Linda Paterson

We loved this film: the warmth and believability of the characters; Tom’s authenticity, grace, convincing nuances of mood; the funny, emotionally powerful and economical script; the tension between a gritty sense of community and the loss of separation; the haunting beauty of the Yorkshire countryside. If the bank manager’s prissy shrub-snipping was a bit too obvious, his acting and the dialogue still worked, and to us amateur drystone wallers Tom’s construction of a piece of wall that would normally take days in a few hours was just another enjoyable joke.