Film review | Having You - Muddle and heartbreak for Andrew Buchan, Anna Friel & Romola Garai | Movie Talk | What's on TV

No sooner has recovering alcoholic Jack (Andrew Buchan) finally proposed to long-term girlfriend Camilla (Romola Garai) than Anna Friel’s single mum turns up to tell him he has a seven-year-old son from their boozy one-night fling. And that’s not all he has to worry about, as viewers of British independent film Having You will quickly discover.

Jack frets that he isn’t worthy of Camilla - she’s a middle-class doctor; he restores old fruit machines for a living. (‘You fix fruities that no one wants. That’s a hobby not a job,’ his bitter dad - Phil Davis - tells him, less than helpfully.) Camilla, meanwhile, is desperate for a child but has fertility problems. What should Jack do?

Making his feature film debut, actor turned writer-director Sam Hoare (Garai’s partner offscreen) has come up with a somewhat contrived set-up, but thanks to his sensitive script and excellent cast, he’s managed to develop it into a low-key but quietly affecting drama.

Having You is currently showing on Sky Premiere HD.

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.