Animated drama based on the award-winning graphic novel by Raymond Briggs, featuring the voices of Jim Broadbent and Brenda Blethyn. Milkman Ernest Briggs meets lady's maid Ethel in 1928 and they soon marry. Their son Raymond is born in 1934 and their life together spans such momentous events as the Depression, the Second World War, postwar recovery, the Swinging Sixties and the 1969 Moon landing.
By far the most personal story by beloved author and illustrator Raymond Briggs, 1998’s Ethel and Ernest is beautifully, quietly and faithfully brought to the screen by director Roger Mainwood (who worked as an animator on The Snowman, Father Christmas and other Briggs classics). The story simply follows his working-class parents, a lady’s maid and a milkman in Southwest London (voiced by Brenda Blethyn and Jim Broadbent), from courtship to death via marriage, family and key cultural and political flashpoints. Briggs, now 82 himself, admitted to “blubbing” all the way through a screening at the BFI, which is a more compelling recommendation than any review I can ever write.
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Ethel Briggs | Brenda Blethyn |
| Ernest Briggs | Jim Broadbent |
| Raymond Briggs | Luke Treadaway |
| Lady of the House | Virginia McKenna |
| Mrs Bennet | Pam Ferris |
| Ernest's stepmother | June Brown |
| Young Raymond | Harry Collett |
| Middle-aged doctor | Roger Allam |
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Director | Roger Mainwood |
