Grown-Ups – Mike Leigh
For Playhouse, BBC tx. 28/11/1980
95 mins, colour
Director Mike Leigh
Producer Louis Marks
Devised by Mike Leigh
Photography Remi Adefarasin
Cast: Philip Davis (Dick); Lesley Manville (Mandy); Brenda Blethyn (Gloria);
Janine Duvitski (Sharon); Lindsay Duncan (Christine Butcher); Sam Kelly (Ralph
Butcher)
Show full cast and credits
A young couple in Canterbury dream of moving into a council house, but their
dream is threatened by their relationship with the wife’s unmarried sister and
the next-door neighbour, their former teacher.
Dick and Mandy, a young couple, move to a council house
in Canterbury. Mandy’s elder sister, Gloria, visits and is impressed by the
new house. In the evening, Dick walks Gloria to the bus stop from which she
needs to catch the bus home.
The next day, Dick goes to work at the local hospital,
where he works as a cleaner in the kitchens. Gloria goes to the office where
she works as a typist, and Mandy to the café where she waitresses. Gloria
drops round to Mandy and Dick’s house and starts interfering in Mandy’s preparation
of tea. Gloria fries herself an egg and joins the couple.
In their front garden the following day, Mandy and Dick
discover that their next-door neighbours are their old school teacher, Ralph
Butcher and his wife, Christine. Mr Butcher doesn’t recognise them. Mandy and
Dick spy on the Butchers in their back garden.
The following day, Sharon, an old school friend of Mandy’s,
drops in on her. Sharon is critical of the house, recommending changes. Mandy
gives her a tour. Gloria turns up with a vacuum cleaner, which Mandy excitedly
tries. Mandy tells Gloria about Mr Butcher and the four of them reminisce about
their school days.
Christine cycles home from school, where she teaches
physical education. Ralph is asleep on the sofa, having returned from school
(where he teaches religious education) earlier. After dinner they discuss the
Loch Ness Monster, then fall to arguing. Ralph complains that Christine has
no faith.
Dick returns from the pub drunk; Mandy shouts at him
for leaving her to do the unpacking. They fall asleep in each other’s arms.
In bed, Ralph reads Christine interminable passages of ungrammatical English
from his book.
The next afternoon, Gloria, on her way to visit Mandy,
bumps into Ralph in his front garden and introduces herself. Dick and Mandy
discuss going to the pub that evening. Gloria drops by again in the afternoon,
asking Mandy to accompany her to the dress shop. When Mandy declines, Gloria
leaves, only to return in the evening, asking for a cup of tea. Not wanting
to leave, Gloria insists that she go to the pub with them and buy them a drink.
In the pub, Gloria starts crying at the prospect of going home, explaining that
her mother is making her life miserable.
Mandy visits Sharon at work. That evening, Dick and Mandy
go for a drink. Later, in bed, they argue over the subject of having children.
Mandy says she is going to stop taking the pill and Dick becomes aggressive,
vehemently opposed to the idea.
Mandy tells Christine that she and Dick are planning
on having a baby. It is Dick’s day off, and he shouts at Mandy for refusing
to make him tea and making noise with the vacuum cleaner.
Mandy and Sharon return from a shopping trip to find
Gloria, and Dick in a bad mood. Dick and Mandy try to persuade Gloria to leave,
then finally force her out. She sneaks back in through the back door and they
throw her out again. Gloria runs into Ralph and Christine’s house and locks
herself in the bathroom until Christine talks her around. Just as they manage
to coerce her to the front door, she turns around and runs back up the stairs.
Everyone tries to stop her, falling on top of her and holding her down. Dick,
Sharon and Mandy leave and Christine makes Gloria a cup of tea and lets her
have a nap on the sofa. Eventually, Mandy and Sharon take Gloria home in a taxi.
That night Christine conveys to Ralph her desperation for love and a family;
Dick and Mandy kiss in bed and Dick changes his mind about wanting a baby.
Several months later, Gloria puts her head against Mandy’s
stomach, listening for the baby’s kicking. Gloria goes to a Christmas party.
