One Summer
| One Summer | |
|---|---|
One Summer DVD cover
|
|
| Genre | Drama |
| Written by | Willy Russell |
| Directed by | Gordon Flemyng |
| Starring |
David Morrissey James Hazeldine Spencer Leigh Ian Davies Jane West Sheila Fay Gil Brailey Sean McKee |
| Composer(s) | Alan Parker |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | 5 x 50 min. |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | David Cunliffe (Executive) Keith Richardson |
| Cinematography | Peter Jackson |
| Editor(s) | Barry Reynolds |
| Production company(s) |
Yorkshire Television (for Channel 4) |
| Release | |
| Original network | Channel 4 |
| Picture format | 1.33:1 (colour film) |
| Audio format | mono |
| Original release | 7 August – 4 September 1983 |
One Summer is a 1983 British television drama serial written by Willy Russell and directed by Gordon Flemyng. It stars David Morrissey and Spencer Leigh as two 16-year-old Liverpool boys from broken homes who escape from their grim lives by running away to Wales one summer. It also starred James Hazeldine and Ian Hart (credited in the series as Ian Davies). The series was shown in five 50-minute episodes on Channel 4 from 7 August to 4 September 1983. It was repeated on ITV in April 1985.
Sixteen-year-old Billy Rizley (Morrissey) comes from a broken home in Liverpool. His father is absent, his older sister despises him, and his mother suffers from depression and is unwilling to care for him. Billy and his slightly dimwitted friend Icky (Leigh) have truanted from school for some time and have fallen into a life of delinquency, regularly fighting with local gangs and getting into trouble with the police. Billy is already on probation and it seems only a matter of time before his life of crime and violence results in his incarceration. When the pair decide to go back into school in order to go on a school camping trip to Wales, they are rebuffed by their teacher. With no direction or prospects in life, the pair decide to run away to Wales by themselves, the last place Billy had any happy memories when he went away on a previous school trip some years earlier. Billy steals some money from his mother to facilitate their trip. Upon their arrival in Wales, they almost immediately get into trouble with the local police but escape arrest. They try to spend the night in a barn at a secluded farm, but are caught by the farmer and his wife. Though they take pity on the two boys and let them spend the night in the house, in the morning Billy and Icky make a quick getaway from the farmhouse when the police arrive.
Wandering through the Welsh countryside, they come across an old cottage which they initially believe is deserted. Hoping to find shelter inside, they come face to face with Kidder (Hazeldine), the man who lives there. Kidder lives the life of a hermit, preferring to keep himself to himself. Completely self-sufficient, he works as an artist, selling his paintings at a local market, and grows his own food. He reluctantly allows the boys to stay for a night but tells them they have to leave after that. Hoping to change Kidder's mind, the boys begin to do chores around the house and the grounds outside, but Icky breaks all of Kidder's plates in the river when he is supposed to be washing them. The boys set out to find replacement plates and end up stealing some from a nearby house. When they return they find a gang of local Welsh youths vandalising Kidder's house. They chase them off, and eventually Kidder agrees to let them stay, but Billy is later beaten up by the local gang. Meanwhile, Kidder discovers Icky is illiterate and, being a former schoolteacher, begins teaching him how to read.
...
Wikipedia