millar 2000s English-language films