''Babs'' is a

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

biopic A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or group of people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudrama films and histo ...

about the life of British actress Dame Barbara Windsor. Details of the film were announced by Charlotte Moore, the BBC's Acting Director of Television, on 26 May 2016, a week after Windsor made her final appearance in ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a British television soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the ...

'' as the long-running character

Peggy Mitchell Peggy Mitchell (also Butcher) is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. Peggy was initially played by Jo Warne when she first appeared in the episode broadcast on 30 April 1991, featuring in 10 episodes. Peggy was rein ...

. The film, written by ''EastEnders'' scriptwriter

Tony Jordan Tony Jordan (born 21 July 1957) is a British television writer. For many years, he was lead writer and series consultant for BBC One soap opera ''EastEnders''. He has written over 250 episodes for the programme since 1989, including the 2008 S ...

, shows Windsor in the 1990s as she prepares to go on stage and recalls events from her life, including her childhood and marriage to gangster Ronnie Knight, as well as her rise to fame as part of the '' Carry On'' cast. It was broadcast on 7 May 2017, to coincide with Windsor's 80th birthday. Upon the announcement of the project, Windsor spoke of her delight that Jordan had been chosen to write the screenplay: "Tony knows the real me and what makes me tick and I was particularly taken by the way he wants to tell my tale which is not in the way people will expect it to be. ..I am honoured and excited that Tony and the BBC have commissioned this." Windsor's cameo appearance was her last performance as an actor.

Synopsis

Focussing mainly on the strained and estranged relationship with her father, Windsor recalls in talks in surreal encounters with the ghost of her father who accompanies her through flashbacks of her 50 years of ups and downs of her career as an actress and singer. The film opens in 1993 on the stage of an empty theatre where she is due to appear in an evening performance. The first scenes cover her childhood beginning with being evacuated during World War II and her first auditions as a talented, Cockney pre-teen. From her first appearance on stage at age 13 and her studies under

Joan Littlewood Joan Maud Littlewood (6 October 1914 – 20 September 2002) was an English theatre director who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and is best known for her work in developing the Theatre Workshop. She has been called "The Mother of M ...

at the Theatre Royal, to her troubled marriage to Ronnie Knight, and the private ordeals of her complex romantic life and later romantic exploits, culminating with her marriage to Scott Mitchell, the film ends back in 1993 with a cameo of the real Barbara Windsor singing the jazz standard "

On the Sunny Side of the Street "On the Sunny Side of the Street" is a 1930 song composed by Jimmy McHugh with lyrics by Dorothy Fields. Some authors say that Fats Waller was the composer, but he sold the rights to the song. It was introduced in the Broadway musical '' Lew Lesli ...

" in the theatre.

Cast

Jaime Winstone Jaime Margaret Winstone (born 6 May 1985) is an English actress, best known for her roles in ''Kidulthood'' (2006), ''Goldplated'' (2006), ''Dead Set (TV series), Dead Set'' (2008), ''Donkey Punch (2008 film), Donkey Punch'' (2008), ''Boogie ...

as Barbara *

Barbara Windsor Dame Barbara Windsor (born Barbara Ann Deeks; 6 August 193710 December 2020) was an English actress, known for her roles in the Carry On (franchise), ''Carry On'' films and for playing Peggy Mitchell in the BBC One soap opera ''EastEnders''.

as Herself * Honor Kneafsey as Barbara Ann Deeks *

Samantha Spiro Samantha Spiro (born 20 June 1968) is an English actress and singer. She played Barbara Windsor in the stage play '' Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick'' and the television films '' Cor, Blimey!'' and '' Babs'', D.I. Vivien Friend in '' M.I.T.: ...

as Babs (Spiro reprises her role from the stage play ''

Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick ''Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick'' is a 1998 play written by the English dramatist Terry Johnson, who also directed the original production at the National Theatre. The play is about the off-screen love affair between ''Carry On'' film st ...

'' and the ITV film adaptation ''

Cor, Blimey! ''Cor, Blimey!'' is a 2000 TV film that follows the relationship between ''Carry On'' film actors Sid James (played by Geoffrey Hutchings) and Barbara Windsor (played by Samantha Spiro). The film, first broadcast on ITV on 24 April 2000, was ...

'' from 2000.) *

Nick Moran Nick Moran (born 23 December 1969) is an English actor and filmmaker. His roles include Eddie the card sharp in ''Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'' and as List of Harry Potter characters#S 2, Scabior in ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hall ...

as John Deeks * Leanne Best as Rose Deeks *

Zoë Wanamaker Zoë Wanamaker (born 13 May 1949) is an American-born British actress who has worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. Wanamaker was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2001 by Qu ...

Reception

Reviewing the programme in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', Fiona Sturges said, "I so wanted to love ''Babs'' (''7 May, 8pm, BBC1)'', the BBC's biopic of Barbara Windsor, the British national treasure best known for her rocket-propelled bikini in ''

Carry On Camping ''Carry On Camping'' is a 1969 British comedy film, the 17th release in the series of 31 ''Carry On'' films (1958–1992). It features series regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Terry Scott, Hattie Jacques, ...

'' and steady stream of bitch slaps as Peggy, the brassy matriarch in ''EastEnders''. In the end, though, I was just baffled." Sturges praised the performances by Jaime Winstone and Samantha Spiro, but added that "the plot makes fractionally less sense than the episode of ''EastEnders'' where Peggy shoved Dirty Den's second wife into his open grave so she could apologise to his corpse for murdering him. OK, so it was the second time Den had died, but at least we weren't seeing dear old Babs in triplicate." Writing in the same newspaper,

Chitra Ramaswamy Chitra Ramaswamy is a British journalist of South Asian descent. Her books are ''Homelands: The History of a Friendship'', published by Canongate Books, and ''Expecting: The Inner Life of Pregnancy'', published by Saraband. Ramaswamy is currentl ...

described ''Babs'' as "a heartwarming and only occasionally cliche-ridden biopic". Ramaswamy said of the plot that "it's such a standard showbiz arc you feel you’ve seen it all before", whilst also praising the performance by Winstone. ''The Telegraph'' awarded ''Babs'' four stars out of five, with Gerard O'Donovan writing "''Babs'' was undoubtedly rose-tinted in parts, but it was also heart-warming and a joyfully camp tribute to a national treasure." However,

Andrew Billen Andrew William Scott Billen (born 30 December 1957) is a British journalist, children's author, and staff feature writer on ''The Times'' newspaper. Early life Andrew Billen was born in London on 30 December 1957 and brought up in Brentwood, E ...

in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' gave it two stars out of five.

Release

''Babs'' was released on DVD by IMC Vision on 15 May 2017.

References

External links