Billy Elliot

In a colliery village in County Durham during the 1984 miners' strike, an 11-year-old (Jamie Bell) prefers ballet to boxing

In a colliery village in County Durham during the 1984 miners' strike, an 11-year-old (Jamie Bell) prefers ballet to boxing.

His dad (Gary Lewis) and gruff elder brother (Jamie Draven) are none too pleased, but his dance teacher (Julie Walters) is impressed...

This feelgood comedy is both funny and extremely touching.

Bell (in his screen debut) is a natural and his youthful exuberance and Walters' grim optimism are a winning combination, the Wearside accents and mannerisms are spot-on and the sequence in which Lewis takes Bell to London for a dance audition is painfully true to life.