Who doesn’t love Billy Connolly? The loose Glaswegian comedy cannon who proved himself a serious ac-toor with a glowering turn in Mrs Brown, simultaneously becoming bezzie mates with Dame Judi, is now a bona fide National Treasure. So we were very much looking forward to seeing him take an increasingly rare screen role in What We Did On Our Holiday.
Doug (David Tenanant) and Abi McLeod (the currently ubiquitous Rosamond Pike – how does that girl fit it all in?) are having marital problems. But, faced with a gathering of the family clan to celebrate Doug’s father Gordy’s (Billy Connolly) 75th birthday, like all good imminent divorcees they decide to hide their situation from the rest of the family. So packing their three children into the car they begin a long, squabbling and bickering journey North.
Not that things calm down on reaching their destination. With Doug’s insuffereable brother Gavin (Ben Miller) and downtrodden wife Margaret (Amelia Bullmore) supervising the party planning, chaos reigns supreme. Oblivious to the chaos is Gordy who, seriously ill, has clear ideas of his priorities in life. Gathering up his grandchildren he sneaks them off to escape the fracas for a day at the seaside. But things don’t turn out exactly as anticipated.
We won’t reveal a simultaeously macabre and joyful twist in this tale. Suffice to say it caught us unawares and elevated what at first seemed to just be a run of the mill mainstream comedy. From the creators of the TV show Outnumbered, it has the same semi-improvised feel, with the child actors ad-libs apparently leading the dialogue. And boy do the kids earn their pocket money. But for us the most moving element was Billy Connolly’s portrayal of the terminally ill Gordy. Having been diagnosed with cancer in real life, it’s a poginiant instance of art imitating life. Let’s hope he beats it and we get a good few more vintage performances out of The Big Yin.
UK release 26 September
