Dustbin Baby (film)
Encyclopedia
Dustbin Baby is a BBC
television film directed by Juliet May
, based on Jacqueline Wilson
's 2001 novel of the same name
. It was first broadcast on BBC One
on 21 December 2008. The film stars Dakota Blue Richards
as April, a troubled teenager who was abandoned in a dustbin as an infant, and Juliet Stevenson
as Marion Bean, April's adoptive mother. David Haig
stars as Elliot, Marion's friend and colleague. The screenplay was written by Helen Blakeman
, and the film was produced by Kindle Entertainment
. Dustbin Baby deals with themes including maternal bonding, bullying, and youth crime
. The story revolves around April running away on her fourteenth birthday, while Marion searches for her. April's life is recounted in flashbacks
as she meets people and visits places that are significant to her.
Both Wilson and critics responded positively to the film, with Wilson saying she thought it was the best film adaptation of any of her works. It was released on DVD on 12 January 2009. Dustbin Baby was awarded the International Emmy in the Children and Young People category at the 2009 ceremony. Helen Blakeman won a Children's BAFTA for the screenplay, while the film itself was shortlisted for a Children's BAFTA in the Drama category and shortlisted for the Kids' Vote award. The film was also awarded the 2010 KidScreen Award for Best One-off, Special, or TV movie aimed at a Family Audience and the KidScreen Award for Best Acting.
, Marion hears that April has not arrived at school. She talks to her friend and colleague Elliot, who unsuccessfully tries to dissuade her from leaving. April visits the home of Pat Williams, who cared for her as a baby. Pat remembers April and gives her a newspaper cutting telling the story of her discovery as a baby in a dustbin behind a pizza parlour. In a flashback, a young April is seen living with Janet and Daniel Johnson. The Johnsons' relationship is an abusive one, leading to Janet's suicide. Meanwhile, Marion goes to April's school, where she talks to April's friends, and realises that they were lied to. April then leaves Pat's home, and travels alone to Janet's grave. Marion continues to search, and, in a shopping centre, meets Elliot, who has joined her. April then visits the now abandoned Sunnyholme Children's Home, where she lived when she was younger. In a flashback, an eight-year old April lives at the Sunnyholme. Cared for by a woman named Mo, April befriends an older girl called Gina and is introduced to Pearl, a girl of her age. Pearl behaves in front of Mo, but actually bullies April. Gina wakes April one night to involve her in a burglary, and, later, Pearl attacks April, holding her head under water, and then tears up April's beloved paper dolls. April confronts Pearl, who she pushes down a flight of stairs, and is reprimanded by Mo. A voice-over
from 14-year-old April says Gina was then "moved on", and, eventually, April is also moved on.
The flashback jumps forward to April's time at Fairdale Residential School. She befriends Poppy, who has Asperger syndrome
. In the present, Marion buys a mobile phone for April. Back at Fairdale, April is being taught by Miss Bean (Marion). A piece of work on family trees leads to the pair fighting. At night, April tries to escape the school to find Gina, but is caught by Marion, who sends her back. Marion reads April's records, and, having learnt of her history, apologises for the family tree incident. Banned from going out on a Saturday with her peers, April is instead taken to the stately home by Marion. A present-day Marion goes alone to her house, to find that there are no messages on the phone. The younger Marion introduces April to Elliot as they continue to visit the home. The present-day Marion goes to April's room, and looks in April's box, which contains mementos from different times in her life. The younger April and Marion walk through the home's garden, and Marion tells April she is leaving Fairdale. April becomes angry, thinking that Marion, like others before her, is now going to leave her life. Marion invites April to move in with her, and she accepts. When shown around her new bedroom, April's first concern is to have somewhere to put her box. The present April considers returning to Marion, but realises there is another place she wants to visit. It occurs to Marion where April will be going, and she drives away from her house. April goes to the street where she was found as a baby, and stands among the bins. Marion opens April's mobile and rings Reno's, the pizza parlour. April then notices a phone number on the side of a dustbin. Marion asks for directions to the pizza parlour, while April dials the number she found. It is not her mother who answers, as she hoped, but Frankie, the pizza boy who found her. She meets Frankie in the pizza parlour, and Marion arrives. April explains who Frankie is, and Marion gives April her new phone. The three sit down together. A voice-over from April says that, though she will probably never know her real mother, she has a mother in Marion, and this is just the beginning.
, and was written by Helen Blakeman
, who had previously worked on Pleasureland. Dustbin Baby was co-commissioned by CBBC
and BBC One
, and was produced by Kindle Entertainment
, a production company specialising in children's television. According to The Guardian
, the film was billed as "a key part of BBC1's Christmas family line-up". Blakeman said that when she had read the novel, she "knew it was something [she] had to write". The film's executive producers were Anne Brogan and Melanie Stokes for Kindle, with Sue Nott as executive producer for CBBC. The producer was Julia Ouston. Director Juliet May
, at the time of filming, had 14-year-old twins, and so found "the fact that the lead, April, is 14 years old ... very interesting" as she felt she could "kind of understand 14-year-old children".
