Housewife, 49 was a 2006 television drama based on the wartime diaries of Nella Last. Written by and starring English actress and comedian Victoria Wood, it follows the experiences of an ordinary housewife and mother in the Northern English town of Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire during World War II. It was first broadcast in the UK by ITV on 10 November 2006.
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Plot
The Mass-Observation project was a non-governmental scheme designed to document and examine the lives of ordinary people. Nella Last participated in the project and signed her letters 'Housewife, 49', her age when she first began the correspondence. Her letters to Mass-Observation, often written in pencil, provide the narrative of the play as she documents her life. In some scenes, the staff of Mass-Observation are seen reacting to, and sometimes visibly moved by, her letters. During the course of the programme, Last moves from being an introverted, isolated, and depressed individual in a difficult marriage, to become an outgoing character who, through her voluntary work during wartime, becomes a backbone of the local community. At the end of the programme it is explained that Nella continued to write to Mass-Observation up until her death in 1968.
It also documents the lead character's changing relationships with those around her; standing up to her domineering husband (David Threlfall), developing a close but sometimes strained friendship with Mrs Waite (Stephanie Cole) the head of the Local Women's Voluntary Service, and her changing relationships with her eldest son Arthur (Ben Crompton), and her younger son Cliff (Christopher Harper) who is changed by his experiences of combat. It is also implied that Cliff, who in real-life became a sculptor in Australia, was gay; although Nella does not realise this.
Awards
It won two British Academy Television Awards in 2007: "Best Single Drama", and Victoria Wood won "Best Actress" for her portrayal of Nella Last.
DVD Release
Housewife, 49 was released on DVD in the US on March 11, 2008.
External links
- Housewife, 49 at the Internet Movie Database
- Newspaper interview with Victoria Wood, Manchester Evening News, 2006-11.
- Filming the railway sequences in Housewife, 49.
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