Dustbin Baby

I thoroughly enjoyed this excellent adaptation. A great collaboration between the BBC and Kindle and beautifully directed by Juliet May, who clearly empathised with the subject. The character portrayal was superb; a wonderfully natural relationship between the charmingly batty Marion and Elliot; and consummate performances from all 3 Aprils.

I was interested to see 'beefnlola's' comment about the dexterous and sinister April. In fact both younger April's were left handed, so Dakota was the odd one out. Perhaps she broke her left arm during a burglary at the age of 12! That aside there was little to criticise in what proved to be a remarkably un-sentimental 90 minutes of good viewing. Something the BBC could happily repeat so far as I'm concerned; I'll be in the queue to buy the DVD in January.

Wow, what an absolutely lovely movie! Enjoyed every minute of it and as a bloke, had me reaching for paper tissues at the end. A simple story of a young girl who was dumped at birth in the dustbin behind a pizza parlour and after various care homes is eventually brought up for a period by the Teacher from the school, Juliette Stevenson as Marion. this is low budget and typically British and without doubt unmissable with anyone with a child. Juliett as Marion is outstanding and Dakota blue Richards as April is one to watch for the future. I love the moment half way through of the rubbish being used for a artistic 'horse' and will definitely be giving my own teenage children ideas from this one in a positive way. the mobile phone birthday present thing was a good story line and don't miss the shots of hatfield house, the stately home bossed by Marions friend and former home of Elizabeth I. I think the main town featured is Watford but I stand to bed corrected. Two great British movies in the last few days, harry Brown and this one, but totally different kinds of films. keep it away from the American market, this is a quality film to be enjoyed at the cinema or DVD

As a teacher who has used the book in lessons in order to develop the skills of empathy and the use of emotion, I thought the film was excellent. I will be waiting for it to become available as a DVD and then use the scenes alongside the chapters.

The lead character played by Dakota Blue Richards is portrayed very well - complete with teenage acne! One glaring error - the young April was shown writing left handed when doing her homework at the Sunnyholme children's home, but the 13 year old is shown as right handed!

As ever with Jacqueline Wilson - you get what she wants you to get...raw emotion...thoroughly recommend it.

Absolutely brilliant portrayal.

I read the book when I was possibly too young to understand all of it. I'm not now 25 years old and decided to revisit this.

So full of emotion, fantastic use of music and the acting was spot on. Brilliant use of the paper girls motif.

I was slightly annoyed at the inclusion of the Elliot character because was not in the book. He was a great actor, but I feel added nothing to the storyline. April is the main character, not Marion.

I would've loved to have seen the girly dressing-up scene with Tanya talking about Mandy, and a meeting scene with Elaine the Pain. However I understand that this film couldn't put them in due to time constraints.

When I received a replying letter from Jackie herself, it mentioned there was going to be a drama of Dustbin Baby, so I read the book before watching this. I flew through the book, it was really riveting and with the drama I was equally impressed. Jacqueline Wilson says it was the best adaptation of her work.

When I first heard about a character, Elliot, who was not in the book, I was a bit disappointed, but David Haig portrays Elliot brilliantly. Some of the novel was missed out, which was disappointing, but overall the drama was excellent.

Dakota Blue Richards plays April well and so does the young actress playing Young April. If you haven't read the book, READ IT. It has some extra bits in it. Still, the drama is great, great, great.

It's brilliant that the DVD will be released on 12th January.