Though the "gritty realism" of Wilson's novels was different to Dakota Blue Richards
's first role as Lyra Belacqua
in The Golden Compass, she was happy to take on the character of April. She said she "can really relate to the characters" in Wilson's novels, but found that April was "a really different person" to her. Wilson, who had previously seen Richards in The Golden Compass, was "over the moon to hear she was going to be in Dustbin Baby. Richards was to play the 14-year-old April, but other actresses were required to play younger versions of the character. Lucy Hutchinson, who was five at the time of filming, played the youngest April. Director Juliet May described her as "one of the most remarkable five year olds I have ever met", saying that "it's like she's not acting at all". Alex Hewitt was selected to play the "middle April". May described her as having "utter truth in her acting". Though ten years old, Hewett plays April at eight.
Juliet Stevenson said she was attracted to the part of Marion as "it's very boring playing versions of yourself", and because she did at the time have a 14-year-old daughter. David Haig filmed Dustbin Baby, along with three other television appearances that summer, to earn money to help support his family while he appeared in the play Loot
. He described his role as a "snug cameo with a purpose". Dustbin Baby was filmed over summer 2008 in London and the surrounding areas, with scenes at Hatfield House
and in Barnet
. Before the completion of the filming, Wilson was quoted as saying she was "thrilled at the prospect of Dustbin Baby being brought to life by such a talented cast and production team. I am looking forward to seeing the end result immensely."
The BBC purposefully searched for an actress with Asperger syndrome to play the part of Poppy. Lizzy Clark
auditioned for the part after her mother saw an advert on an autism website. Clark was selected to play Poppy, and the role in Dustbin Baby was her first experience of professional acting. Clark was the first actress with Asperger syndrome to portray a fictional character with the condition. Clark, who has since campaigned with her mother against characters with conditions such as Asperger syndrome being played by actors without the condition, said "My Asperger's made some things on the film set difficult at first, like dealing with the sudden noise of the storyboard, but I was soon so focused on acting that I didn't notice anything else."
. For Blakeman, April's "heartbreaking journey in searching for her real mum is also about being brave enough to let love in." Tom Sutcliffe
, writing for The Independent
, spoke of the limits of taboo themes in family dramas, and said the film's "account of a life lived in care couldn't have had swearing, or casual drug use, and when a shadow fell over a child's bed at night, it wasn't the care-home manager coming to exercise some horrible droit de seigneur
, as it might have been in an adult drama". The film also addressed the theme of Asperger syndrome through the character of Poppy. The BBC claimed that Clark, who has the condition herself, was able to offer "a unique take" on the role. Steveson summarised the themes of the film, saying that "At the centre of the story, Marion finds out that she loves this girl. And that is an amazing liberation when you discover someone more important to you than you are. That is what is incredible about becoming a parent – you care about your child more than you care about yourself."
On Behind the Bin, a making-of documentary about Dustbin Baby, Wilson said that "lots and lots of people will identify with" the central theme of adoption, as at fourteen "you start to look at your mum and dad and think 'I'm nothing like them', and everyone seems to have fantasies about that they were adopted or something, and so I think that it's a typical teenage thing that you question who you are". Richards says that she likes the idea that April "went on a journey to try and find herself" as "a lot of people [her age] try and do that because a lot of people get to the point where they're not really sure who they are any more". Richards also discusses the motif
of April's paper doll
s, saying that April can relate to them as in different places, she is "still the same person", but that she is "coloured in differently by different people and different surroundings". Alexandra Hewett, who played the Young April, described the dolls as April's "only real friends".Hewitt, Alexandra. Behind the Bin. Event occurs at approximately 4:48.
Stevenson described the character of Marion as "cranky, stubborn and lonely", saying that living alone has made her "become quite idiotic and eccentric". When the character of April arrives, Stevenson explains that "Marion has to go from nought to 80 in terms of parenting. There are lots of reasons she wouldn't get it right" which leads on to the guilt and anxiety that Marion suffers when April runs away. Stevenson compared her own difficulties of parenting to Marion's, saying "it is easier for me than someone like Marion because I have had 14 years experience". Richards spoke of the character of April, saying that "the residential schools and children's homes were completely different from my life. [April] doesn't feel connected to anybody and she struggles to know who she is".
David Chater awarded the programme the TV choice of the day, describing it as "tremendous", and "the wonderful surprise of Christmas". The film was described in The Telegraph
as a "rare treat", as it is "something that teenagers and parents can watch together". This view was shared by producer Anne Brogan, who said that the film was something "that parents and children will enjoy watching while giving them much to talk about". Tom Sutcliffe, writing for The Independent
, said Stevenson was "good as a woman who was far more comfortable in the past than the present", and that "her performance was more than matched by that of Dakota Blue Richards as April, mostly banked-down and wary but prone to sudden wild flashes of anger". He criticised some of the "implausibilities", saying that the plot was, at times, "a lot kinder than the world might have been", but said that "it still made you well up with its final reconciliation" with emotion that had been "honestly earned". Euan Ferguson, in an article in The Guardian
, said that the film "hooked and haunted", and added that Stevenson played Marion like "a kind of updated" Jean Brodie
. During its initial run on BBC One, Dustbin Baby was watched by 2.3 million viewers, giving it a 15.4% share of the audience.
