Half-way through his 12-year prison sentence for an incompetent armed robbery, Jimmy Hands gets a lucky break: he's transferred to a prison from which he can probably escape. He convinces the governor to stage a musical in an old chapel next to the prison's outer wall. He rounds up volunteer actors and puts his escape plan into production. Two other barriers, besides the wall, confront him: the arrival of a nasty inmate, John Toombes, who insists on joining the escape, and Jimmy's feelings of attraction for Anabel, a social worker who agrees to appear in the play. Opening night approaches: is this Jimmy's breakout performance?
Acting
Christopher Plummer's prison governor: dignified, absurd, quietly heartbreaking.
Writing
Comedy that actually cares about its losers — rare and lovely.
Direction
Cattaneo mines dignity from humiliation, Full Monty-style but softer.
Director
Peter Cattaneo
James Nesbitt
James 'Jimmy' Hands
Olivia Williams
Annabel
Timothy Spall
Cliff
Christopher Plummer
Graham Mortimer
Bill Nighy
Roger
Lennie James
Rudy
Ron Cook
Perry
Peter Wight
George Barratt
Celia Imrie
Amy
Raymond Waring
Darren
Peter McNamara
Ward
Ram John Holder
Old Billy Morris
Julian Barratt
Paul Dean
Frank Harper
John Toombes
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Sandwiched between The Full Monty and Calendar Girls, this was Cattaneo's attempt to bottle working-class British optimism again — but audiences weren't biting in 2001.
The prison 'musical' scenes feature actual inmates from a nearby prison as extras; the chapel was a real deconsecrated church in Ireland.
US
GB
