Did Ian McEwan rip this old horror off for The Cement Garden? Libel laws prevent us from saying ‘Well yes of course he did, it’s bloody obvious isn’t it?’ So, er, we won’t. Yes, that’ll do. Anyway, Catholic harridan mother of seven Annette ‘B off of The Prisoner episode where he has drugged tea and dreams about his supposed secret contacts’ Carell dies, so her resourceful brood, with no dad and a fear of the orphanage, bury her in the garden of their shambling Croydon house and carry on as per. Then wayward gambling drunken dad Dirk Bogarde turns up, as does mum in the minds of the more impressionable kids, and it gets, well, tricky. Top performances by the kids, especially Mark ‘Oliver!’ Lester and Pamela ‘Screamer’ Franklin, and Yootha Joyce is in there too.
