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Entertainment

29th Jan 2025

A great movie with 93% on Rotten Tomatoes is on TV tonight

Stephen Porzio

Its star won a Golden Globe for her performance.

Our TV movie pick for tonight (Wednesday, 29 January) is Happy-Go-Lucky, the Oscar-nominated 2008 comedy-drama.

Hailing from acclaimed writer-director Mike Leigh – whose terrific new film Hard Truths is in cinemas now – his 2008 movie stars Sally Hawkins in a Golden Globe-winning, breakthrough performance.

The actress plays a teacher and eternal optimist named Poppy who decides she wants to learn how to drive after her bike is stolen.

She starts taking lessons from Scott (a scene-stealing Eddie Marsan), a tense and downbeat instructor who believes Poppy’s levity reflects a lack of seriousness.

“Although they clash, Poppy is not deterred from her goal. This is as she starts dating a social worker who came to her school to help a child,” the plot synopsis reads.

Like much of Leigh’s work, Happy-Go-Lucky mines great humour and drama from its naturalistic, authentic depiction of everyday life – a quality which helped the film secure an Oscar nomination in the Best Original Screenplay category.

Holding a 93% Rotten Tomatoes score, the movie is airing on TV tonight/tomorrow morning at 12.35am on Film4.

Happy-Go-Lucky is also available to stream on Prime Video.

Here are the other movies airing on TV tonight:

Transporter 2 – Film4 – 9pm

Jason Statham is… The Transporter 2.

Criminal – Legend – 9pm

A forgotten 2016 sci-fi action flick with an oddly stacked cast, including Kevin Costner, Gal Gadot, Gary Oldman, Ryan Reynolds and Tommy Lee Jones.

Blacklight – Sky Showcase – 9pm

This 2022 action thriller starring Liam Neeson holds an 11% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, suggesting it might not be worth your time.

Rambo III – ITV4 – 9pm

Sylvester Stallone reprises his iconic role as Vietnam War veteran John Rambo.

The Lawnmower Man – Sky Showcase – 11pm

The ’90s sci-fi horror with Pierce Brosnan that was very, very loosely based on a Stephen King short story – so loosely in fact that it led to a lawsuit.

Wanted: Dead or Alive – Legend – 11.15pm

An ’80s Rutger Hauer-led action flick.

Trainspotting – Film4 – 10.45pm

Danny Boyle’s legendary cult comedy-drama about a young man (Ewan McGregor) in Scotland trying to kick his heroin addiction.

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Topics:

Drama