The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, a 2023 film starring Downton Abbey’s Penelope Wilton and Paddington’s Jim Broadbent, is being shown on TV tonight. The film will be screened on Channel 4 at 10pm, and should hopefully be available to stream on the broadcaster’s streaming service afterwards.
Based on the 2012 novel by Rachel Joyce, the film follows a man who learns that his friend is in a hospice dying of cancer. He tells her that he’s going to walk all 500 miles to visit her, and that she needs to hold out until then.
It’s been directed by Hettie Macdonald, who previously helmed the beloved Doctor Who episode ‘Blink’ as well as several episodes of Normal People.
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The film did well with the critics, standing at 74% positive on Rotten Tomatoes from 43 reviews.
Metro called Harold Fry “unabashedly sentimental” and “cheesy” with some “on the nose” dialogue, but added that “this cheese has a distinctly English flavour – a movie equivalent of Ticklemore. Bittersweet and eccentric”.
The Observer called it a “politely unassuming little film [that] builds into a wrenching examination of grief, guilt and eventual closure”.
The Telegraph praised it for the way it “makes a definite effort to show us modern Britain, warts and all, rather than some Richard Curtis fantasyland”.
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Over on IMDb, the film has an average user score of 6.8/10 from over 7,000 viewer ratings.
One fan called it “a wonderful, heart warming and at times heart wrenching story” with “so many lessons to teach”.
Another fan praised the film for its representation of real human emotion. They wrote: “I left feeling that as humans we don’t have to change the world, sometimes just giving someone a smile on a day when they’re really struggling can make the world of difference to them”.
There’s also a musical version of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry that’s currently running at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, with tickets available at ATG Tickets, LoveTheatre, and TodayTix
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry will air on Channel 4 tonight at 10pm.
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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he’s covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I’m a Fish.