Lost For Words is an autobiographical comedy drama by Deric Longden in which Pete Postlethwaite starred with Dame Thora Hird.
The film won three international awards, including Best Drama at the 1999 International Emmy Awards, and three domestic awards, including Best Actress for Thora Hird at the British Academy Television Awards the following year. It also features Anne Reid, Penny Downie and Noreen Kershaw.
Annie Longden (Hird) is not short on eccentricities, whether it is choosing her own Mother’s Day card or describing the best way to wash a cat. When she suffers a stroke and becomes literally lost for words, her son Deric (Postlethwaite) remains devoted to his dotty mum. Deric had enjoyed an amazing relationship with his mother – a woman who had a highly unusual way with words and a very private brand of logic. She used to bring her own inimitable vision to Deric’s life and all aspects of human existence, but her stroke means that the family’s world undergoes a massive change. Can Deric and his wife Aileen (Downie) manage to come to terms with their predicament?
Cast: Thora Hird (Mother (Annie Longden)), Pete Postlethwaite (Deric Longden), Penny Downie (Aileen Armitage), Jennifer Luckraft (Nurse One), Anne Reid (Gloria), Keith Clifford (Fred), Eddie Caswell (Widower), Diana Flacks (Mrs Corey), Tom Higgins (Doctor), Malcolm Hebden (Chemist), Ruth Holden (Nellie Elliot), Dinah Handley (Do-Gooder), Gillian Waugh (Therapist), Katherine Dow Blyton (Sister), Kate Dove (Proprieter), Dennis Blanch (Man With Dogs), Noreen Kershaw (Margaret), Katisha Kenyon (Nurse Three), Maxine Burth (Nurse Two), David Shimwell (Young Man)
Writer: Deric Longden / Executive Producers: Keith Richardson, Margaret Matheson / Producer: Sita Williams / Director: Alan J. W. Bell
UK / ITV – Yorkshire – Bard / 1×90 minute episode / Broadcast 3 January 1999
