A nature‑obsessed couple’s peaceful camping holiday unravels as their rigid habits spark comic tension with the people they meet.

Southend CinéScene Presents: Nuts in May

Nuts in May (1976)

Country: United Kingdom

Director: Mike Leigh

Running time: 83 minutes

Language: English

Certificate: PG

Starring: Roger Sloman, Alison Steadman, Anthony O’Donnell

Format: Colour

Keith and Candice-Marie head to the Dorset countryside for an idyllic camping holiday of fresh air, wildlife and wholesome living. But Keith’s rigid rules and insistence on doing everything properly soon put them at odds with their fellow campers, turning their rural retreat into a comedy of mounting tensions and social embarrassment.

Written and directed by Mike Leigh, Nuts in May (1976) exemplifies his distinctive approach to British social comedy: naturalistic dialogue, painstakingly observed characters and humour drawn from the awkwardness of everyday life. A key early work in a career that would go on to include Secrets & Lies and Life Is Sweet, the film skewers middle-class manners and self-righteousness with an eye for the absurd. Roger Sloman and Alison Steadman are superb as a couple whose good intentions only make their behaviour more exasperating.

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