Try saying that name without bursting out cheering. We know we can’t. And you think Disney: wobbly split-screen doubling-up in The Parent Trap (plus *that* theme), The Moon-Spinners and of course That Darn Cat! Things were kept in the family: The Truth About Spring starred her dad as her dad, and Whistle Down the Wind was written by mum. Attempts to kick the wholesome albatross into touch were thwarted when she failed to land the title role in Lolita, but worked with the trio of The Family Way (arse in view), Pretty Polly (sub-continent coppings-off) and Twisted Nerve (where to begin?) Sadly, the public couldn’t catch up, so she bogged off to live in a windmill and raise him off Kula Shaker, and a ’70s of cheap thrillers and iffy returns to past glories led to telly, a Disney reunion and no less than three Parent Trap sequels.
FINEST HOUR: The less well-remembered younger brother of Whistle… it may be, and incestuously birthed to boot (written by mum, directed by dad), but her emotionally stunted village outcast in Sky West and Crooked chokes us up every time.
