A Taste of Honey

Shelagh Delaney's play 'A Taste of Honey' had already played in the West End and on Broadway when Tony Richardson made his film adaptation, shot on location in Salford and Blackpool. Rita Tushingham made her indelible screen debut as Jo, a young girl who falls pregnant after leaving home and her floozie mother a revelatory performance by Dora Bryan. Jo befriends Geoff, a gentle kind-hearted gay art student, they move in together like two children playing house and - for a while - finding an innocent fragile happiness. Richardson (who co-wrote the screenplay with Shelagh Delaney), always skilled with actors, draws fine performances from the entire cast and A Taste of Honey remains an outstanding example of the British New Wave, and was shot by its star cinematographer Walter Lassally. (British Film Institute (BFI))