Alan Partridge creator Steve Coogan marks his first global success away from straight up comedy with this wonderfully composed drama.
More than 50 years ago, Irish teen Philomena Lee (Sophie Kennedy Clark) slipped up in a way that would change her life forever. Vehemently Catholic, her pre-marital fling and subsequent motherhood brought shame on the nuns who had taken her in, and her child was forcibly taken away from her in secrecy.
In present day England, political journalist Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan) is depressed and short on work. Grudgingly, he takes on the 'shallow' human interest story of how a charismatic elderly Irishwoman lost her son half a century earlier. As Sixsmith and Philomena (Judi Dench) renew the search for her boy, their journey takes them to Ireland and beyond, exposing scandal, deception and the tale of a woman who was wronged for decades.
It'll come as no surprise that this Oscar-nominated drama, which at its core is heart-breaking, has an uplifting pulse of comedy throughout.
Philomena is a Film programme that first aired in 2013 and has been classified a 12 certificate.
