Nuts in May (1976)

Keith (Roger Sloman) and Candice Marie (Alison Steadman) are the green couple from hell who embark on an odyssey of lecture and conceit at a Dorset campground where they pay £10 in advance for ten nights, and where anything that falls outside of their well-honed ecological sensitivities is treated with abject disdain.

They visit Corfe Castle, eat vegetarian food, and go in search of raw milk.

Into this world comes Ray (Anthony O’Donnell, pictured at right), a rugby-loving student teacher who has the misfortune to be sited next to the couple’s camping spot.

The amiable Welshman is subjected to all sorts of shenanigans as the pair lecture him with their potty views and bizarre observations and embarrass him into singing their appalling hippy zoo song.

To top it all off, two ravers from the midlands called Finger (Stephen Bill, pictured below) and Honky (Sheila Kelley) arrive on a motorbike wanting nothing more than to get pissed, have noisy sex in their tent, fry up some beans and sausages, and gawp at the “bleeding bluebells”.

Keith’s fragile sensitivities are stretched to the limit by the Brummie couple’s free-range behaviour, and when they try to light a campfire – which is forbidden in the camp rules – Keith reverts back to a Neanderthal warrior armed with a stick.

With an unannounced flood of tears from Keith, the eco-couple exit in search of the isolation they so evidently require.

This made-for-TV film aired as an episode of Play For Today and is undoubtedly Mike Leigh’s funniest movie. No hidden meanings, no sociological statements, just good non-stop laughs. A masterpiece.

“Get back to your tent!”
“And you get back to your tenements!!”

Keith Pratt
Roger Sloman
Candice Marie
Alison Steadman
Ray
Anthony O’Donnell
Honky
Sheila Kelley
Finger
Stephen Bill
Miss Beale
Richenda Carey
Quarryman
Eric Allan
Farmer
Matthew Guinness
Farm Girl
Sally Watts
Policeman
Richard Ireson

Director
Mike Leigh