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Mike Leigh at the BBC

Nuts in May

1h 24m

Directed by Mike Leigh • 1976 • United Kingdom
Starring Alison Steadman, Roger Sloman, Anthony O’Donnell

A couple’s quest to get away from it all comes with some unforeseen hazards in Mike Leigh’s classic tale of a camping holiday gone wrong. Their car packed to the gills, the punctilious Keith (Roger Sloman) and the more spontaneous Candice Marie (Alison Steadman) arrive at a Dorset campground for ten nights of idyllic bliss. It starts off pretty perfect: they go sightseeing, eat vegetarian food, and search for raw milk. Then a fellow with a loud radio pitches his tent near theirs. Things get worse when a couple arrive on a motorcycle, have noisy sex in their tent, and start an illegal campfire. Will Keith and Candice Marie find a peaceful corner, or are they doomed to brawl with the noisy and unwashed?

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