The experiences of two young Jewish boys evacuated from Manchester to Blackpool during the Blitz.The experiences of two young Jewish boys evacuated from Manchester to Blackpool during the Blitz.The experiences of two young Jewish boys evacuated from Manchester to Blackpool during the Blitz.
- Won 1 BAFTA Award
- 2 wins total
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaJack Rosenthal and Maureen Lipman were married in 1973, so effectively she plays a version of her own mother-in-law.
- GoofsThe map of Europe on the boys' bedroom wall shows West Germany's post-1945 borders, i.e. the Oder-Neisse line, not those of Germany, before division into West and East Germany, as it existed before or during WW2.
- Quotes
Sarah Miller: [Reading notes in the "Silly Story" game] She is very cruel to us!
[laughs, then serious]
Sarah Miller: She... she makes us polish everything in the house.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Timeshift: Jack Rosenthal: The Voice of Television Drama (2004)
Featured review
The Evacuees
There are those American film writer types that deconstruct Casablanca as the perfect screenplay. You know look at Bogart and Bergman's clothes in that market scene. They have stripes which means they are imprisoned.
A British writer held out Jack Rosenthal's The Evacuees as an example of good writing. Show not tell.
This BBC television movie is Alan Parker's first full length feature. Until then he had made his name in the advertising world. He would go on to become an acclaimed movie director.
The Evacuees is a simple story. As war against Germany nears, young Jewish boys from Manchester are sent to the seaside either to Blackpool or Lytham St Annes.
I am not sure how it worked in reality but in this drama. The teacher takes the kids around knocking on doors and dropping the kids off to anyone willing to take them.
The Miller brothers are evacuated to an elderly couple, the Graham's. Against their Jewish religion they have to eat pork sausages. They also have to do housework and they suspect Mrs Graham's is destroying the letters that their mum sent them. They are miserable along with the other lads.
Back in Manchester, Rosenthal does not write a scene where the Miller's describe how miserable they are. You see them quietly eating dinner as there are two empty chairs in the room.
The strange thing is despite showing no outward signs of caring for the kids, Mrs Graham really wanted the children to stay with her and was pleased to have them. Again there is a scene where she smells the children's clothes after she cleaned them.
It is these little things that make the drama stand out.
A British writer held out Jack Rosenthal's The Evacuees as an example of good writing. Show not tell.
This BBC television movie is Alan Parker's first full length feature. Until then he had made his name in the advertising world. He would go on to become an acclaimed movie director.
The Evacuees is a simple story. As war against Germany nears, young Jewish boys from Manchester are sent to the seaside either to Blackpool or Lytham St Annes.
I am not sure how it worked in reality but in this drama. The teacher takes the kids around knocking on doors and dropping the kids off to anyone willing to take them.
The Miller brothers are evacuated to an elderly couple, the Graham's. Against their Jewish religion they have to eat pork sausages. They also have to do housework and they suspect Mrs Graham's is destroying the letters that their mum sent them. They are miserable along with the other lads.
Back in Manchester, Rosenthal does not write a scene where the Miller's describe how miserable they are. You see them quietly eating dinner as there are two empty chairs in the room.
The strange thing is despite showing no outward signs of caring for the kids, Mrs Graham really wanted the children to stay with her and was pleased to have them. Again there is a scene where she smells the children's clothes after she cleaned them.
It is these little things that make the drama stand out.
helpful•41
- Prismark10
- May 11, 2019
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