''Personal Services'' is a 1987 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 o ...

directed by

Terry Jones Terence Graham Parry Jones (1 February 1942 – 21 January 2020) was a Welsh comedian, director, historian, actor, writer and member of the Monty Python comedy team. After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English, Jones and ...

and written by

David Leland David Leland (born 20 April 1947) is an English film director, screenwriter and actor who came to international fame with his directorial debut ''Wish You Were Here'' in 1987. Life He initially trained as an actor at Central School of Speech ...

, about the rise of a madam of a suburban

brothel A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub p ...

which caters to older men. The story is inspired by the real experiences of

Cynthia Payne Cynthia Diane Payne (née Paine; 24 December 193215 November 2015) was an English brothel keeper and party hostess who made headlines in the 1970s and 1980s, when she was convicted of running a brothel at 32 Ambleside Avenue, in Streatham, a so ...

, the "House of Cyn" madam.

Plot

Christine Painter is a sexually naive waitress and single mother who pays for her teenage son David's tuition by renting

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

flats to

call girls A call girl or female escort is a sex worker who (unlike a street walker) does not display her profession to the general public, nor does she usually work in an institution like a brothel, although she may be employed by an escort agency.< ...

. When a landlord confronts her for illegally subletting the flats and falling behind on the rent, Christine gives him a

handjob A handjob, also spelled hand job, is a sex act, performed as either foreplay or as non-penetrative sex, that involves the manual stimulation of the penis or scrotum by another person to induce an erection for sexual pleasure, sexual arousal an ...

in lieu of rent. After one of her "tenants", Rose, refuses to pay rent, Christine realizes she can do

sex work Sex work is "the exchange of sexual services, performances, or products for material compensation. It includes activities of direct physical contact between buyers and sellers as well as indirect sexual stimulation". Sex work only refers to volun ...

herself in the flat Rose abandons. Christine is charged with soliciting and pleads guilty in court. Soon she hatches a scheme with fellow sex worker Shirley to provide strictly kinky services such as

bondage Bondage may refer to: Restraints *Physical restraints **Bondage (BDSM) Bondage in the BDSM subculture, is the practice of consensually tying, binding, or restraining a partner for erotic, aesthetic, or somatosensory stimulation. A partn ...

and fetish roleplay to an upscale clientele. They rent a suburban house where they are joined by their "maid" Dolly. Christine attends her sister's wedding, where Dolly is accidentally exposed as

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...

to the groom's mother. Christine's father and sister angrily denounce her for spoiling the wedding. Christine's father later visits the brothel for sex and reconciles with his daughter. The brothel enjoys brisk business but soon attracts the notice of the police, who raid the house on

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...

. When Christine appears in court to be arraigned, she is relieved when she realizes the judge is one of her main clients, she then imagines the courtroom filled with all of her clients as judges.

Cast

Julie Walters Dame Julia Mary Walters (born 22 February 1950), known professionally as Julie Walters, is an English actress. She is the recipient of four British Academy Television Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, two International Emmy Awards, a B ...

as Christine Painter * Shirley Stelfox as Shirley *

Alec McCowen Alexander Duncan McCowen, (26 May 1925 – 6 February 2017) was an English actor. He was known for his work in numerous film and stage productions. Early life McCowen was born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, the son of Mary (née Walkden), a dance ...

as Wing Commander Morten * Danny Schiller as Dolly *

Tim Woodward Timothy Oliver Woodward (born 24 April 1953) is an English actor. Tim Woodward was born in Kensington, London, England, the son of actors Edward Woodward and Venetia Barrett. He was educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College. He is pr ...

as Timms * Victoria Hardcastle as Rose * Dave Atkins as Sydney *

Ewan Hooper Ewan Hooper (born 23 October 1935 in Dundee) is a Scottish actor who is a graduate from, and now an Associate Member of, RADA. Hooper was the motivating force in the foundation of the Greenwich Theatre, which opened in 1969. Hooper was the fou ...

as Edward * Alan Bowyer as David Painter * Antony Carrick as Edgar * Beverley Foster as Elizabeth * Leon Lissek as Mr. Popozogolou *

Michelle Collins Michelle Danielle Collins (born 28 May 1962) is an English actress and TV presenter, best known for her roles in the British soap operas ''EastEnders'' and ''Coronation Street''. Collins played Cindy Beale in the BBC soap ''EastEnders'' fro ...

