Days of the Bagnold Summer – Streaming on BFI Player

Tom Grieve, Cinema Editor
Days of the Bagnold Summer

8 June — 31 August 2020 Tickets from £9.99 — Book now

Blistering sunshine, palm trees and theme parks — these are all things that metalhead teenager Daniel Bagnold (Earl Cave) might have expected of his summer. Daniel’s unreliable father — now living with a younger woman in Florida — had invited him stateside for the school holidays, only to cancel at the last minute. Days of the Bagnold Summer, the directorial debut of The Inbetweeners star Simon Bird, takes in the altogether less glamorous setting of British suburbia, as Daniel spends his days either moping in Metallica t-shirts, clashing with his mother Sue (Monica Dolan) or falling out with his best friend, Ky (Elliot Speller-Gillott.)

It’s a film that will be instantly relatable to those who spent their teenage years wearing black hoodies. Bird captures the specifically suburban blend of mundane that is chain restaurants, smart shoe shopping, and well-tended front gardens. But it isn’t just Daniel who’s suffering. His librarian mother Sue has to listen to tales of her ex-husband’s new life, new wife and new convertible. Meanwhile, she’s struggling to get him to pay child support, her son is refusing to engage, and her first new romantic prospect in a decade is a bonafide sleaze played by Rob Brydon.

In addition to the Wesh actor, Bird wisely enlists British comedy faces such as Alice Lowe as his aunt and Tasmin Grieg as Ky’s mother. The laughs themselves are pretty broad, but the film never feels patronising and always takes its characters’ problems seriously. Working from Joff Winterhart’s award-winning graphic novel, with the help of a breezy Belle and Sebastian score, Bird’s debut feature doesn’t overreach, but it does manage to be both evocative and gently affecting.

As the film is being released directly to streaming, there are several special online events scheduled for the week of release. On Monday 8th June, tune in at 8.30pm for the a digital premiere hosted by Edith Bowman in partnership with Yahoo Movies UK. At 7pm on Wednesday 10th June there is a Q&A in partnership with the BFI, while film critic Robbie Collin hosts another on Friday 12th June in partnership with Curzon Home Cinema.

8 June — 31 August 2020 Tickets from £9.99 Book now

Where to go near Days of the Bagnold Summer – Streaming on BFI Player

Manchester
Restaurant
Fairfield Social Club

Launching in spring 2024, Fairfield Social Club is a multi-purpose site next to Angel Meadows Park in the Green Quarter.

Cumbria
Theatre
The Coro

Nestled in the heart of Ulverston, a rural market town on the fringes of the Lake District, stands The Coro —an esteemed historic hub for arts, culture, and entertainment

Cumbria
Shop
Sam Read Bookseller

Award-winning small bookshop in the Lake District. Est. by Sam Read in 1887. Run by Will Smith and Polly Atkin.

Restaurant
Capri

Capri serves up homely, family-style Italian food in North Yorkshire.

Manchester
Restaurant
Manchester Wine Tours

Manchester Wine Tours is a relaxed, fun wine tour, taking in four or five venues across three hours, plus six high-quality glasses of wine.

Sheffield
Shop
Juno Books

Friendly local queer and intersectional feminist bookshop in Sheffield. Visit for interesting fiction and non fiction books.

Restaurant
The Dusty Miller

Family friendly pub situated in the beautiful village of Mytholmroyd.

Winckley Square
Lancashire
Park
Winckley Square

Hosting a variety of year-round events, from guided walks to jazz evenings, Winckley Square is a Georgian square packed with history in Preston city centre.

What's on: Cinema

CinemaManchester
It’s A Wonderful Life at HOME

This ultimate feel-good, festive favourite, from Oscar-winning director Frank Capra, stars James Stewart as despairing businessmen George Bailey. HOME present their annual screenings.

from £9.15
CinemaLiverpool
Charade at Showroom Cinema

Over in Sheffield this December, Stanley Donen’s Charade is an early Christmas treat scheduled as part of Showroom’s Spotlight series.

from £10.30

Culture Guides

Music in Manchester and the North

Spotlighting global artists who all, in one way or another, break the mould, we preview the best gigs happening this side of Christmas and beyond.