(produced by Workpoint Entertainment), The Little Emperor's Christmas (produced by Rede Globo
), and Mille
(produced by the Danish Broadcasting Corporation). The film was one of nine nominations for the UK, which had more than any other nation. The film won the award, making it one of six International Emmys for the UK, and one of three for the BBC, in 2009. Dustbin Baby was also shortlisted for the British Academy Children's Awards
in the drama category, along with The Sarah Jane Adventures
(also by the BBC), S4C
's Rhestr Nadolig Wil
, and the online
show following boyband US5
. The ceremony was held on 29 November at The London Hilton on Park Lane
and hosted by Dick and Dom
. Dustbin Baby lost out to Rhestr Nadolig Wil. Blakeman was shortlisted for the British Academy Children's Award for best writer, thanks to her screenplay for Dustbin Baby, and won. The film was also entered into the BAFTA Kids' Vote in the television category. Children aged between seven and fourteen were able to vote for their favourite television show from a choice also featuring Blue Peter
, Dani's House
, Newsround
, Prank Patrol
, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Hannah Montana
, Phineas & Ferb, iCarly
, and SpongeBob SquarePants
. The Kids' Vote was won by Hannah Montana.
In February 2010, Dustbin Baby was awarded the 2010 KidScreen Award for best one-off, special, or TV movie aimed at a family audience. The film also won the Creative Talent award for best acting. These were two of five prizes won by CBBC at the inaugural KidScreen Awards, and Joe Godwin, the BBC Children's director, said "I'm truly delighted that CBBC programmes are being recognised globally for being original and inspiring to children everywhere ... It's especially satisfying to win awards for really distinctive and hard-hitting factual and drama, which has always been, and always will be, a unique and central part of what BBC Children's does."
, due to "mild threat, violence and one sex reference", and was marketed with the tagline
"April is about to lift the lid on her past". The DVD included a 24-minute making-of
feature, "Behind the Bin: The Making of Dustbin Baby", containing interviews with Jacqueline Wilson
and production staff and cast.
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television film directed by Juliet May
Juliet May
Juliet May is a British television director. She has directed a variety of television shows, including Challenge Anneka, Dalziel and Pascoe, Hope and Glory New Tricks and the award-winning Miranda....
, based on Jacqueline Wilson
Jacqueline Wilson
Dame Jacqueline Wilson, DBE, FRSL is an award-winning English author, known for her vast and diverse work in children's literature. Her novels have been adapted numerous times for television, and commonly deal with such challenging themes as adoption, divorce and mental illness...
's 2001 novel of the same name
Dustbin Baby
Dustbin Baby is a children's novel by English author Jacqueline Wilson. The story focuses on April, a fourteen year old girl who was abandoned by her mother in a dustbin when she was only a few minutes old. After a blazing row with her foster mother, she goes in search of her past...
. It was first broadcast on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
on 21 December 2008. The film stars Dakota Blue Richards
Dakota Blue Richards
Dakota Blue Richards is an English actress. Her debut was in the film The Golden Compass, as the lead character Lyra Belacqua....
as April, a troubled teenager who was abandoned in a dustbin as an infant, and Juliet Stevenson
Juliet Stevenson
Juliet Anne Virginia Stevenson, CBE is an English actor of stage and screen.- Early life :Stevenson was born in Kelvedon, Essex, England, the daughter of Virginia Ruth , a teacher, and Michael Guy Stevenson, an army officer. Stevenson's father was in the army and was posted to a new place every...
as Marion Bean, April's adoptive mother. David Haig
David Haig
David Haig is an Olivier Award-winning English actor and FIPA Award-winning writer. He is known for his versatility, having played dramatic, serio-comic and comedic roles, playing characters of varied social classes...
stars as Elliot, Marion's friend and colleague. The screenplay was written by Helen Blakeman
Helen Blakeman
Helen Blakeman is a British playwright and screenwriter from Liverpool. She has written three plays. Caravan, her first, was written while she studied at Birmingham University and won her the George Devine award. Her second play, Normal, was followed by an entrance into screenwriting...
, and the film was produced by Kindle Entertainment
Kindle Entertainment
Kindle Entertainment is an independent children's television production company based in London, England. Kindle was formed after ITV Kids was closed, and current personnel includes Anne Brogan, the former controller of ITV Kids...
. Dustbin Baby deals with themes including maternal bonding, bullying, and youth crime
Juvenile delinquency
Juvenile delinquency is participation in illegal behavior by minors who fall under a statutory age limit. Most legal systems prescribe specific procedures for dealing with juveniles, such as juvenile detention centers. There are a multitude of different theories on the causes of crime, most if not...
