ANGEL FOR MAY, AN {2003 INTERNATIONAL EMMY NOMINEE} (TV)
Summary
In this children's fantasy-drama, a Yorkshire boy travels back in time to World War II where his friendship with a troubled girl changes his perspective on the problems in his own life and saves hers in the process. The film begins during World War II as a young woman discovers a child alive in the ruins of a bombed-out home. Back in present-day Yorkshire, pre-teen Tom struggles with asthma, bullying by his peers, and the prospect of his mother, Barbara, marrying his soccer coach, Bob Harris. Tom escapes his problems by visiting the bombed-out ruins of a farmhouse where he finds a dog; one day during a storm, the dog pushes him into the ruin's fireplace, and Tom emerges in the 1940s. There he is discovered by May, a strange young girl, and brought to widower Sam Wheeler's farmhouse, where May lives. Sam eventually takes Tom in, hoping he will be a good influence on May, who's had social problems since Sam's daughter Alison -- seen in the film's opening sequence -- found May in the remains of her family home. While at the farmhouse, May teaches Sam about the simple pleasures of life, and Sam coaxes May into behaving more normally. With Tom's help, May escapes institutionalization at the hands of local authorities. Happiness descends upon the Wheeler farm as Sam, May, Alison, and Sam's new fiancee, Susan, look forward to a bright future, but Tom is homesick. During the next storm, he returns to the fireplace and is transported back to the present. Back home, Tom is curious about how May's life turned out and questions his elderly neighbor Evelyn about the Wheelers only to find out that Sam and Alison died just days after his departure and that May was sent to an institution after all. When Tom realizes that the old crazy homeless woman in town is May, he returns to the ruined fireplace in an attempt to fix the past and secure May a decent future.
Details
- NETWORK: ITV (United Kingdom)
- DATE: December 23, 2002 10:35 AM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:35:56
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:79899
- GENRE: Children's; Drama, fantasy/science fiction
- SUBJECT HEADING: Children's programs; Drama, fantasy/science fiction; International Collection - United Kingdom
- SERIES RUN: ITV (United Kingdom) - TV, 2002
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Tim Buxton … Executive Producer
- Keith Evans … Executive Producer
- Emma Hayter … Executive Producer
- Anna Home … Executive Producer
- Alex Marshall … Executive Producer
- Harley Cokeliss … Producer, Director
- Michael Lionello Cowan … Producer
- Jason Piette … Producer
- Ed Harper … Line Producer
- Melvin Burgess … Based on the novel by
- Peter Milligan … Writer
- Carl Davis … Music by
- Tom Wilkinson … Cast, Sam Wheeler
- Geraldine James … Cast, Susan Higgins
- Hugo Speer … Cast, Bob Harris
- Angeline Ball … Cast, Barbara Collins
- Julie Cox … Cast, Alison
- John Benfield … Cast, PC Clegg
- Nina Wadia … Cast, Science Teacher
- Dora Bryan … Cast, Evelyn
- Matthew Beard … Cast, Tom
- Charlotte Wakefield … Cast, May (Aged 10)
- Anna Massey … Cast, Rosie
- Michael McNulty … Cast, "Sniffer"
- Richard Fleschman … Cast, School Team Captain
- James Joyce … Cast, Big Kid
- Daniel Mason … Cast, Short Hair
- Jonathan Bradd … Cast, "Sir"
- Andrew Foxcroft … Cast, "Number Two"
- Ashley Rhodes … Cast, Small Boy
- Bill Rodgers … Cast, Fat Man
- Janine Burkett … Cast, WPC
- Kate Anthony … Cast, Mrs. Crenshaw
- Carol McGuigan … Cast, Nurse
- Andy Devine … Cast, Drunken Man
- Rob Riley … Cast, Desk Sergeant
- Terrence Maynard … Cast, Reverend Campbell
- John Skevington … Cast, Jim
- Herself … Cast, Tess
- Jonathan Lewis Stockdill … Cast, Tom Double
- Gemma Berrington … Cast, May Double