Enid (TV 2009)

Edwardian child Enid Blyton begins to tell stories to her brothers as an escape from their parents' rows before the father deserts the family. Whilst training as a teacher after the Great ... See full summary »

Director:

James Hawes

Writer:

Lindsay Shapero

Stars:

Helena Bonham Carter, Matthew Macfadyen, Denis Lawson

2 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Helena Bonham Carter	...	Enid Blyton
Matthew Macfadyen	...	Hugh Pollock
Denis Lawson	...	Kenneth Waters
Claire Rushbrook	...	Dorothy Richards
Joseph Millson	...	Hanly Blyton
Ramona Marquez	...	Imogen Pollock
Sinead Michael	...	Gillian
Pooky Quesnel	...	Theresa Blyton
Philip Wright	...	Thomas Blyton
Lisa Diveney	...	Enid - aged 19
Alexandra Brain	...	Enid - aged 12
Samuel Hilton	...	Hanly Blyton - aged 8
James Warner	...	Carey Blyton - aged 4
Eileen O'Higgins	...	Maid Maggie
Gabrielle Reidy	...	Mrs Waters

Storyline

Edwardian child Enid Blyton begins to tell stories to her brothers as an escape from their parents' rows before the father deserts the family. Whilst training as a teacher after the Great War she sends her stories to publishers, one of whom, Hugh Pollock,takes her on and also marries her. They have two daughters but Enid is a terrible mother, letting a nanny rear them whilst she, ironically, bestows treats on anonymous children who worship her for her stories. She is completely self-absorbed,driving Hugh to drink and then to another woman. Enid uses the children as emotional blackmail to get a divorce on her terms before marrying Kenneth Waters, a weak man similar to her father. After World War Two she is as popular as ever, despite accusations of using a syndicate to pen her books and will carry on,adored by children who do not know her true nature, for another twenty years and her death in 1968.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 November 2009 (UK)

Also Known As:

Den sanna Enid Blyton

Filming Locations:

Barrow Hills Golf Course, DERA vehicle testing track, Longcross Lane, Longcross, Surrey, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Carnival Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

During its premiere, 'Enid' gave BBC4 its third biggest audience since the channel debuted in 2002. The premiere of 'Enid' was watched by 1.28 million viewers, a 5.6% share of multichannel homes in the UK.

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Quotes

[to her father]
Imogen: Do you want to come see our rabbit? We did have two, but Mummy and Uncle Kenneth ate the other one.

User Reviews

The trial of Enid Blyton

I have never seen a biopic with so little sympathy for its subject. Even Hitler usually gets better treatment. Although Helena Bonham Carter delivers yet another great performance, Enid Blyton remains a very one dimensional character not to say that she is portrayed as cold and downright evil. Blyton's writing (more than 750 books) is shown as compulsive escapism from her own adulthood to an idealized childhood because her own childhood ended for her when her father left the family. Blyton seems to love children as a concept but has no emotional bond with her own daughters. As to why she treats her first husband so badly never becomes really clear, apparently it has to do with the fact that to some extent he was a father figure for her who ultimately had to disappoint her as a self fulfilling prophecy. That leaves the question open as to why her second marriage seems to work. There are occasions in that film where the viewer is just appalled by the evil of Blyton's interaction with people she loves but no one can really be evil and cold all the time. So this portray unfortunately misses the richness of any person's character and is more or less the trial of Enid Blyton. We have to bear in mind that this is fiction and not fact. If you research what her daughters say about their childhoods you find very differing accounts and the evil she shows in face to face conversation (e.g. with her driver) does not have any witnesses. My other misgiving about the film is that it is simply too short to allow character development or even orientation so that I got the impression that her children stayed forever in their teens and she was suddenly 47. All in all historic context was missing completely.