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IMDb > Poppy Shakespeare (2008) (TV)

Poppy Shakespeare (2008) (TV) More at IMDbPro »


Overview

User Rating:
7.4/10   155 votes
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Up 5% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Benjamin Ross
Writers:
Clare Allan (novel)
Sarah Williams (writer)
Contact:
View company contact information for Poppy Shakespeare on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
31 March 2008 (UK) more
Genre:
Drama more
Plot:
N has been a day patient at north London's Dorothy Fish day hospital for 13 years - her ambition is never to leave. Then she meets glamourous new patient Poppy Shakespeare, an ad agency receptionist convinced she's not mad. | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
2 wins more
NewsDesk:
(8 articles)
Mad Men Snags BAFTA
 (From newser. 27 April 2009, 6:22 AM, PDT)

'Mad Men' Nabbed BAFTA TV Awards in London
 (From Aceshowbiz. 26 April 2009, 11:35 PM, PDT)

User Comments:
Sniffs and Dribblers more

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Naomie Harris ... Poppy Shakespeare
Anna Maxwell Martin ... N
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kolade Agboke ... Wesley
Josef Altin ... Zubin
Claire Benedict ... Rosetta
Nicholas Beveney ... Security Sharon
Janine Birkett ... Candid
Marie Critchley ... Tina
Jonathan Cullen ... Tony

Michelle Dockery ... Dawn
Darrell D'Silva ... Banker Bill
Gerard Fletcher ... Male Nurse
Kerry Godliman ... Verna
Anne Hornby ... Secretary
Simon Kunz ... Peter Flea
Penny Layden ... Sue (as PennyLayden)
Bruce MacLeod ... Brian the Butcher
Cathy Murphy ... Astrid
Szilvi Naray-Davey ... Government Inspector
Tessa Peake-Jones ... Rhona
Adrian Scarborough ... Middle Class Michael
Nicholas Woodeson ... Professor
more
Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

Runtime:
90 min
Country:
UK
Language:
English
Color:
Color
Company:
Cowboy Films more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
John Maybury was originally attached to direct. more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
19 out of 20 people found the following comment useful:-
Sniffs and Dribblers, 1 April 2008
9/10
Author: robertconnor from England

Following her mother's suicide, N has been in and out of care most of her life, from foster care, through 'children looked after' services to mental health inpatient and outpatient services. Resolutely determined to remain an outpatient at a mental health day centre, her day-to-day existence is challenged by a new patient, Poppy Shakespeare... whilst all other outpatients are hell-bent on avoiding discharge, Poppy wants nothing else.

Skirting the line between stark realism and the heightened, farcical world of, say, Lindsay Anderson, Ross and Williams' film is a roller-coaster ride through a dystopian mental health care system in 21st century Britain. By not being explicit about the reasons for Poppy's apparently enforced attendance at the day centre, the cause and effect of mental illness diagnosis is blurred. By heightening the depiction of the care givers and mental health professionals to exaggerated, satirical degrees, the cycle of discharge-collapse-readmission-rehabilitation is distorted to nightmarish proportions.

Naomie Harris is great in the title role, charting the slow, distressing decline of someone determined to fight the system, but at the heart of Poppy Shakespeare lies an astonishing performance by Anna Maxwell Martin as N - she doesn't so much play her as 'be' her, creating a character so utterly believable and compelling that the viewer is both repelled and mesmerized in equal measure as we watch N deftly circumnavigate the system, always to her own advantage, always ensuring she remains within it.

Kudos and applause for all involved.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Poppy Shakespeare (2008) (TV)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Anyone have a copy of this? georginala
someone explain the ending please shimshamtothemax
soundtrack tringtring
I had no idea this was becoming a movie! louloumack
ending itspetermc
the job interview poppy does was a trap IMO andrew-jones5
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