as June * Peter Cellier as Mr. Marples *

Benjamin Whitrow Benjamin John Whitrow (17 February 1937 – 28 September 2017) was an English actor. He was nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor for his role as Mr Bennet in the 1995 BBC version of ''Pride and Prejudice'', and voiced the role of Fo ...

as Mr. Marsden *

Stephen Lewis Stephen Henry Lewis (born November 11, 1937) is a Canadian politician, public speaker, broadcaster, and diplomat. He was the leader of the social democratic Ontario New Democratic Party for most of the 1970s. During many of those years as lea ...

as Mr. Dunkley *

John Shrapnel John Morley Shrapnel (27 April 1942 – 14 February 2020) was an English actor. He is known mainly for his stage work with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre in the United Kingdom and for his many television appearances. ...

as Lionel * Anthony Collin as Mr Webb * Nigel Le Vaillant as The Man *

Ron Pember Ronald Henry Pember (11 April 1934 – 8 March 2022) was an English actor, stage director and dramatist. In a career stretching over thirty years, he was a character actor in British television productions in the 1970s – 1980s, usually in bi ...

as Ron *

Arthur Whybrow Arthur Whybrow (1923 – 23 April 2009) was a British actor. Filmography References External links * 1923 births 2009 deaths British male actors {{UK-screen-actor-stub ...

as Max * John Bailey as Mr Gardner * Carolyn Allen as Carol * Ivor Roberts as Glossop * Arthur Cox as Lennox *

Stanley Lebor Stanley Harvey Lebor (24 September 1934 – 22 November 2014) was an English actor. He was best known for his roles as Howard Hughes in the 1980s BBC TV comedy series ''Ever Decreasing Circles'', the Mongon Doctor in ''Flash Gordon'' (1980), and ...

as Jones *

Sheila Gill Sheila (alternatively spelled Shelagh and Sheelagh) is a common feminine given name, derived from the Irish name ''Síle'', which is believed to be a Gaelic form of the Latin name Caelia, the feminine form of the Roman clan name Caelius, meanin ...

as Mrs Winter *

Jagdish Kumar Jagdish is a given name. Notable people with the given name include: *Jagdish Bishnoi Rotoo, Raj.India (dob-20-07-1993) *Jagdish Bhagwati (born 1934), Indian-born American economist *Jagdish Bhola, Indian wrestler *Jagdish Bishnoi (born 1972), India ...

as Mr Shah * Badi Uzzaman as Mr Patel * Charlotte Seeley (aka

Charlotte Alexandra Charlotte Alexandra Mary Seeley, usually credited as Charlotte Alexandra, is an English film actress. She is best known for her appearance in several controversial, sexually-explicit feature films in the mid to late 1970s.Dirks, Tim Film Site. ...

) as Diane

Reception

''Personal Services'' opened at 5 cinemas in central London on 3 April 1987 and was the highest-grossing film in London for the week with a gross of £57,775. It reached number one nationally in the UK after 10 weeks of release and was number one for two weeks. The film was the second highest-grossing British film of the year in the UK, behind only ''

The Living Daylights ''The Living Daylights'' is a 1987 spy film, the fifteenth entry in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions, and the first of two to star Timothy Dalton as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Directed by John Glen, the film's ...

'', with a gross of £1,952,017 ($3.2 million). It grossed $1,744,164 in the United States and Canada.

Ban

The film was banned in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. ...

upon theatrical release (although the ban was lifted two months later). At the time, there were four films that were banned in Ireland, and Jones had directed three of them (''Personal Services'', '' Monty Python's Life of Brian'', and ''

Monty Python's The Meaning of Life ''Monty Python's The Meaning of Life'', also known simply as ''The Meaning of Life'', is a 1983 British musical sketch comedy film written and performed by the Monty Python troupe, directed by Terry Jones. ''The Meaning of Life'' was the last f ...

'').

References

External links

* * * * {{Terry Jones 1987 films 1987 comedy films 1980s biographical films British comedy films British biographical films Films about prostitution in the United Kingdom BDSM in films Films directed by Terry Jones Films scored by John Du Prez British independent films Films produced by Tim Bevan 1980s English-language films 1980s British films