Page

Babs

Babs

Save

Summary

Written by Tony Jordan, this is the heartwarming story of Dame Barbara Windsor, the Cockney kid with a dazzling smile and talent to match. Preparing to perform in the theatre one cold evening in 1993, the cheeky, chirpy blonde Babs recounts the people and events that have shaped her life and career over 50 years from 1943 to 1993. She contemplates her lonely childhood and Second World War evacuation, her decision to go from Barbara Ann Deeks to Barbara Windsor - inspired by the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, her complicated relationship with her father, her doomed marriage to Ronnie Knight, capturing the attention of Joan Littlewood and becoming the blonde bombshell in the Carry On films. Babs, ever the consummate professional, never let her fans down whatever her personal anguish and steps on the stage to rapturous applause.

Ad

Review

Alison Graham

It’s 1993 and Barbara Windsor’s career is in the doldrums as she does one-night shows in cheap seaside venues. But the ghosts of her past come crowding in and the years peel away to reveal her younger self…

Tony Jordan’s sympathetic, sentimental biopic is brilliantly acted by Samantha Spiro (as older Babs) and Jaime Winstone, though the conceit – the loved and lost “visit” Barbara in the theatre – takes a while to get going.

Nick Moran is Barbara’s adored dad, a man who turned his back on his daughter after an acrimonious divorce from her mum, but who returns to comment on the various stages of Barbara’s life – her nightclub singing career, her movies and her men, notably that thieving rogue, Ronnie Knight.

Zoë Wanamaker makes every scene count as the mercurial, brilliant, bizarre director Joan Littlewood, and the real Dame Barbara Windsor makes a handful of cameo appearances.

How to watch

Loading

Streaming

Details

Languages

Formats

Colour

News & features about Babs

See more about Babs

Ad

Ad

Ad