A host of top northern TV comics take cameo scenes which helps stop the movie from sagging too much. Maxine Peake gives it her all - as she always does - and doesn't disappoint, but this is really a TV drama given a shot on the big screen. At 100 minutes it is about 30 mins too long. It follows the usual stereotypes of 'it's grim up north' and the educated 'southerners' have hi-jacked Shakespeare as their own etc. She really is a funny cow, and just as well because it has very clunky direction. DVD, here we come (if they still exist).