. The story revolves around April running away on her fourteenth birthday, while Marion searches for her. April's life is recounted in flashbacks
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
as she meets people and visits places that are significant to her.
Both Wilson and critics responded positively to the film, with Wilson saying she thought it was the best film adaptation of any of her works. It was released on DVD on 12 January 2009. Dustbin Baby was awarded the International Emmy in the Children and Young People category at the 2009 ceremony. Helen Blakeman won a Children's BAFTA for the screenplay, while the film itself was shortlisted for a Children's BAFTA in the Drama category and shortlisted for the Kids' Vote award. The film was also awarded the 2010 KidScreen Award for Best One-off, Special, or TV movie aimed at a Family Audience and the KidScreen Award for Best Acting.
Plot
On April's fourteenth birthday, Marion, her adoptive mother, gives her earrings, not the mobile phone she wanted. They argue, and April leaves for school. After lying to her friends, claiming she has a phone and is going to the dentist's, April chooses to play truant. While at work at a stately homeStately home
A stately home is a "great country house". It is thus a palatial great house or in some cases an updated castle, located in the British Isles, mostly built between the mid-16th century and the early part of the 20th century, as well as converted abbeys and other church property...
, Marion hears that April has not arrived at school. She talks to her friend and colleague Elliot, who unsuccessfully tries to dissuade her from leaving. April visits the home of Pat Williams, who cared for her as a baby. Pat remembers April and gives her a newspaper cutting telling the story of her discovery as a baby in a dustbin behind a pizza parlour. In a flashback, a young April is seen living with Janet and Daniel Johnson. The Johnsons' relationship is an abusive one, leading to Janet's suicide. Meanwhile, Marion goes to April's school, where she talks to April's friends, and realises that they were lied to. April then leaves Pat's home, and travels alone to Janet's grave. Marion continues to search, and, in a shopping centre, meets Elliot, who has joined her. April then visits the now abandoned Sunnyholme Children's Home, where she lived when she was younger. In a flashback, an eight-year old April lives at the Sunnyholme. Cared for by a woman named Mo, April befriends an older girl called Gina and is introduced to Pearl, a girl of her age. Pearl behaves in front of Mo, but actually bullies April. Gina wakes April one night to involve her in a burglary, and, later, Pearl attacks April, holding her head under water, and then tears up April's beloved paper dolls. April confronts Pearl, who she pushes down a flight of stairs, and is reprimanded by Mo. A voice-over
Voice-over
Voice-over is a production technique where a voice which is not part of the narrative is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations...
from 14-year-old April says Gina was then "moved on", and, eventually, April is also moved on.
The flashback jumps forward to April's time at Fairdale Residential School. She befriends Poppy, who has Asperger syndrome
Asperger syndrome
Asperger's syndrome that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive development...
. In the present, Marion buys a mobile phone for April. Back at Fairdale, April is being taught by Miss Bean (Marion). A piece of work on family trees leads to the pair fighting. At night, April tries to escape the school to find Gina, but is caught by Marion, who sends her back. Marion reads April's records, and, having learnt of her history, apologises for the family tree incident. Banned from going out on a Saturday with her peers, April is instead taken to the stately home by Marion. A present-day Marion goes alone to her house, to find that there are no messages on the phone. The younger Marion introduces April to Elliot as they continue to visit the home. The present-day Marion goes to April's room, and looks in April's box, which contains mementos from different times in her life. The younger April and Marion walk through the home's garden, and Marion tells April she is leaving Fairdale. April becomes angry, thinking that Marion, like others before her, is now going to leave her life. Marion invites April to move in with her, and she accepts. When shown around her new bedroom, April's first concern is to have somewhere to put her box. The present April considers returning to Marion, but realises there is another place she wants to visit. It occurs to Marion where April will be going, and she drives away from her house. April goes to the street where she was found as a baby, and stands among the bins. Marion opens April's mobile and rings Reno's, the pizza parlour. April then notices a phone number on the side of a dustbin. Marion asks for directions to the pizza parlour, while April dials the number she found. It is not her mother who answers, as she hoped, but Frankie, the pizza boy who found her. She meets Frankie in the pizza parlour, and Marion arrives. April explains who Frankie is, and Marion gives April her new phone. The three sit down together. A voice-over from April says that, though she will probably never know her real mother, she has a mother in Marion, and this is just the beginning.
