The Girl in the Café

Infobox_Film
name = The Girl in the Café


caption = "The Girl in the Café" DVD Cover
writer = Richard Curtis
starring = Bill Nighy,
Kelly Macdonald
director = David Yates
country = UK
released = 25 June 2005
runtime = 94 min.
language = English/French
budget = ~ ?
imdb_id = 0443518

"The Girl in the Café" is an Emmy Award-winning British one-off television drama, produced by independent production company Tightrope Pictures for BBC Wales, and originally screened on BBC One in the UK on Saturday 25 June 2005. It was also shown in the United States on cable television station Home Box Office, on the same day. It tells the story of a civil servant, Lawrence, working for the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who falls in love with Gina, a young woman who he meets by chance in a London café.

Overview

Lawrence takes Gina to a G8 summit in Reykjavík, Iceland, where she confronts the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom over the issue of third world debt and poverty in Africa, much to Lawrence's embarrassment and the anger of his employers. However, he realises that she is right, and tries to help persuade the Chancellor and others at the summit to do something about the issues concerned.

"The Girl in the Café" was written by Richard Curtis and directed by David Yates. Bill Nighy played Lawrence, with Kelly Macdonald as Gina. Nighy and Macdonald had previously starred together in the 2003 BBC serial "State of Play", which was also directed by David Yates, and produced by Hilary Bevan-Jones, who also produced "The Girl in the Café". "State of Play" was written by Paul Abbott, whose production company Tightrope made "The Girl in the Café", on which he acted as an executive producer. The main supporting cast included Ken Stott as the Chancellor, Anton Lesser as George and Corin Redgrave as the Prime Minister.

The production was conceived to tie-in both with the BBC's "Africa Lives" season of programming, and with the global Make Poverty History campaign, for which writer Curtis was a prominent campaigner. As such, it was also shown in South Africa on the same day as its UK and US premieres. Curtis was better-known as a writer of romantic comedy films such as "Four Weddings and a Funeral", "Notting Hill" and "Love Actually" (the latter of which he also directed, and had featured Nighy). Although "The Girl in the Café" does contain some of his trademark comedy elements, it is generally more serious in tone and attempts to highlight the issues of poverty and fair trade.

Reception

On BBC One, the programme gained an audience of 5.5 million, a 29% share of the total television audience watching over its ninety minute duration, winning its timeslot [Timms, Dominic (Monday 27 June 2005). [http://media.guardian.co.uk/overnights/story/0,7965,1515708,00.html "Murray means game, set, match for BBC"] (subscription). Retrieved 24 September 2005.] . The opinions, however, were divided. Andrew Anthony, for example, wrote a negative review in "The Observer" [Anthony, Andrew. [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/screen/story/0,6903,1514598,00.html "Bill v Ben"] . "The Observer". Sunday 26 June 2005.] :
Sarah Vine in "The Times" was more positive, feeling that the cast performed well but the message overwhelmed the story [Vine, Sarah. [http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,14934-1668397,00.html "Making a rom-com out of a crisis"] . "The Times". Monday 27 June 2005.] :

There were also more positive views. Previewing the programme before transmission, Sarah Crompton was very enthusiastic when writing for "The Daily Telegraph" [Crompton, Sarah. [http://advertising.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2005/06/08/bacol08.xml "The arts column: two routes to the heart of Africa"] . "The Daily Telegraph". Wednesday 8 June 2005.] :

Macdonald and Nighy were both nominated at the 2006 Golden Globe Awards for their performances in the production, while the film and Macdonald received Emmy wins.

References

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443518/ "The Girl in the Café"] at the Internet Movie Database.
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/africalives/features/girl.shtml "The Girl in the Café] at bbc.co.uk.
* [http://www.hbo.com/films/girlinthecafe/ "The Girl in the Café"] — HBO's full description, interviews with Bill Nighy, Kelly Macdonald, Richard Curtis and David Yates and more on the production.