After achieving international renown as one of the finest actors of his generation in films such as Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and Tom Jones, Albert Finney turned director for this surreal comic twist on the ‘kitchen sink’ dramas in which he’d made his name. Finney plays Charlie Bubbles, a successful writer suffering a mid-life crisis, who attempts to re-connect with his northern working-class roots and estranged family. Based on a screenplay by Shelagh Delaney (A Taste of Honey), the script clearly references both her and Finney’s personal experience of their shared working class origins (both were Salford natives), and the consequences of achieving great success.