High Hopes

High Hopes is an early classic from award-winning Writer and Director Mike Leigh that cemented his reputation as a key chronicler of British life. Left-wing couple Cyril (Phil Davis) and Shirley (Ruth Sheen) ponder bringing a baby into Thatcher's Britain, while his sister Valerie (Heather Tobias) embraces the yuppie lifestyle afforded by her philandering husband. Caught in the middle is their aging mother (Edna Dor�), whose gigantic council house in King's Cross is the one holdout against a tide of redevelopment. Through Leigh's typically tragic sense of humour, these storylines converge across an awkward and revealing evening: Mum's surprise birthday party. With supporting appearances from Lesley Manville and Jason Watkins, High Hopes shows the folly of optimism, while giving us reason to believe in the future.

Director: Mike Leigh
Producer: Simon Channing Williams
Producer: Victor Glynn
Writer: Mike Leigh
Music: Andrew Dickson
Cinematographer: Roger Pratt
Actor: Ruth Sheen
Actor: Edna Doré
Actor: Philip Jackson
Actor: Philip Davis
Actor: Heather Tobias
Actor: David Bamber
Actor: Lesley Manville
Actor: Jason Watkins