TENDER LOVING CARE
United Kingdom
2026 | 107 min. | Fiction

Amy is a social worker, dealing mainly with young people in foster care. She has just split up with her long-term boyfriend who has gone back to his wife and young son. She moves in with her best friend, Rosie, also a social worker who mostly looks after older people’s problems. Amy has lived with Rosie in her flat some years previously and they are both delighted to be reunited.

Birdie and Geoff are Amy’s retired parents, who live in a comfortable ground-floor flat. They both used to work for the local council, she in personnel, he in management. Amy visits them regularly and the relationship is loving. Initially she fails to tell them about the departure of her partner, but encouraged by Rosie, she owns up, and, never having liked him, they are delighted. They are very fond of Rosie and are always happy to see her. They are pleased to hear that she is dating a fireman, a relationship currently in its early stages.

Shortly after Birdie, Amy and Rosie have enjoyed a girls’ night out at the pub, Geoff begins to have spasmodic lapses into what their visiting doctor tells Birdie may be early signs of dementia. Geoff has taken to his bed. When Amy and Rosie visit him and Birdie, he rallies for a little and they all sing songs together.

Having for the time being given up on men, Amy spends a quiet evening in the flat while Rosie goes off for a date with her fireman. Much to her anger, he stands her up.

As Geoff fades, Birdie and Amy sit patiently by his bedside, warmly reminiscing about past times.

The film began with Rosie trying to give professional assistance to George, an old man of no fixed abode, who absconds from his hospital ward before Rosie can help him. And in the last scene, George sits alone in a doorway on a busy London street.

Directed by: Mike Leigh
Written by: Mike Leigh
Produced by: Georgina Lowe
Cinematography: Lucy Bristow
Editing: Tania Reddin
Costume Design: Jacqueline Durran
Make-Up & Hair: Nora Roberston
Original Score: Gary Yershon
Casting: Nina Gold
Cast: Marion Bailey (Birdie), Paul Jesson (Geoff), Kate O'Flynn (Amy), Alice Bailey Johnson (Rosie)

Production:
Thin Man Films
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_Man_Films

World Sales:
Cornerstone Films
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