When the widowed Mrs Bing goes into hospital for a routine operation, she little realises she will soon make a dramatic bid for the most essential freedom of all.

A single mother returns to her home town after fifteen years of unhappy marriage and fights to make a better life for herself and her children.

Unemployed Anthony announces he is joining the police, much to the horror of his girlfriend and friends.

Shaw turned to the classic Victorian melodrama to focus on the insincerity of much that his audience held dear, especially family and marriage. In 1777 as the American War of Independence rages, Dick Dudgeon returns to the family he revolted against years ago. But his life is about to take another twist as the british arrive and seem set on an execution...

Antonia Bird's first feature length film; "Safe" from 1993, focused on the plight of the homeless in London.