Wish You Were Here (1987 film)

Wish You Were Here
225px US Theatrical release poster
Directed by	David Leland
Produced by	Sarah Radclyffe
Written by	David Leland
Starring	Emily Lloyd Tom Bell
Music by	Stanley Myers
Cinematography	Ian Wilson
Edited by	George Akers
Distributed by	Atlantic Releasing Corp
Release dates	24 July 1987 (1987-07-24) (U.S.)
Running time	92 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	₤1.2 million

Wish You Were Here is a 1987 British comedy-drama film starring Emily Lloyd and Tom Bell. It was written and directed by David Leland. The original music score was composed by Stanley Myers.

Plot

Sixteen-year-old Lynda Mansell (Emily Lloyd) lives in a small English seaside town in the early 1950s. She is feisty and precocious and tries to shock other people with her vulgar and saucy tongue (her favourite insult is "Up yer bum"). Bored with conventional jobs (which she frequently loses) and her town's dull young men, Lynda has her first sexual experience with Dave (Jesse Birdsall) but after she has slept with one of her father's middle-aged friends (Tom Bell), her life changes. She becomes pregnant and her father, a somewhat rigid and conventional man, disowns her. Desperately she tries to seek an illegal abortion but in the end decides to become a mother.

Cast

• Emily Lloyd as Lynda Mansell
  • Charlotte Ball as Lynda (aged 11)
• Tom Bell as Eric
• Jesse Birdsall as Dave
• Clare Clifford as Mrs. Parfitt
• Barbara Durkin as Valerie
• Geoffrey Hutchings as Hubert Mansell           
• Charlotte Barker as Gillian
• Chloë Leland as Margaret
  • Abigail Leland as Margaret (aged 7)

• Pat Heywood as Aunt Millie
• Geoffrey Durham as Harry Figgis
• Neville Smith as Cinema manager
• Heathcote Williams as Dr. Holroyd
• Val McLane as Maisie Mathews
• Susan Skipper as Lynda's Mother
• Lee Whitlock as Brian
• Sheila Kelley as Joan Figgis
• Dani Phelps as Lynda's Baby

Production

The film was based loosely on the memoirs of the British madam Cynthia Payne as an adolescent growing up on the Sussex coast. It was filmed in the West Sussex towns of Worthing and Bognor Regis.

Reception

Wish You Were Here has an overall approval rating of 89% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Awards and honors

• 1987: Evening Standard British Film Awards Emily Lloyd for Best Actress
• 1987: National Society of Film Critics Emily Lloyd for Best Actress
• 1988: BAFTA Award David Leland for Best Screenplay
• 1988: BAFTA Award Nomination Best Actress

External links

• Wish You Were Here at IMDb
• Wish You Were Here at AllMovie
• Wish You Were Here at Rotten Tomatoes