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Let me tell you the story of...Once Upon A Time In The Midlands.

Once Upon A Time In The Midlands

Get ready for one of the biggest British films of the year – Once Upon A Time In The Midlands. The film features a star-studded cast, including Robert Carlyle (Cracker, Trainspotting), Rhys Ifans (Notting HillGimme, Gimme, Gimme, Elizabeth) Shirley Henderson (Trainspotting) and Ricky Tomlinson ( The Royle Family, Mike Bassett: England Manager).

Dek (Ifans) and Shirley (Henderson) live together with 12-year-old Marlene (Finn Atkins), her daughter by the sexy delinquent Jimmy (Robert Carlyle), who skeddadled years ago, and hasn’t been heard from since. Decent-but-dull Dek loves Shirley, so much so that he humiliates her by proposing, without warning, on national television.

Like every other person Shirley has ever met, Jimmy witnesses Dek’s TV proposal, and he returns to town, convinced that his nerdy rival doesn’t stand a chance against a renewed romantic assault from the great love of her life.

While Shirley seems destined to succumb to Jimmy’s charms, he hasn’t reckoned on the formidable resistance from their daughter Marlene, his sister Carol (Burke), her estranged husband Charlie (Tomlinson), their sons Emerson and Lake, Carol’s daughter Donna, her boyfriend Donut...Nor could he anticipate a heroic, last-minute challenge from the mild-mannered, love-sick Dek...

Once Upon A Time in The Midlands was co-written by Shane Meadows and Paul Fraser, who previously collaborated with the director Meadows on A Room for Romeo Brass, and TwentyFourSeven.

Here's what the critics have said about the film:

"Some strong performances make it go by fairly painlessly, but inconsistencies involving plot and character keep it from ever being more than marginally involving." - Randy Cordova (Arizona Republic newspaper).

"Though Shirley is supposed to be torn between the passion of her younger days and the tender yet boring Dek, there seems to be little chemistry between her and Jimmy." - Angela Shah (Dallas Morning News).

"Meadows has complained that financial backers forced him to cut a third of his Midlands script. The suspicion persists that he cut the wrong third." - Stephen Cole (Globe and Mail newspaper).

"At its best, the new film by Shane Meadows suggests works by British social realist Ken Loach and Scottish social satirist Bill Forsyth, with a through-line from Mike Leigh's dysfunctional family tale Life Is Sweet." - Duane Dudek (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper).

Special features on the Once Upon A Time in The Midlands DVD include:

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