Cast
- Dakota Blue RichardsDakota Blue RichardsDakota Blue Richards is an English actress. Her debut was in the film The Golden Compass, as the lead character Lyra Belacqua....
as April Johnson - Juliet StevensonJuliet StevensonJuliet Anne Virginia Stevenson, CBE is an English actor of stage and screen.- Early life :Stevenson was born in Kelvedon, Essex, England, the daughter of Virginia Ruth , a teacher, and Michael Guy Stevenson, an army officer. Stevenson's father was in the army and was posted to a new place every...
as Marion Bean - David HaigDavid HaigDavid Haig is an Olivier Award-winning English actor and FIPA Award-winning writer. He is known for his versatility, having played dramatic, serio-comic and comedic roles, playing characters of varied social classes...
as Elliot - Poppy Lee Friar as Hannah
- Saffron Coomber as Cathy
- George Bustin as baby April
- Jenna Boyd as Sandra
- Marika McKennell as Tanya
- Di BotcherDi BotcherDi Botcher is a Welsh actress originally from Port Talbot. She has appeared in a series of Post Office advertisements in the UK and she is learning the Welsh language in the Big Welsh Challenge TV show along with Rhod Gilbert and Colin Charvis, with Glyn Wise as her mentor...
as Pat Williams - Lucy Hutchinson as little April
- Ian KelseyIan KelseyIan Kelsey is a British television actor.Kelsey was born in York, Yorkshire, England, to parents Julie and John . He also has an older brother named David. He trained at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre York and graduated at the Guildford School of Acting...
as Daniel Johnson - Carol StarksCarol StarksCarol Starks is a British actress.She studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama, and landed her first role with the National Theatre in 'Sweeney Todd'. She later found wider audiences through her ongoing role in soap opera Family Affairs, playing nurse Tanya Woods from 2003 to 2005...
as Janet Johnson - Jane McDowell as Mrs Stevenson
- Simon Roberts as Mr Stevenson
- Joanna Dunn as the policewoman
- Ben McKay as the stranger
- Peter Bramhill as the police officer
- Alexandra Hewett as Young April
- Chris Ryman as Frankie
- Leah CoombesLeah CoombesLeah Coombes is a British actress, best known for having played Chloe Costello in the soap opera Family Affairs. Other roles have included parts in Kingdom, Trial and Retribution, Dustbin Baby and Doctors....
as the hoody girl - Elijah Baker as the hoody boy
- Nicola DuffettNicola DuffettNicola Duffett is an English actress.She remains best known for two long-running soap opera roles. After appearing as Debbie Bates in EastEnders from 1993 to 1995, she went into the role of boozy floozie Cat Matthews in Family Affairs...
as Big Mo - Leah Ferguson as Gina
- Louis Payne as Robbie
- Sylvia Hodgson as Pearl
- Lizzy ClarkLizzy ClarkLizzy Clark is an actress from Shrewsbury, England. Clark's first role was that of Poppy in the film Dustbin Baby. Both Clark and Poppy have Asperger syndrome, and the BBC specifically searched for an actress with the condition to play the part...
as Poppy - Waleed Akhtar as Asif
- Chizzy AkudoluChizzy AkudoluChizzy Akudolu is a British actress. In 2002, she was one of eight new comedy performers who won the BBC Talent Initiative, The Urban Sketch Showcase. All eight performed a comedy sketch show in front of BBC casting directors and producers at the Tabernacle Theatre, Notting Hill.Her first...
as the railway woman
Production
The film's screenplay was based on Jaqueline Wilson's 2001 novel Dustbin BabyDustbin Baby
Dustbin Baby is a children's novel by English author Jacqueline Wilson. The story focuses on April, a fourteen year old girl who was abandoned by her mother in a dustbin when she was only a few minutes old. After a blazing row with her foster mother, she goes in search of her past...
, and was written by Helen Blakeman
Helen Blakeman
Helen Blakeman is a British playwright and screenwriter from Liverpool. She has written three plays. Caravan, her first, was written while she studied at Birmingham University and won her the George Devine award. Her second play, Normal, was followed by an entrance into screenwriting...
, who had previously worked on Pleasureland. Dustbin Baby was co-commissioned by CBBC
CBBC
CBBC is one of two brand names used for the BBC's children's television strands. Between 1985 and 2002, CBBC was the name given to all the BBC's programmes on TV for children aged under 14...
and BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
, and was produced by Kindle Entertainment
Kindle Entertainment
Kindle Entertainment is an independent children's television production company based in London, England. Kindle was formed after ITV Kids was closed, and current personnel includes Anne Brogan, the former controller of ITV Kids...
, a production company specialising in children's television. According to The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, the film was billed as "a key part of BBC1's Christmas family line-up". Blakeman said that when she had read the novel, she "knew it was something [she] had to write". The film's executive producers were Anne Brogan and Melanie Stokes for Kindle, with Sue Nott as executive producer for CBBC. The producer was Julia Ouston. Director Juliet May
Juliet May
Juliet May is a British television director. She has directed a variety of television shows, including Challenge Anneka, Dalziel and Pascoe, Hope and Glory New Tricks and the award-winning Miranda....
, at the time of filming, had 14-year-old twins, and so found "the fact that the lead, April, is 14 years old ... very interesting" as she felt she could "kind of understand 14-year-old children".
Though the "gritty realism" of Wilson's novels was different to Dakota Blue Richards
Dakota Blue Richards
Dakota Blue Richards is an English actress. Her debut was in the film The Golden Compass, as the lead character Lyra Belacqua....
