Personal Services **** (1987, Julie Walters, Alec McCowen, Shirley Stelfox) – Classic Movie Review 7035

Director Terry Jones’s 1987 British comedy drama Personal Services finds a perfectly cast Julie Walters on great, exuberant form and having a grand old time as brothel madam Christine, inspired by the real-life south London brothel-keeper Madam Cyn (aka Cynthia Payne). Christine caters to the sometimes unusual needs of older men, in this eye-opening look at the byways of sexual activity. The British nation’s mostly hypocritical views and values towards sex, women, prostitution, cross-dressing and S & M are thoroughly examined.

Personal Services is liberating as well as entertaining, often funny and sometimes sad, and it is well sustained throughout by David Leland’s confident, surefooted screenplay Walters’s wholehearted playing and loyal support from the Brit support cast.

Obviously it is to be given a wide berth by the faint-hearted, the prejudiced or the easily shocked.

Also in the cast are Alec McCowen, Shirley Stelfox, Danny Schiller, Tim Woodward, Victoria Hardcastle, Peter Cellier and Dave Atkins.

Personal Services is directed by Terry Jones, runs 105 minutes, is made by Zenith and British Screen, is released by Vestron, is written by David Leland, is shot by Roger Deakins, is produced by Tim Bevan, is scored by John Du Prez and designed by Hugo Luczyc Wyhowski.

Wish You Were Here (also 1987) tells the story of Ms Payne’s troubled youth. It was also written (as well as directed) by David Leland.

Julie Walters and Cynthia Payne toast the launch of Personal Services.

Cynthia Payne died on 15 November 2015, aged 82. She became Britain’s best-known brothel keeper after police raided her suburban home in Streatham, London SW16, in 1978. Older men were queuing up to exchange luncheon vouchers for food, drink, conversation, striptease shows, and a trip upstairs with the girl of their choice. She was jailed for 18 months for running the biggest disorderly house in British history, though her sentence was reduced to six months and a hefty fine on appeal.

Terry Jones (1942–2020).

RIP Terry Jones, who died at the age of 77 on 21 January 2020 from complications of dementia, at his home in Highgate, North London. He studied at St Edmund Hall College, Oxford, reading English but graduating with a degree in history.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7035

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