FACKHAM HALL
(director: Jim O’Hanlon; screenwriters: Steve Dawson, Andrew Dawson, Tim Inman, Jimmy Carr, Patrick Carr. Camera: Philipp Blaubach; cinematographer: Philipp Blaubach; editor: Colin Fair; music:Oli Julian, David Arnold; cast: Ben Radcliffe (Eric Noone), Damian Lewis (LordHumphrey Davenport), Katherine Waterston (Lady Davenport),Thomasin McKenzie (Rose), Tom Felton (Archibald), Emma Laird (Poppy), Tom Goodman-Hill (Inspector Watt), Adam Woodward (Bart Chester, Archibald’s best man), Lily Knight (Fifi Valentine, wealthy American houseguest), Erin Austen (Mary Bechdel/Constance Bechdel, identical twins), Lizzie Hopley (Phyllis Davenport), Jason Done (Jrr Tolkien), Ramon Tikaram (Darvesh Khalid), Sue Johnston (Great Aunt Bonaparte), Tim McMullan (Cyril, butler), Anna Maxwell Martin (Mrs. McAllister), Karen Henthorn (Sister Jude), Ian Carr (vicar); Runtime: 97; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Danny Perkins, Kris Thykier Mila Cottray; Bleecker Street; 2025-UK)
“Funny spoof of Brit costume dramas.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Dublin born Jim O’Hanlon (“Your Christmas or Mine?”/”A Hundred Streets”) directs this funny spoof of Brit costume dramas such as those played on BBC’s Masterpiece Theater, that’s filled with pratfalls, slapstick & physical comedy, sight gags, word-play, flatulence jokes, and a silliness. It plays out as a period film parody of a Downton Abbey type of drama, that takes five writers to turn in the lighthearted SNL like script of-Tim Inman, the brothers Steve and Andrew Dawson, and the brothers Patrick and Jimmy Carr. It should be noted that Jimmy Carr is a popular stand-up Brit comedian.
The story is set in 1931, during the Great Depression, at a lush country manor in an unnamed city in England (filmed at a Liverpool estate), whose owners are the stuffy Lord Davenport (Damian Lewis) and his prim wife Lady Davenport (Katherine Waterston). They have lost their four sons (who have the same first names as the Beatles) through separate freakish accidents leaving them no male heir to the estate which they need according to tradition for the family to retain the manor. They have two daughters-the ditsy Poppy (Emma Lair) and her independent-minded unmarried 23-year-old older sister Rose (Thomasin McKenzie). To keep the family estate the couple turns to the sweet Rose to marry her idiotic, obnoxious and smarmy first cousin Archibald (Tom Felton) after Poppy jilts Archibald at the altar and runs off with the manure delivery man.
But Rose falls for Eric Noone (Ben Radcliffe), a Cockney raised by nuns in an orphanage. He’s a con man and a pickpocket, who comes to the estate from London to deliver a letter in person to Lord Davenport given him by a mysterious stranger (Ian Bartholomew) while he was visiting the orphanage. When Rose on her bike crashes into Eric on the estate grounds it’s love at first sight, and they begin a secretive romance.
At the estate Eric will mistakenly be taken for a job applicant and get hired by the chief of staff (Anna Maxwell Martin) as a low-level butler. He takes the job to be near Rose. He will soon be framed for the murder of Lord Davenport by the bumbling police inspector (Tom Goodman-Hill), a Poirot-type.
There’s no discernible plot, the gags are hit-or-miss (with far too many misses), and after a fast start there’s a slow-down to a crawl.
One of its crass jokes is that if you mispronounce Fackham Hall it sounds as if you’re saying ‘fuck ’em all.’
REVIEWED ON 1/16/2026 GRADE: B
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