's first role as Lyra Belacqua
Lyra Belacqua
Lyra Belacqua , also known as Lyra Silvertongue, is the heroine of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Lyra is a young girl who inhabits a universe parallel to our own...
in The Golden Compass, she was happy to take on the character of April. She said she "can really relate to the characters" in Wilson's novels, but found that April was "a really different person" to her. Wilson, who had previously seen Richards in The Golden Compass, was "over the moon to hear she was going to be in Dustbin Baby. Richards was to play the 14-year-old April, but other actresses were required to play younger versions of the character. Lucy Hutchinson, who was five at the time of filming, played the youngest April. Director Juliet May described her as "one of the most remarkable five year olds I have ever met", saying that "it's like she's not acting at all". Alex Hewitt was selected to play the "middle April". May described her as having "utter truth in her acting". Though ten years old, Hewett plays April at eight.
Juliet Stevenson said she was attracted to the part of Marion as "it's very boring playing versions of yourself", and because she did at the time have a 14-year-old daughter. David Haig filmed Dustbin Baby, along with three other television appearances that summer, to earn money to help support his family while he appeared in the play Loot
Loot (play)
Loot is a two-act play by the English playwright Joe Orton. The play is a dark farce that satirises the Roman Catholic Church, social attitudes to death, and the integrity of the police force....
. He described his role as a "snug cameo with a purpose". Dustbin Baby was filmed over summer 2008 in London and the surrounding areas, with scenes at Hatfield House
Hatfield House
Hatfield House is a country house set in a large park, the Great Park, on the eastern side of the town of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. The present Jacobean house was built in 1611 by Robert Cecil, First Earl of Salisbury and Chief Minister to King James I and has been the home of the Cecil...
and in Barnet
Barnet
High Barnet or Chipping Barnet is a place in the London Borough of Barnet, North London, England. It is a suburban development built around a twelfth-century settlement and is located north north-west of Charing Cross. Its name is often abbreviated to Barnet, which is also the name of the London...
. Before the completion of the filming, Wilson was quoted as saying she was "thrilled at the prospect of Dustbin Baby being brought to life by such a talented cast and production team. I am looking forward to seeing the end result immensely."
The BBC purposefully searched for an actress with Asperger syndrome to play the part of Poppy. Lizzy Clark
Lizzy Clark
Lizzy Clark is an actress from Shrewsbury, England. Clark's first role was that of Poppy in the film Dustbin Baby. Both Clark and Poppy have Asperger syndrome, and the BBC specifically searched for an actress with the condition to play the part...
auditioned for the part after her mother saw an advert on an autism website. Clark was selected to play Poppy, and the role in Dustbin Baby was her first experience of professional acting. Clark was the first actress with Asperger syndrome to portray a fictional character with the condition. Clark, who has since campaigned with her mother against characters with conditions such as Asperger syndrome being played by actors without the condition, said "My Asperger's made some things on the film set difficult at first, like dealing with the sudden noise of the storyboard, but I was soon so focused on acting that I didn't notice anything else."
Themes
Blakeman said that she read the book in a single sitting, before "crying her eyes out". The film includes the themes of bullying, youth crime, domestic violence, unwanted pregnancy, and teenage angstAdolescent psychology
-Adolescence:Adolescence, the transitional stage of development between childhood and adulthood, represents the period of time during which a person experiences a variety of biological changes and encounters a number of emotional issues. The ages which are considered to be part of adolescence vary...
. For Blakeman, April's "heartbreaking journey in searching for her real mum is also about being brave enough to let love in." Tom Sutcliffe
Tom Sutcliffe (broadcaster)
Thomas Sutcliffe is a British journalist and arts broadcaster.Sutcliffe studied English at Emmanuel College, Cambridge...
, writing for The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, spoke of the limits of taboo themes in family dramas, and said the film's "account of a life lived in care couldn't have had swearing, or casual drug use, and when a shadow fell over a child's bed at night, it wasn't the care-home manager coming to exercise some horrible droit de seigneur
Droit de seigneur
Droit du seigneur is an alleged legal right allowing the lord of a medieval estate to take the virginity of his serfs' maiden daughters. There is no historical evidence that such a right ever existed.-Terminology:...
, as it might have been in an adult drama". The film also addressed the theme of Asperger syndrome through the character of Poppy. The BBC claimed that Clark, who has the condition herself, was able to offer "a unique take" on the role. Steveson summarised the themes of the film, saying that "At the centre of the story, Marion finds out that she loves this girl. And that is an amazing liberation when you discover someone more important to you than you are. That is what is incredible about becoming a parent – you care about your child more than you care about yourself."
On Behind the Bin, a making-of documentary about Dustbin Baby, Wilson said that "lots and lots of people will identify with" the central theme of adoption, as at fourteen "you start to look at your mum and dad and think 'I'm nothing like them', and everyone seems to have fantasies about that they were adopted or something, and so I think that it's a typical teenage thing that you question who you are". Richards says that she likes the idea that April "went on a journey to try and find herself" as "a lot of people [her age] try and do that because a lot of people get to the point where they're not really sure who they are any more". Richards also discusses the motif
Motif (narrative)
In narrative, a motif is any recurring element that has symbolic significance in a story. Through its repetition, a motif can help produce other narrative aspects such as theme or mood....
of April's paper doll
Paper doll
Paper dolls are figures cut out of paper, with separate clothes that are usually held onto the dolls by folding tabs. They have been inexpensive children's toys for almost two hundred years. Today, many artists are turning paper dolls into an art form....
s, saying that April can relate to them as in different places, she is "still the same person", but that she is "coloured in differently by different people and different surroundings". Alexandra Hewett, who played the Young April, described the dolls as April's "only real friends".Hewitt, Alexandra. Behind the Bin. Event occurs at approximately 4:48.
