Mrs Caldicot’s Cabbage War *** (2002, Pauline Collins, John Alderton, Peter Capaldi, Sheila Reid, Anna Wilson-Jones, Frank Mills, Terence Rigby) – Classic Movie Review 10,513

The amusing, heart-warming 2002 British comedy drama film Mrs Caldicot’s Cabbage War is based on a 1993 novel by Vernon Coleman, and boasts a very nice cast headed by Pauline Collins, John Alderton and Peter Capaldi.

Director Ian Sharp’s amusing, heart-warming 2002 British comedy drama film Mrs Caldicot’s Cabbage War is based on a 1993 novel by Vernon Coleman, and has a very nice cast headed by Pauline Collins, John Alderton and Peter Capaldi.

Collins stars in a delightful performance as Thelma Caldicot, who is coerced by her manipulative son Derek (Capaldi) to move into a run-down nursing home after the death of her husband. She hates it at the nursing home and incites her fellow inmates to revolt.

The screenplay is by Malcolm Stone.

Also in the cast are Terence Rigby as Henry Caldicot, Peter Capaldi as Derek, Anna Wilson-Jones as Veronica, Gwenllian Davies as Audrey, Sheila Reid as Joyce, Frank Mills as Leslie, Frank Middlemass as Bernard, John Alderton as Hawksmoor, Isla Blair as Matron, Angela Bruce as Gina, Paul Freeman as Jenkins, Martin Jarvis as JB, Tony Robinson as Nick Reid, Camille Coduri as Jackie Jones, Jamie Martin as Boy PC, and  Amanda Haberland as Girl PC.

It opened in the UK and Ireland on 31 January 2003.

Vernon Coleman (born 1946) is an English conspiracy theorist and writer, whose medical claims have been widely discredited.

Ian Sharp (born 13 November 1946) is an English film and TV director best known for directing the SAS action thriller Who Dares Wins (1982) and the action sequences of Goldeneye (1995).

Collins and Alderton have been married since 22 May 1970. Collins was awarded the O B E in 2001 for her services to drama. She won a Tony Award as Best Actress in a Play for Shirley Valentine, and re-created her role in the film version, Shirley Valentine. The couple starred together in the 70s sit-com No Honestly and acted together on stage in the 2004 play Going Straight at London’s Richmond Theatre.

Pauline Collins (3 September 1940 – November 2025) 

Pauline Collins later suffered from Parkinson’s disease and died peacefully in November 2025 at a care home in Highgate, London, aged 85.

She also appeared in City of Joy (1992), Paradise Road (1997), Albert Nobbs (2011), Quartet (2012), and The Time of Their Lives (2017).

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,513

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