Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story (2008) (TV)

Director:

Andy DeEmmony

Writers:

Amanda Coe (written by)
Patrick Reams (original idea)

Release Date:

28 May 2008 (UK)

Genre:

Biography | Comedy | Drama

Plot:

Documents the rise of Mary Whitehouse during the 1960's, and the relationship between her and Sir Hugh Carleton Greene, the Director General of the BBC.

Plot Keywords:

1960s | Campaign | Religious Fundamentalist | Conservatism | Campaigning

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Julie Walters	...	Mary Whitehouse
Alun Armstrong	...	Ernest Whitehouse
Hugh Bonneville	...	Sir Hugh Carleton Greene
Georgie Glen	...	Norah Buckland
Timothy Davies	...	Rev. Basil Buckland
Paul Westwood	...	Paul Whitehouse
Drew Webb	...	Richard Whitehouse
Jeremy Legat	...	Christopher Whitehouse
Ron Cook	...	Lord Charlie Hill
William Beck	...	David Turner
Nicholas Woodeson	...	Harman Grisewood
Nicholas Le Prevost	...	Ken
Emily Hamilton	...	Miss Tate
Hilary Maclean	...	Brenda
Stewart Wright	...	Malcolm

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Company:

Wall to Wall Media

Trivia:

The footage of "Doctor Who" (1963), seen on a television screen and used to depict the violence of the series, is edited to suggest that the scene takes place at the end of the episode. In fact the scene in question takes place around halfway through "Doctor Who: The Tomb of the Cybermen: Episode 4 (#5.4)" (1967). This clip is followed by part of the opening sequence, showing the title and Patrick Troughton's face.

Goofs:

Factual errors: At the meeting in Birmingham Town hall the cameraman is shown setting up a Bolex 16mm silent camera. This was basically for amateurs as it would only take a 100 foot 4 minute reel. Sound could not have been recorded in sync with it. Most newsmen would have been using a Mitchell Arriflex.

Quotes:

[Mary Whitehouse has just sent a supposedly obscene script to the Postmaster General who has ordered an episode of Swizzlewick which lampoons her to be pulled mid-way through its broadcast. Sir Hugh is fuming.]
Sir Hugh Carleton Greene: Who? Who? I want the traitor flushed out. I want strict controls of all scripts issued to anyone and everyone - anywhere and everywhere. Contrive some memo to that effect.
Miss Tate: Yes, Sir Hugh.
Sir Hugh Carleton Greene: And! And! I am issuing a directive with immediate effect. No-one connected to the Corporation is to have anything whatsoever to do with that woman, either socially or professionally. Though Christ knows why anyone would want to!
[...]

Movie Connections:

References "Till Death Us Do Part" (1965)

Fair and entertaining

Mary Whitehouse is a Midlands housewife with a perfectly respectable family and village life. Whenever she hears the girls at school talking about premarital sex following a discussion programme on the subject on the BBC it turns out to be only one of many impacts that she perceives the BBC's output to be having on the morality and good fibre of British society. As a result of several letters, Whitehouse forms a small group to challenge the filth flooding into the homes of millions of families on a nightly basis and quickly finds her campaign getting national attention and becoming a thorn in the side of the more progressive Sir Hugh Greene, Director General of the BBC.

I'm no fan of Mary Whitehouse nor of censorship. Neither do I believe that the decline of standards in society are entirely down to the depiction thereof in the media. However this is not the same as just saying that anyone can broadcast whatever they want without any sort of checks, balances or controls in place. Many people will share these views and agree that, while adults should be treated as adults, children should be protected and unsecured flows of media cannot contain the same content as media streams that are filtered as to audience (ie ratings, timings etc). Filth also thinks this I believe and it structures its telling very well. Whitehouse is not painted as a crazy old woman at first but rather a perfectly reasonable person concerned by what she sees on television and the effect it appears to be having directly on teenagers but gradually she is revealed to be just as frustrated with changes in society and that perhaps the BBC is just a focal point for her frustrations.

The script does this really well and the delivery is gradual so that it is clear without being obvious. I did worry that this would just be a 90 minute kicking of Whitehouse but it did do her justice because it showed the good elements of her as well as the bad (of which it must be said there are more). Julie Walters didn't totally convince me in the title role but this was because she was just a little too much like Mrs Merton for me. However her performance does back up the gradual nature of the script again where it could have been easy to play her as simply a batty old lady stuck in the past and nothing more. I thought Armstrong did well alongside her while Bonneville is light and fun in his BBC role.

Filth may have a terrible title card (a bike going over a dog turd) but as a film it is actually very good. The tone is light but not to the point of easy mockery; the script allows for Whitehouse to be shown in a fair light – thus good and bad are on display – while the performances are mostly good and fitting the film. You my not have agreed with her or you may lament her loss, but either way Filth is a fair and entertaining film that is a job well done.