Stevenson described the character of Marion as "cranky, stubborn and lonely", saying that living alone has made her "become quite idiotic and eccentric". When the character of April arrives, Stevenson explains that "Marion has to go from nought to 80 in terms of parenting. There are lots of reasons she wouldn't get it right" which leads on to the guilt and anxiety that Marion suffers when April runs away. Stevenson compared her own difficulties of parenting to Marion's, saying "it is easier for me than someone like Marion because I have had 14 years experience". Richards spoke of the character of April, saying that "the residential schools and children's homes were completely different from my life. [April] doesn't feel connected to anybody and she struggles to know who she is".
Reception
Wilson, after seeing an early screening of Dustbin Baby, said that it was the best film adaptation of any of her works. Haig said that the film was his favourite of his summer projects, saying "it was a terrific story and very touchingly done. I think Juliet Stevenson was very funny and moving in it". Critics also responded positively. In an article in The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
David Chater awarded the programme the TV choice of the day, describing it as "tremendous", and "the wonderful surprise of Christmas". The film was described in The Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
as a "rare treat", as it is "something that teenagers and parents can watch together". This view was shared by producer Anne Brogan, who said that the film was something "that parents and children will enjoy watching while giving them much to talk about". Tom Sutcliffe, writing for The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, said Stevenson was "good as a woman who was far more comfortable in the past than the present", and that "her performance was more than matched by that of Dakota Blue Richards as April, mostly banked-down and wary but prone to sudden wild flashes of anger". He criticised some of the "implausibilities", saying that the plot was, at times, "a lot kinder than the world might have been", but said that "it still made you well up with its final reconciliation" with emotion that had been "honestly earned". Euan Ferguson, in an article in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, said that the film "hooked and haunted", and added that Stevenson played Marion like "a kind of updated" Jean Brodie
Jean Brodie
Jean Brodie is a fictional character in the Muriel Spark novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie; and in the play and film of the same name — both by Jay Presson Allen — which were based on the novel, but radically depart from it in the interest of theatre and poetic licence.Miss...
. During its initial run on BBC One, Dustbin Baby was watched by 2.3 million viewers, giving it a 15.4% share of the audience.
Accolades
In 2009, Dustbin Baby was one of four works of children's television shortlisted for the International Emmy Award in the children and young people category at the 37th International Emmy Awards. The other nominations were Lharn Poo Koo E-JooLharn Poo Koo E-Joo
Lharn Poo Koo E-Joo is a Thai children's television reality show produced by Workpoint Entertainment and hosted by Panya Nirunkul. In 2009, it was nominated for an International Emmy Award in the Children and Young People category, but was beaten by Dustbin Baby. Lharn Poo Koo E-Joo was the first...
(produced by Workpoint Entertainment), The Little Emperor's Christmas (produced by Rede Globo
Rede Globo
Rede Globo , or simply Globo, is a Brazilian television network, launched by media mogul Roberto Marinho on April 26, 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Organizações Globo, being by far the largest of its holdings...
), and Mille
Mille (TV series)
Mille is a children's television drama series from Denmark, produced by the Danish Broadcasting Corporation. It follows the story of Mille, a 12 year old girl whose best friend is killed in a traffic accident....
(produced by the Danish Broadcasting Corporation). The film was one of nine nominations for the UK, which had more than any other nation. The film won the award, making it one of six International Emmys for the UK, and one of three for the BBC, in 2009. Dustbin Baby was also shortlisted for the British Academy Children's Awards
British Academy Children's Awards
The British Academy Children's Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . They have been awarded annually since 1969.-Video Game :*2011: LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean-Writer :...
in the drama category, along with The Sarah Jane Adventures
The Sarah Jane Adventures
The Sarah Jane Adventures is a British science fiction television series, produced by BBC Cymru Wales for CBBC, created by Russell T Davies and starring Elisabeth Sladen...
(also by the BBC), S4C
S4C
S4C , currently branded as S4/C, is a Welsh television channel broadcast from the capital, Cardiff. The first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking audience, it is the fifth oldest British television channel .The channel - initially broadcast on...
's Rhestr Nadolig Wil
Rhestr Nadolig Wil
Rhestr Nadolig Wil is a Welsh language television film first broadcast in 2008 on S4C. It follows the story of Wil, an 8 year old boy, and Santa Claus, who crashes into the roof of Wil's barn a week before Christmas....
