Housewife, 49
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''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, musician, screenwriter, and director. Wood wrote and starred in dozens of sketches, plays, musicals, films and sitcoms over several decades, and her live comedy act ...
, 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 and civil parish (as just "Barrow") in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the county of Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borou ...
,
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
, during the Second World War. It was first broadcast in the UK by ITV on 10 December 2006.


Plot

The Mass-Observation project was set up in 1937 by Charles Madge, a poet and journalist and Tom Harrisson, 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 The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...
at
The Keep, Brighton The Keep is a purpose-built archive and historical resource centre which stores, conserves and gives the public access to the records of its three managing partners: The East Sussex Record Office, The University of Sussex Special Collections, a ...
. It also documents the lead character's changing relationships with those around her; standing up to her domineering husband ( David Threlfall), 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 actor, known for high-profile roles in shows such as '' Tenko'' (1981–1985), ''Open All Hours'' (1982–1985), ''A Bit of a Do'' (1989), '' Waiting ...
) 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), and her younger son
Cliff In geography and geology, a cliff or rock face is an area of Rock (geology), 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. ...
( 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

*
Victoria Wood Victoria Wood (19 May 1953 – 20 April 2016) was an English comedian, actress, musician, screenwriter, and director. Wood wrote and starred in dozens of sketches, plays, musicals, films and sitcoms over several decades, and her live comedy act ...
as Nella Last, Housewife 49 * David Threlfall as 'Daddy', husband Will Last * Christopher Harper as Cliff Last, youngest son * Ben Crompton as Arthur Last, eldest son * Lorraine Ashbourne as Dot, Nella's sister in law * Sally Bankes as Mrs Whittaker *
Stephanie Cole Patricia Stephanie Cole (born 5 October 1941) is an English stage, television, radio and film actor, known for high-profile roles in shows such as '' Tenko'' (1981–1985), ''Open All Hours'' (1982–1985), ''A Bit of a Do'' (1989), '' Waiting ...
as Mrs Waite, head of the Local WVS *
Jason Watkins Jason Peter Watkins (born 28 October 1962) is an English stage, film and television actor. He played the lead role in the two-part drama ''The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies'', for which he won the British Academy Television Award for Bes ...
as Roger


Reception


Critical

''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' 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 in 2007: " Best Single Drama", and " Best Actress" for Victoria Wood for her portrayal of Nella Last. It also won Best Single Drama at the Royal Television Society Programme Awards and received a nominations for Costume Design - Drama at the Royal Television Society Craft & Design Awards.


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 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. .


References


External links

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

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