Maggie Smith and Roger Allam's heartwarming The Lady in the Van just arrived on Netflix
Now streaming.
Beloved British comedy-drama The Lady in the Van has just become much easier to watch after recently being added to Netflix.
The 2015 film, based on the Alan Bennett memoir of the same name and directed by Nicholas Hytner, starred the late Dame Maggie Smith as the titular lady, Mary Shepherd, alongside Alex Jennings as Bennett.
The film tells the largely true story of Bennett moving into a house in north London, whereupon an old woman named Mary Shepherd began to live in a van on his driveway, eventually staying for 15 years.
Throughout the years, Bennett begins to care for Shepherd, learning more about her fascinating yet often tragic past, although it features plenty of comedy too, such as Shepherd mistaking Bennett's gay partners for communists.
Despite a fairly modest budget of only $6 million, the film went on to be commercially quite successful, grossing $41.4 million at the box office.
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This was in part thanks to very positive critical reception, with the film garnering an approval rating of 89 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.
Beyond Smith and Jennings, the cast contains a veritable who's who of British acting talent, including Jim Broadbent, Claire Foy, Roger Allam and Frances de la Tour.
One of her final major film roles before her death in 2024, Smith had previously played Shepherd in a 1999 stage adaptation of the story, for which she received a nomination for Best Actress at the 2000 Olivier Awards, as well as in a 2009 radio adaptation.
Aside from Shepherd, perhaps her most famous recent role was that of Dowager Countess Violet Crawley in Downton Abbey, with the upcoming Downton film set to pay tribute to the late icon with a "meaningful" tribute.
The Lady in the Van is streaming on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
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