, and the online
Internet television
Internet television is the digital distribution of television content via the Internet...
show following boyband US5
US5
US5 are a multinational pop boy band. The band originated in 2005 on the German RTL II television reality show Big in America and debuted in June of the same year on Lou Pearlman’s Transcontinental label...
. The ceremony was held on 29 November at The London Hilton on Park Lane
The London Hilton on Park Lane
The London Hilton on Park Lane is a hotel situated on Park Lane, overlooking Hyde Park in the exclusive Mayfair district of London. It is tall and has 28 storeys and 450 rooms. It was completed in 1963 and was designed by William B. Tabler Architects. It is a concrete framed building, and it is...
and hosted by Dick and Dom
Dick and Dom
Dick and Dom are a children's comic double act consisting of the presenters Richard McCourt and Dominic Wood. They are primarily known for presenting children's television, such as Dick and Dom in da Bungalow for 5 series between 2002 - 2006...
. Dustbin Baby lost out to Rhestr Nadolig Wil. Blakeman was shortlisted for the British Academy Children's Award for best writer, thanks to her screenplay for Dustbin Baby, and won. The film was also entered into the BAFTA Kids' Vote in the television category. Children aged between seven and fourteen were able to vote for their favourite television show from a choice also featuring Blue Peter
Blue Peter
Blue Peter is the world's longest-running children's television show, having first aired in 1958. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC channel. During its history there have been many presenters, often consisting of two women and two men at a time...
, Dani's House
Dani's House
Dani's House is a UK BAFTA-nominated Series produced BBC children's sitcom, starring actress Dani Harmer. The series started broadcast on 26 September 2008, three series have now aired and a fourth is currently being broadcast on CBBC, it started on 16 September 2011. A fifth series was...
, Newsround
Newsround
Newsround is a BBC children's news programme, which has run continuously since 4 April 1972, and was one of the world's first television news magazines aimed specifically at children...
, Prank Patrol
Prank Patrol (Britain)
Prank Patrol was a British version of the original Canadian Prank Patrol. The show was made for by Baker Media for CBBC which specialised in kids programming. It was hosted by Barney Harwood. It was produced by Baker Media in association with Apartment 11 Productions - Format :Based on the original...
, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Hannah Montana
Hannah Montana
Hannah Montana is an American television series, which debuted on March 24, 2006 on the Disney Channel. The series focuses on a girl who lives a double life as an average teenage school girl named Miley Stewart by day and a famous pop singer named Hannah Montana by night, concealing her real...
, Phineas & Ferb, iCarly
ICarly
iCarly is an American sitcom that focuses on a girl named Carly Shay who creates her own web show called iCarly with her best friends Sam and Freddie. The series was created by Dan Schneider, who also serves as executive producer. It stars Miranda Cosgrove as Carly, Jennette McCurdy as Sam, Nathan...
, and SpongeBob SquarePants
SpongeBob SquarePants
SpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated television series, created by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg. Much of the series centers on the exploits and adventures of the title character and his various friends in the underwater city of "Bikini Bottom"...
. The Kids' Vote was won by Hannah Montana.
In February 2010, Dustbin Baby was awarded the 2010 KidScreen Award for best one-off, special, or TV movie aimed at a family audience. The film also won the Creative Talent award for best acting. These were two of five prizes won by CBBC at the inaugural KidScreen Awards, and Joe Godwin, the BBC Children's director, said "I'm truly delighted that CBBC programmes are being recognised globally for being original and inspiring to children everywhere ... It's especially satisfying to win awards for really distinctive and hard-hitting factual and drama, which has always been, and always will be, a unique and central part of what BBC Children's does."
Home media release
Dustbin Baby was released on DVD in January 2009 by ITV DVD. It was rated PG by the British Board of Film ClassificationBritish Board of Film Classification
The British Board of Film Classification , originally British Board of Film Censors, is a non-governmental organisation, funded by the film industry and responsible for the national classification of films within the United Kingdom...
, due to "mild threat, violence and one sex reference", and was marketed with the tagline
Tagline
A tagline is a variant of a branding slogan typically used in marketing materials and advertising. The idea behind the concept is to create a memorable phrase that will sum up the tone and premise of a brand or product , or to reinforce the audience's memory of a product...
"April is about to lift the lid on her past". The DVD included a 24-minute making-of
Making-of
In cinema, a making-of, also known as behind-the-scenes, is a documentary film that features the production of a film or television program...
feature, "Behind the Bin: The Making of Dustbin Baby", containing interviews with Jacqueline Wilson
Jacqueline Wilson
Dame Jacqueline Wilson, DBE, FRSL is an award-winning English author, known for her vast and diverse work in children's literature. Her novels have been adapted numerous times for television, and commonly deal with such challenging themes as adoption, divorce and mental illness...
and production staff and cast.
External links
- Dustbin Baby at BBC Online
- Dustbin Baby trailer, hosted by guardian.co.ukGuardian.co.ukguardian.co.uk, formerly known as Guardian Unlimited, is a British website owned by the Guardian Media Group. Georgina Henry is the editor...