Holiday Camp (film)

Holiday Camp
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Ken Annakin
Produced by	Sydney Box
Written by	Peter Rogers Muriel Box Sydney Box addit. dialogue Mabel Constanduros Denis Constanduros Ted Willis
Story by	Godfrey Winn
Starring	Jack Warner Kathleen Harrison Dennis Price
Production company	Gainsborough Pictures
Distributed by	General Film Distributors
Release date	5 August 1947
Running time	97 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£150,400
Box office	£184,300

Holiday Camp is a 1947 British comedy drama film directed by Ken Annakin, starring Jack Warner, Jimmy Hanley, Kathleen Harrison and Dennis Price set at the then popular Butlin's holiday camps.

It documents a postwar working-class London family's annual visit to a summer holiday camp. It was the first film to feature the Huggett family, who went on to star in the Huggetts Trilogy. It resonated with post-war audiences and was very successful. The film is a kaleidoscope of various lives at play by the sea, in a Butlin's holiday camp. They include a pregnant young girl, a group of gamblers, and a murderer seeking his next victim.

The film was directed by Ken Annakin, who had made a number of documentaries for producer Sydney Box. When Box took over Gainsborough Pictures he hired Annakin to make Holiday Camp. It was part of Box's initial slate of pictures for the company, others including Jassy and Good Time Girl.

The original story was by magazine writer Godfrey Winn. He went to a Butlin's holiday camp at Filey with Annakin to research. Annakin remembers Winn "put together a very good story" but Sydney and Muriel Box "decided we should add extra elements". He says Muriel Box worked on the Dennis Price character, inspired by the Heath Murders, then they held a round table conference with Ted Willis, Peter Rogers and Mabel Constanduros. "Godfrey wasn't terribly happy about it because he thought he was going to have a single screen credit," says Annakin.