When I'm 64 (television film)
| When I'm 64 | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Drama |
| Written by | Tony Grounds |
| Directed by | Jon Jones |
| Starring |
Alun Armstrong Paul Freeman Tamzin Outhwaite Jason Flemyng |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Pier Wilkie |
| Running time | 90 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC2 |
| Original release |
|
When I'm 64 is a television film about two older men from different backgrounds who first become friends and then lovers. It was broadcast on BBC2 on 4 August 2004 and was also screened at several LGBT film festivals in 2005 and 2006.
Jim (Alun Armstrong) is a Latin teacher who is retiring after a long career at the same public school he attended as a boy. He has led a sheltered and lonely life and is determined to see the world and fall in love. His plans are delayed when his father (David Morris) has a stroke.
The cab that picks Jim up from school is driven by Ray (Paul Freeman), a widower whose grown children, Caz (Tamzin Outhwaite) and Little Ray (Jason Flemyng), use him as an unpaid babysitter for their kids. Ray also feels lonely and unfulfilled, and the terminal illness of his friend Billy (Karl Johnson) has made him face his own mortality. He is inspired to take charge of his own life after learning of Jim's plans.
Despite their different backgrounds, shy academic Jim and former football hooligan Ray become friends. Although Jim is sexually inexperienced and Ray has lived a lifetime as a heterosexual, their friendship eventually develops into a romantic relationship. The situation is further complicated by the reactions of Ray's children.
The film was made as part of BBC Two's The Time of Your Life season, which featured programs focusing on people over 50. Writer Tony Grounds explained: "When I was asked to do something about this age group I wanted to do something different. I didn't want to talk about pensions and bus passes." Executive producer Jessica Pope said: "The underlying theme that you're never too old to make changes in your life is universal. Jim and Ray take a course they couldn't contemplate in their youth, but they grasp the opposite now. They don't bow to others' expectations about how old men should behave."
Actor Alun Armstrong said he had some reservations about filming the love scene between Jim and Ray "because the taboos are so ingrained in us... But when I read the script I thought, 'It's a lovely story. It's such a good idea, with great twists in it and, all right, so they turn out to be gay.'"
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