''Margery and Gladys'' is a one-off

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

drama/film, broadcast on 21 September 2003. Starring

Penelope Keith Dame Penelope Anne Constance Keith, (née Hatfield; born 2 April 1940) is an English actress and presenter, active in film, radio, stage and television and primarily known for her roles in the British sitcoms '' The Good Life'' and '' To the M ...

and June Brown as the title characters, it was produced by

Carlton Television Carlton Television (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties from 9.25am every Monday to 5.15pm every Friday. The company is now managed with London Weekend Tele ...

for ITV and directed by

Geoffrey Sax Geoffrey Sax (sometimes credited as Geoff Sax) is a British film and television director, who has worked on a variety of drama productions in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Life and career He began his directing career in the lat ...

. Upon first broadcast, it was watched by a total of 7.91 million viewers. The film was also screened on

RTÉ One RTÉ One ( ga, RTÉ a hAon) is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís ...

in Ireland. It was subsequently repeated on

ITV3 ITV3 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. The channel was first launched on Monday 1 November 2004 at 9pm, replacing Plus (Granada). ITV3 is the sixth-largest UK television channel ...

on 6 March 2016, its first repeat in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

since its original broadcast in 2003. The film was released on DVD in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

in July 2012 by Madman Entertainment.

Plot

Recently widowed Margery Heywood (

) and her cleaning woman Gladys Gladwell ( June Brown) disturb a would-be burglar breaking into Margery's house in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. Margery attacks the burglar with a heavy

glass Glass is a non- crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenchin ...

vase, and knocks him unconscious. Believing that she has killed him, she panics and flees the house with Gladys, leaving behind her handbag. In Gladys's car, the two women decide to try to reach Margery's son Graham in

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...

, hoping he'll give them shelter and money, but the trip turns into a comedy of disasters. They are forced to break into a

pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medication, medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it ...

to obtain

insulin Insulin (, from Latin ''insula'', 'island') is a peptide hormone produced by beta cells of the pancreatic islets encoded in humans by the ''INS'' gene. It is considered to be the main anabolic hormone of the body. It regulates the metabolism ...

for Gladys's

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...

, 'do a runner' from a petrol station and dodge police cameras on the M25. Margery is devastated to learn of a twenty-year affair between her late husband and Gladys - and that her son knew of it. His father also secretly bought a boat and planned to sail away with a childhood friend. With the police, led by about-to-retire Detective Inspector Woolley ( Roger Lloyd-Pack) on their trail, the two women drive to Fleetwood, only to meet the childhood friend. The boat, it seems, was purchased with stolen money. After a night on the town at nearby

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre rivers, and is ...

, the two women take the boat and sail off to the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean ...

Cast

as Margery Heywood * June Brown as Gladys Gladwell * Roger Lloyd Pack as D.I. Wooley * Martin Freeman as D.S. Stringer * Alan David as Gordon Thompson * Marcia Warren as Jean Thompson * Adam Godley as Graham Heywood *

Peter Vaughan Peter Vaughan (born Peter Ewart Ohm; 4 April 1923 – 6 December 2016) was an English character actor known for many supporting roles in British film and television productions. He also acted extensively on the stage. He is perhaps best known ...

as Troy Gladwell *

Ken Morley Kenneth Morley (born 17 January 1943) is an English actor and comedian best known for playing the role of Reg Holdsworth in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' from 1989 to 1995 and General Leopold von Flockenstuffen in the BBC sitcom '' ...

as Bill Nightingale * Kulvinder Ghir as Mr. Singh * Ivana Basic as Nina Kovacs * Richard Ridings as Terry Mason * Matthew Lockwood as Scott Wilkins *

Tilly Vosburgh Matilda Vosburgh (born 17 December 1960) is a British character actress. Early life Born in the Westminster district of London, Vosburgh is the daughter of comedy writer and lyricist Dick Vosburgh and former actress Beryl Vosburgh (née Roque ...

as Mrs. Wilkins

References

External links

* {{Geoffrey Sax 2003 television films 2003 films British television films Films directed by Geoffrey Sax ITV television dramas Carlton Television Television series by ITV Studios 2000s English-language films