Florence Nightingale

To me, this is only half of Florence Nightingale story worthy putting into the art form of movie.

This first half is a great attempt, especially the "spirit" as manifested in the script such as "if you can't find it (the broom), make it (the context: when finally in the battlefield so called hospital, the man's world, when opportunity patiently waited to help out, with her team of female "amateur nurses", as the nursing profession yet to be born, the room they stay was dirty, and needs cleaning by brooms).

The other half of the yet to be made movie should describe the "Rose chart", that today even Excel spreadsheet could create yet, Nightingale made in around 1856. What a real pioneer in data visualisation among many innovations she made. Any brave director and investor to make the second half of the movie?

I found this production very entertaining. It's style was not unlike 'Oh, What A Lovely War', interspersing the real life drama ,with music-hall scenes, brilliantly led by Roy Hudd. Laura Fraser was excellent in the role of Florence Nightingale , showing her as a feisty yet tender character. Michael Pennington ,as Wen Nightingale was also well cast and he played his part with great sympathy. A special mention for a fine newcomer, Zoe Street-Howe, who's performance as the young Queen Victoria, I found most believable. I am sure we will see more of her. The switch from comedy, to very realistic hospital scenes,gave the production a lot more edge and underlined the futility of war.

I found the whole presentation to have the subtle influence of a Merchant/Ivory effort. Norman Stone's direction has taken a glossier feel with this production.

Whether or not through intention, Stone has created a tacit contrast and balance between today's perceptions of modern medicine and the historic resonance of its bitter foundations. Through this, the film breathes with a certain relevance without feeling preachy or overly dry.

Laura Fraser plays the part of Florence with a sort of volcanic fragility while staying true to the linguistic delivery style of the period. Other noteworthy efforts are delivered by Michael Pennington. Pennington conveys a realistic father void of the typical Victorian film noir caricatures that have all too often plagued period films. Editor Colin Goudie keeps the patent BBC presentation while allowing the film to feel at times like a larger screen effort. Composer Jeremy Soule delivers what may be the best opening theme in recent history for the BBC.

If there is anything of fault with the film is that some important elements were implied rather than filmed. This may have been symptomatic of budgeting considerations with a production of this nature. It would have been nice to see more of Florence's life in this script, as an hour made the whole production feel slightly compressed

In conclusion, this film is a very worthy way to spend an hour for those that know nothing about the legendary Florence Nightingale. This may be the finest effort thus far to bring this story to the screen.

One of the worst costume drama's I've seen in years! The acting was terrible. the script was terrible, the screenplay was dull and the characters seem like they had been plucked out of the 21st century and thrown back in time! Laura Fraser was useless, good looking, but useless. She plays the strong modern woman type which is totally out of context for the time, and all the male characters are weak.

The only saving grace for this movie is the filming location of Croxteth Hall in Liverpool, which I used to visit quite frequently as a boy living in Liverpool,UK.

So... bad acting, bad script, and awful characters with poor delivery! anyone who loves true to life accurate historical films will be shocked and disgusted! anyone who has no clue or doesn't care about history, especially English history, may see it in a more entertaining light.

Americans will love it!

It was good to see a biography of Florence Nightingale interspersed with scenes from a contemporaneous musical hall revue, which made this a serious drama but with light relief in the musical interludes (e.g. 'What we got was a miracle, a bloomin' human miracle' and a song about limbs dropping off in military field hospitals). It might not be quite worth a 10 but I feel the need to redress the balance as this memorable programme deserves more than a 5.