Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Prismark10 Cider with Rosie is a text that almost everyone seems to read at school. I never did read the whole book but was always given extracts to work on. I expected this would be some kind of nostalgia filled reminiscence of childhood in Gloucestershire.I liked young Loll surrounded in a busy household playing sodgers (sic) in the middle of The Great War. However it is a childhood where his father is absent and young Loll does not understand the brutality of the war or the deserter hiding in the woods.At school he sits between two girls who will have an influence in his childhood and even his adult life.The older Loll lacks the sweetness of his younger self, being gawky like many adolescents. However he discovers that at times the villagers need to stick together such as when the domineering teacher is placed on top of the cupboard to the delight of the rest of the class or in a more darker turn when a returning ex-pat, now wealthy is killed and robbed.June Whitfield and Annette Crosbie play the two grannies living on the top and bottom of a house who communicate with each other by banging their broom handles on the floor or the ceiling.Eventually Loll has that romantic encounter under the cart with Rosie fuelled with cider which acts as a sort of climax to the story.I have to say this was not a great adaptation even though it was busy in places. We are told that Loll's mother went to see her husband after the war but we got to know little about him or why he abandoned his family. The 1998 television film gave more details about this.This version of the film had narration by Timothy Spall as the voice of Laurie Lee reading extracts from the book in a very florid dialect which sounded unnatural and over the top to my ears. The 1998 film had narration recorded by Laurie Lee himself just before he died and that sounded more naturalistic.However director Philippa Lowthorpe has worked hard to bring a different nuance to this version of the film.

David Hutchinson I couldn't agree more with Adams 5905's review. This is the first time I've ever seen a TV drama recreation that brings the original novel to life in such a remarkable way. Everything about this production was simply perfect - from the beauty of the rural landscape to the capture of the feel of the time, the eccentricities of the characters, the dialogue, the accents, the sense of timelessness - the teenage angst, and the fact that everything was not just idyllic - i.e the murder in the village and the hunting down of the deserter... And Tim Spall's reading of the original poetic ramblings from the novel - Spall just goes from strength to strength! I read this book around 1964, when I was 12. I was dimly aware of the two sequels, and have just dug out my paperback original, and ordered the other two books online. Nostalgia-fest 'till Christmas and beyond!!Thank you BBC!!

Richard Bailey I'll try to submit a balanced review, having read through the other reviews submitted here I can see where both are coming from. Post first world War and life was slowly returning to normal, many families were left with no fathers, and life was tough. The story focuses on young Loll, seeing his transformation from a child into a young adult. The best element was Samantha Morton, she gave a terribly sweet, caring and sincere characterisation of Loll's mum Annie. She did well by her children, and remained desperate for the return of her absent husband. The acting was a little school play at times, but I'll applaud young Georgie Smith. It is a little slow in parts, but having read the book several times it was very much intended. I'd imagine it will be the feature of many a GCSE pupils project for years to come.

Paul Evans I'm sorry to be at odds with the other reviewer, but what a total shambles this was. I've given glowing reviews of An Inspector calls and the excellent go between, as well as a fairly good review of Lady Chatterley, but the final instalment of the Beeb's twentieth Century drama remakes was awful. I love Timothy Spall, but his narration was like scratching down a blackboard, after a while it became really irritating. The acting was woeful, truly the worst I've seen on a historical drama for about 20 years. Thank goodness for the 3 or 4 minutes that June Whitfield and Annette Crosbie were in it, they added a little humour and showed us what acting is. I hate knocking anyone for trying but some of the accents were so bad that at times it felt like all that was missing were The Two Ronnies sat at their allotment. 3/10 a total yawn fest.