British Council Logo UK Films Database
Project Detail

Do Not Go Gentle (Oed Yr Addewid)

Synopsis

It is March 1997 after eighteen years of Tory rule, Britain is at a political cross-roads. The prime minister of a beleaguered government decides to go to the country in a vain attempt at persuading the electorate that his party is worthy of a fifth term in office. Meanwhile, one William Davies, widower and retired quarryman, has arrived at a cross-roads of his own. A lifelong socialist, he feels angry and resentful towards a government that has all but abandoned him in his old age. Having been persuaded by his children to buy his council house in the booming eighties, he discovers that this selfsame government, which made such a virtue of home ownership some ten years earlier, now expects him to sell the property in order to pay for his care should he ever have to go into a nursing home.

When William Davies walks out of his council house one morning, he is putting into action a desperate and hair-brained scheme which he thinks will outflank the system. But things go badly wrong when the old man realises that he has made a terrible mistake. As election day approaches, William Davies and his family learn some home truths - about one another and about their true feelings for home.

A film which addresses the subject of home and, in particular, one family's differing perceptions of it. The story is set in the remote Welsh-speaking heartland of north west Wales and takes place during the weeks leading up to the general election of 1997, when the Conservative party is finally removed from power after eighteen years in government.

Details

Year
2001
Type of project
Features
Running time
90 mins
Format
35mm Kodak
Director
Emlyn Williams
Producer
Alun Ffred Jones
Editor
Willy Oswald
Screenwriter
Emlyn Williams
Director of Photography
Jimmy Dibbling
Sound
Tim Walker
Principal cast
Stewart Jones, Gwenna Hodgkins, Arwel Gruffydd, Gwyn Valguan

Categories

Fiction

Production Status

Complete

Production Company

Ffilmiau’r Nant

Contact: Alun Ffred Jones
Moreia
Penrallt Isaf
Caernarfon LL55 1NS
UK

T 01286 675722

nant@nant.co.uk

Sales Company

Ffilmiau’r Nant

Contact: Alun Ffred Jones
Moreia
Penrallt Isaf
Caernarfon LL55 1NS
UK

T 01286 675722

nant@nant.co.uk

Page updates

This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.

Suggest amendments

See also

You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.

The Odyssey The Odyssey

Director: Christopher Nolan

Year: 2026

After the Trojan War, Odysseus faces a dangerous voyage back to Ithaca, meeting creatures like the Cyclops Polyphemus, Sirens, and Circe along the way.

Action Adventure Fantasy Literary Adaptation
OH BOYS OH BOYS

Director: Antonio Donato

Year: 2026

In a coastal village obsessed with standing out, through flashy solos, fierce ping pong matches, and clumsy dates, a young saxophonist takes a different path. Official Selection Quinzaine des Cinéastes / Directors' Fortnight Cannes 2026 - World premiere

Comedy Drama
A mixed race woman looks directly into the camera with her hands around her own neck, lying against orange velvet pillows. Choked

Director: Travis Alabanza

Year: 2026

Shakona doesn't always want to be treated so nicely, sometimes she wants to feel like the world does: chaotic. Yet she can't get her devoted and loving boyfriend Eddie to meet her needs, so she goes to where all good decisions are made, a hookup app. Just as it seems like Shakona is finally letting go, she has the chance to take power into her own hands...

Black Comedy Drama LGBTQIA+