Gideon’s Daughter
BBC, BBC America, Talkback
Gideon’s Daughter is a delicate and intriguing character drama that unfolds against the backdrop of Princess Diana’s 1997 car-crash death and the planning of Great Britain’s millennial celebration. The film poignantly explores the strained relationship between a London public-relations strategist, Gideon Warner, and the daughter for whom his high-powered career has left little time. Meanwhile, the PR guru is finding himself smitten with an eccentric, unpretentious woman who clerks in a convenience store and has regrets of her own. Writer/director Stephen Poliakoff uses these converging stories to comment on the superficial yet dominating cult of celebrity, articulated in Gideon’s professional dealings and growing disillusionment with his life of spin. For its complex, subtly knitted study of grief, guilt and love, a Peabody Award goes to Gideon’s Daughter.
PRIMARY PRODUCTION CREDITS
Executive producers: Stephen Poliakoff, David M. Thompson, Peter Fincham, Kathryn Mitchell. Producer: Nichlas Brown. Writer/director: Stephen Poliakoff. Cast: Bill Nighy, Miranda Richardson, Emily Blunt, Robert Lindsay, Ronni Ancona, Tom Hardy, Tom Goodman-Hill, Joanna Page, David Westhead, Samantha Whittaker, Kerry Shale, Daniel Mendoza, Cate Fowler, Michael Fitzpatrick, Graham Cull, Julia Malewski, Jason Manford, Bobby Bragg, Rebecca Bridges, Leonard Dalrymple, Jennifer Highham, Natasha Alexander, David Annan, Shane Allan, Baily Scougall-McCurry.