''Grow Your Own'' is a 2007 British

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Richard Laxton Richard Laxton (born 5 July 1967 in London) is a British film director Career Richard Laxton started his career with the short film '' I Bet It Will Rain'' in 1992. Initially he mainly worked for TV production, and was nominated for British ...

, and written by

Frank Cottrell Boyce Frank Cottrell-Boyce (born 23 September 1959)"COTTRELL-BOYCE, Frank", ''Who's Who 2010'', A & C Black, 2010; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2009 ; online edn, Nov 200 Retrieved 2010-05-16. is an English people, English screenwriter, ...

and

Carl Hunter Carl James Hunter (born 21 April 1965, Liverpool, England) is an English director and screenwriter and the bassist in the Liverpool-based pop group The Farm. Career Music In 1983, Hunter was part of the second wave of members who joined Th ...

. It stars

Benedict Wong Benedict Wong (born 3 July 1971) is an English actor. He is known for his roles as Kublai Khan in Netflix's ''Marco Polo'' (2014–2016), Bruce Ng in '' The Martian'' (2015), and Wong in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since ''Doctor Strange'' (2 ...

John Henshaw John Joseph Henshaw (born August 1950) is a British actor, best known for his roles as Ken Dixon the landlord in ''Early Doors'', Wilf Bradshaw in ''Born and Bred'' and PC Roy Bramwell in '' The Cops.'' Often associated with characters who are ...

Eddie Marsan Edward Maurice Charles Marsan (born 9 June 1968) is an English actor. He won the London Film Critics Circle Award and the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor for the film '' Happy-Go-Lucky'' (2008). He has feature ...

Pearce Quigley Pearce Quigley is an English actor of the stage and screen. He plays Will in the BBC Radio 4 Sitcom ''Alone''. Theatre credits ''The Seagull'' (Royal Court); ''Paul'' (National Theatre); ''Journey's End'' (Comedy Theatre); ''My Night with Re ...

Omid Djalili Omid Djalili ( fa, امید جلیلی; born 30 September 1965) is a British actor, comedian and writer. Early life and education Djalili was born on 30 September 1965 in Chelsea, London, to Iranian Baháʼí parents. He attended Holland Park ...

, Alan Williams, Philip Jackson, and

Olivia Colman Sarah Caroline Sinclair ( Colman; born 30 January 1974), known professionally as Olivia Colman, is an English actress. Known for her comedic and dramatic roles in film and television, she has received various accolades, including an Academy A ...

. The film centres on a group of gardeners at a Merseyside allotment, who react angrily when a group of refugees are given plots at the site, but after they get to know them better, soon change their minds. The film was previously known under the title ''The Allotment''.

Production

The original idea for the film came from Carl Hunter's involvement with the

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

community group "Art in Action". With the project he had worked with a number of refugees who had taken up residence in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. The refugees were each given an allotment as part of a

Liverpool City Council Liverpool City Council is the governing body for the city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. It consists of 90 councillors, three for each of the city's 30 wards. The council is currently controlled by the Labour Party and is led by Mayor ...

initiative. This led Hunter to produce a series of documentaries about the lives of the refugees entitled ''Putting Down Roots'', they were broadcast as part of the "3-minute wonder" slot on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

. Frank Cottrell Boyce saw some potential in the concept and asked Hunter if he wished to work with him to turn the real-life story into a film. The film was supported by North West Vision,

BBC Films BBC Film (formerly BBC Films) is the feature film-making arm of the BBC. It was founded on 18 June 1990, and has produced or co-produced some of the most successful British films of recent years, including ''Truly, Madly, Deeply'', '' Alan Part ...

and the

UK Film Council The UK Film Council (UKFC) was a non-departmental public body set up in 2000 to develop and promote the film industry in the UK. It was constituted as a private company limited by guarantee, owned by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and ...

. Shooting for the film began on 14 August 2006, taking place for six weeks. All filming took place in

, with the shoot providing numerous jobs for locals.

Reception

Leigh Singer gave the film four stars, calling it "a gentle, astute, life-affirming British comedy." Tom Hawker gave it three stars, praising Eddie Marsan's performance and stating "''Grow Your Own'' has about as much edge as a prize melon, but even if the land's been well filled, there's still plenty of fertile soil here. Occasionally melancholy, often funny, this is touching, lyrical home-grown fare." Kevin Maher gave three stars, noting his favourite part of the film as being "a serious discussion between the gardeners about ''

Bob the Builder ''Bob the Builder'' is a British animated children's television series created by Keith Chapman for HIT Entertainment and Hot Animation. The series follows the adventures of Bob, a building contractor, specialising in masonry, along with ...

''." Anthony Quinn of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' criticised the film citing "one could wish that this parable of difference and tolerance gladdened the heart, but its effortful comedy has quite the opposite effect", as well as expressing his distaste for the film's score. Catherine Chambers also disliked it, stating "''Grow Your Owns twee optimism is sometimes a little too much to digest."

References

External links

* *
''Grow Your Own''
at the BBC {{Richard Laxton 2007 films 2007 comedy-drama films British comedy-drama films Films about race and ethnicity Films about immigration Films directed by Richard Laxton Films set in Liverpool Films with screenplays by Frank Cottrell-Boyce 2000s English-language films 2000s British films