When Denis Midgley's father is rushed to hospital, Midgley drops everything to be by his side. They've never really got on, so Midgley wants to be sure he's there if his father ever regains consciousness. As he hates his job as a schoolteacher, and his home-life with his wife, her senile mother and their insolent teenage son, he has no qualms about lingering around the hospital. But as days turn into weeks, his father obstinately refuses to 'slip away', and Denis' motivation for staying by his father's bedside has more and more to do with Valery, a young nurse.
Cast
Alan Bennett
Denis Midgley
Thora Hird
Aunty Kitty
Helen Fraser
Joyce Midgley
Julie Walters
Valery
David Major
Colin Midgley
Elizabeth Spriggs
Alice Duckworth
Frank Crompton
Frank Midgley
Kirk Wild
Denis as a Boy
Alison Lloyd
Denis' Mother
Jeanne Doree
Joyce's Mother
Derek Fowlds
Hartley
Colin Douglas
Uncle Ernest
Joan Sanderson
Miss Tunstall
Jim Broadbent
Mr Horsfall
Aubrey Morris
Headmaster
Madge Hindle
Jean
Jeremy Mosby
Mark
Karen Tunstall
Elizabeth
Lucita Lijertwood
Mrs Azakwale
Shope Shodeinde
Black Doctor
Peter Chelsom
Very Young Doctor
Karen Petrie
Heather - Day Nurse
Johnny Leeze
Orderly
Brenda Hall
Senior Nursing Officer
Alan Starkey
Hospital Clerk
Alan Hulse
Young Man on Telephone
Olive Pendleton
Woman on Telephone
Frank Birch
Fat Man
Ted Beyer
Teacher
Pamela Quinn
1st Nurse
Trish Roberts
2nd Nurse
