The only one food that Nigel Slater’s mother could cook without ruining it was toast, and so consequently this was his staple diet as a young middle-class boy grooming up in Wolverhampton, a town in the British Midlands, in the 1960’s. Late at night Nigel would surreptitiously read cookery books in bed by torchlight pining for exotic mouthwatering food. When his poor kitchen-challenged mother suddenly died he and his cold-fish of a father were now on their own and their diet consisted of cheese on toast for the best part of a year until Mrs. Potter turned up. She came to be their cleaner and a shocked (rather snobby) Nigel took a instant dislike to the house being evaded by this colorful loud-mouthed chain-smoking woman simply because she was common.
Mrs. Potter however not only took her cleaning duties very seriously but she was also a dab hand in the kitchen and very soon it was obvious to both father and son that this would how she would worm her way into their lives on a more permanent basis. A plan that Dad soon acquiesced too with great delight but one that made Nigel come to hate this interloper with a vengeance.
Mrs. Potter already had a husband so to avoid him and make a fresh start Dad secretly bought a new house miles away in the country and moved both Nigel and Mrs. Potter in to live happily ever after. But that was never going to happen, and as Nigel grew up and went to High School he took cookery lessons to ostensibly to cultivate his passion for food, but in reality it was to take Mrs. Potter on in fighting for his father’s attention as she had been bombarding him with gourmet meals. It could only end in tears, or worse.
This delightful biopic based on the memoir of Food Writer and TV Personality Nigel Slater is as light and fluffy as the lemon meringue pie he was obsessed with perfecting. An entertaining period piece that Brits excel at with its wistful Dusty Springfield soundtrack and a script by Lee Hall who has also penned ‘Billy Elliot’, this was a joy to watch. Young Nigel is played by two actors, the older one was Freddie Highmore who seems to corner the market on teen roles right now, but it is Oscar Kennedy in his screen debut playing the young Nigel who really steals the spotlight with his wonderful grieving. But both boys are out shone by the delectable Helena Bonham-Carter who’s pitch perfect as the garrulous Mrs. Potter with her good/bad character is gorgeously funny and steals the movie and truly made it the treat that it is.
