To Olivia

One of the first , if not the first book I ever read was Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. A brilliant book that I still hold dear to my heart . Ronald Dahl had a fantastic talent that not many authors had but there is so much about the man that I never knew . Until now

In 1962, Patricia Neal and Roald Dahl retreat to the English countryside to bring up their young family. The seemingly unlikely pair find their relationship put to the test by a tragic loss.

Firstly I had no idea that he was married to Patricia Neal . The sultry older woman to Paul Newman's Hud . A brilliant film that I only watched for the first time this year .

Secondly i didn't know about the tragedy in his life and how it affected him and his family so badly.

Although this does delve into the writing of Charlie and the Chocolate factory and the Patricia's Oscar winning performance in Hud , this is more about family and their grief .

It's about dealing with bereavement of a daughter and and how they got through the worst thing that can happen to a family .

Hugh Bonneville is great as Dahl as is Keeley Hawes as Patricia Neal.

The prosthetics on Bonneville take a little getting used to but you can see why they did it because the last thing you want is Roald Dahl to be a Robert Crawley from Downtown Abbey.

I really liked this and I can't quite get my head around the low ratings it has got . Perhaps I was more invested in the story that most people ?

It's an emotional story but jumps from scene to scene in parts which I found annoying. The young actress who played Tessa was excellent. Hugh Bonneville was fine as Dahl. Keeley Hawes, my absolutely favourite British actress, is a quintessential English rose and the American accent didn't suit her and wasn't very good. It's often the little things they get wrong that ruin an otherwise good film for me. The 2-year old boy appeared randomly, silent and unmoving and was barely mentioned.. When Roald threw a clod of earth at the window to attract Pat's attention, that clod moved about several times in the scenes that followed, sometimes disappearing altogether then returning in a different place. Don't they have continuity editors any more? Other than that, it was pleasant to watch with a decent storyline but I got a sense of a film that they'd rushed to get finished.

Probably not one for anyone born out of the British Isles this wonderful so call true tale of the then struggling Roald Dahl wonderfully portrayed by Hugh Bonneville yet outshone by the still glamorous Keeley Hawes as the Anglo American Actress Patricia Neal.

Without being too sickly in love or without being to turbulent it shows a strained marriage that is rocked with tragedy, one i am just learning about by watching the film.

The two young girls who played Olivia and Tessa ( now known as Sophie Dahl ) where really great.

As a kid growing up in the 70s and 80s Charlie, Danny, The Twits, Mrs Pepperpot , James etc were just a joy and i was always much more a Dahl reader than a Enid Blyton and her bloody Racist and not very PC Noddy books ,or the sickly famous five which i I only liked the border collie.

Back on topic, good acting, above average script. Not bad all round to say it was a SKY TV Exclusive. Cant understand reviews under 7 but i suppose some people dont understand just how important as a Briton and legend Roald Dahl is.

One for a rainy afternoon in lockdown times

I don't want to say to much about what happens, I suppose the trailer does say. This is a film about a famous couple in the 60's dealing with their grief when losing a child. The pain, the loss the love. A loving family trying to pick up the pieces, to regain their strength and stay a family for the rest of their children. This is a moving and sad movie but really good about a very famous couple. Very well acted by all the cast.

Hugh Bonneville is excellent as Dahl, even looks like him, and Keeley does a workmanlike job as Patricia Neal but there's little to enjoy about the film really. It's largely factual so a good way to learn more about Dahl's life. I've given it 7 as I can't really fault the acting but it's a pretty gloomy piece all in all.