Once Upon a Time in the Midlands

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Once Upon a Time in the Midlands
File:Once upon a time in the midlands.jpg
UK Theatrical release poster
Directed by Shane Meadows
Produced by Andrea Calderwood
Written by Paul Fraser
Shane Meadows
Starring Robert Carlyle
Rhys Ifans
Kathy Burke
Ricky Tomlinson
Shirley Henderson
Music by John Lunn
Cinematography Brian Tufano
Edited by Peter Beston
Trevor Waite
Distributed by Film Four
Release dates
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  • 6 September 2002 (2002-09-06)
Running time
104 minutes
Country United Kingdom
Language English

Once Upon a Time in the Midlands is a 2002 British romantic comedy film written and directed by Shane Meadows, starring Robert Carlyle, Rhys Ifans, Kathy Burke, Ricky Tomlinson and Shirley Henderson. It is set in Nottingham in the northeast Midlands.

Plot

Dek (Rhys Ifans) proposes to his girlfriend Shirley (Shirley Henderson) on TV. When Jimmy (Robert Carlyle), "the great love of her life" and father of her daughter Marlene (Finn Atkins), sees this, he returns in an attempt to win back her heart. However, after deserting his friends in Scotland during an unsuccessful robbery of some clowns, his friends turn against him and come to the Midlands to try to track him down. In the end, Shirley refuses to go with Jimmy and professes her love for Dek after Marlene refuses to have anything to do with Jimmy and is only ready to accept Dek as the father figure.

Cast

  • Robert Carlyle – Jimmy, Carol's foster brother, Shirley's ex-husband and Marlene's father
  • Vanessa Feltz – Herself
  • Ricky Tomlinson – Charlie, Carol's estranged husband
  • Kathy Burke – Carol, Jimmy's foster sister
  • Vicki Patterson – Audience Guest
  • Shirley Henderson – Shirley, Jimmy's ex-wife and Marlene's mother
  • Finn Atkins – Marlene, Jimmy and Shirley's daughter
  • Kelly Thresher – Donna, Carol's daughter
  • Rhys Ifans – Dek, Shirley's boyfriend
  • Andrew Shim – Donut, Donna's boyfriend
  • Ryan Bruce – Emerson, Carol and Charlie's son and Lake and Donna's brother
  • Eliot Otis Brown Walters – Lake, Carol and Charlie's son and Emerson and Donna's brother
  • Anthony Strachan – Jumbo (as Antony Strachan)
  • David McKay – Dougy (as David Mckay)
  • James Cosmo – Billy

Production

This is the third time that Carlyle has worked with Henderson (first in Hamish Macbeth and the second in Trainspotting). The second time he has worked with Ifans (the first in The 51st State) and the fourth time he has worked with Tomlinson (first in Riff-Raff, second in Cracker and third in The 51st State).

Awards

Gijón International Film Festival 2002
  • Nominated: Best Feature (Grand Prix Asturias) – Shane Meadows

External links