''Storm Damage'' is a 2000 British

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 advertisin ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Simon Cellan Jones Simon Cellan Jones (born January 1963) is a British television director and film director. Career Simon Cellan Jones began his career as a production assistant in the mid-1980s, working on series such as ''Edge of Darkness''. By the late 1980s he ...

, written by

Lennie James Lennie Michael James (born 11 October 1965) is a British actor, screenwriter, and playwright. His work includes playing Morgan Jones in the television series, '' The Walking Dead'' and in its spin-off, '' Fear the Walking Dead'', and starring ...

, and stars

Adrian Lester Adrian Anthony Lester (born Anthony Harvey; 14 August 1968) is a British actor, director and writer. He is the recipient of a Laurence Olivier Award, an Evening Standard Theatre Award and a Critics' Circle Theatre Award for his work on the Lo ...

Mona Hammond Mona Hammond (born Mavis Chin; 1 January 1931 – 4 July 2022) was a Jamaican-British actress and co-founder of the Talawa Theatre Company. Born in Tweedside, Jamaica,

and

Kate Ashfield Kate Ashfield (born 28 May 1972) is an English actress, who has appeared in stage, TV and film roles, most famously in her role as Liz in the 2004 zombie comedy ''Shaun of the Dead''. She is the co-writer of the 2017 TV series ''Born to Kill''. ...

. The film is about a young teacher who returns to the children's care home where he grew up, and becomes involved with the lives of the troubled teenage children. It was broadcast by

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

on 23 January 2000.

Plot

Danny (

) is an English teacher in a South London comprehensive. When three youths break into his class and threaten one of his pupils, Patrick "Shinehead" (Alexis Rodney), Danny intervenes and is himself threatened with a knife before the youths leave. A shaken Danny confronts Patrick and demands that he tells him the name of the ringleader. Danny discovers that the 16-year-old boy, Stefan Ortiz ( Ashley Walters), lives at the care home known as Number 66, where he himself spent much of his youth. He visits the home and is welcomed by his former foster mother Agnes Miller (

Mona Hammond Mona Hammond (born Mavis Chin; 1 January 1931 – 4 July 2022) was a Jamaican-British actress and co-founder of the Talawa Theatre Company. Born in Tweedside, Jamaica,

), who runs the home. He confronts Stefan and is shocked and infuriated by the boy's unruly and hostile attitude. Danny becomes increasingly obsessed with Stefan and visits the home frequently. Eventually, he resigns his teaching job and takes a job at the home, but his hot-headed and sometimes confrontational approach does not go down well with some of Number 66's troubled children, particularly Stefan. At the same time, Danny begins an affair with Kay (

), another worker at the home. Meanwhile, Stefan has fallen under the control of Steven Bonaface (

), a local gangster, and is being drawn deeper into a life of petty crime. On Christmas Day Stefan burgles his mother's house. At a New Year's Eve party, one of the girls at Number 66, Annalise (

Ashley Madekwe Ashley Madekwe (; born 6 December 1983) is a British actress. She is well known for her roles as call girl Bambi in the ITV2 series ''Secret Diary of a Call Girl'', social climber Ashley Davenport on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC drama ...

), overdoses on solvents. Her friend, Melody (Nicole Charles), is persuaded to leave Annalise by her boyfriend Shinehead, and Annalise subsequently dies in hospital. Later, Stefan blames Shinehead and vows revenge. Stefan, on the run from the police, leaves Number 66 to hide out at the home of Rosa (

Anastasia Hille Anastasia Hille (born 1965) is an English film, television and theatre actress, and ceramicist. Born in London, she was a student at London's Drama Centre and won second prize at the Ian Charleson Awards in 1994 (the first prize was awarded to ...

), Annalise's mother, a drug addict. Some days later, Danny comes upon a confrontation between Stefan and Shinehead. When Shinehead pulls a knife on Stefan, Danny intervenes and Shinehead leaves. Back at Number 66, Stefan fights with his best friend from Number 66, Paul (

Roland Manookian Roland Manookian (born 21 March 1980) is an actor most notable for his role as Zeberdee in the 2004 film '' The Football Factory'', and as Craig Rolfe in ''Rise of the Footsoldier'' in 2007. He has also appeared in Guy Richie's ''Rocknrolla'' a ...

), over a stolen jacket. Stefan runs off and Danny follows him and confronts him with Bonaface. Stefan is defiant and Danny leaves. However, a furious Stefan follows Danny back to Number 66. In his anger Stefan ransacks the kitchen, throwing anything he can find at Danny until he finally breaks down in tears. Danny comforts him. Later, Stefan, who seems to have ended his hostilities with Danny, is out in an amusement arcade with Paul and Milton MacDaddy (another child from Number 66) when they are confronted by Shinehead and his gang. Stefan is stabbed repeatedly by Shinehead. At Stefan's funeral the preacher, Mister ( T-Bone Wilson), begs the young people to value themselves and their lives.

Cast

as Danny *

Mona Hammond Mona Hammond (born Mavis Chin; 1 January 1931 – 4 July 2022) was a Jamaican-British actress and co-founder of the Talawa Theatre Company. Born in Tweedside, Jamaica,

as Agnes *

as Kay * Ashley Walters as Stefan *

as Bonaface *Jackie Williams as Massive *

as Paul *

as Annalise * T-Bone Wilson as Mister *Victor Romero Evans as Elias *Daryl McCollin as MacDaddy *Nicole Charles as Melody *

Ashley Chin Ashley Anthony Chin (born 21 August 1982), also known by his stage name Muslim Belal, is an English actor, screenwriter, spoken word poet and rapper of Jamaican descent. He began his acting career in the 1999 BBC film ''Storm Damage'' and his mu ...

as Leon *Tara Keatley as Celia *Alexis Rodney as Shinehead *Cecilia Noble as Cynthia *

as Rosa

Production

The film was written by actor Lennie James and was closely based on his own experiences. James was fostered after spending some time in a council-run home following the death of his mother. His foster mother subsequently set up a children's home, and James helped out while training to be an actor, but found it difficult.

Reception

Stephen Bourne in his 2001 book ''Black in the British Frame: The Black Experience in British Film and Television'' said, "''Storm Damage'' proved to be the best film or television drama written about the displacement and alienation of Britain's black working-class youth since

Horace Ové Sir Horace Shango Ové (born 1936) is a Trinidad and Tobago-born British filmmaker, photographer, painter and writer. One of the leading black independent filmmakers to emerge in Britain in the post-war period, Ové holds the ''Guinness World R ...

's film ''Pressure''."

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Storm Damage 2000 television films 2000 films 2000s coming-of-age drama films British coming-of-age drama films Black British films BBC television dramas Films set in London Films shot in London Youth culture in the United Kingdom Films directed by Simon Cellan Jones 2000s English-language films 2000s British films British drama television films

Plot

Cast

Production

Reception

Awards and nominations

See also

References

External links