Marvellous

Marvellous is a British drama television film that was first broadcast on BBC Two on 25 September 2014. The 90-minute film, directed by Julian Farino and written by Peter Bowker,[1][2][3] is about the life of Neil Baldwin, from Westlands, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire.[4]

For the 2006 American drama/comedy, see Marvelous (film). For the Lightning Seeds song of this name, see Jollification. For the racehorse, see Marvellous (horse).

Marvellous
Marvellous DVD cover
Written byPeter Bowker
Directed byJulian Farino
StarringToby Jones
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
Production
ProducerKatie Swinden
CinematographyDavid Odd
Running time90 minutes
Production companies
Release
Original network
Original release25 September 2014 (2014-09-25)
External links
Website

In the 1990s Baldwin, now an honorary graduate of Keele University,[4][5] was appointed as Stoke City Football Club's kit-man by its manager Lou Macari.[4][5][6][7] Baldwin's autobiography, Marvellous: Neil Baldwin – My Story, was published in hardback in 2015.[8]

Cast

Making cameo appearances as themselves:

Production

The programme was commissioned by Janice Hadlow and Ben Stephenson. The executive producers were Patrick Spence and Peter Bowker for Fifty Fathoms and Tiger Aspect Productions, and Lucy Richer for the BBC.[18]

Marvellous: Neil Baldwin – My Story
AuthorNeil Baldwin, with Malcolm Clarke
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
GenreAutobiography
PublisherJohn Blake Publishing
Publication date
August 2015
Media typePrint (hardback)

Filming locations

Marvellous was filmed mostly in Staffordshire.[19] Several of the scenes were set at and filmed at Keele University.[19] Crewe Alexandra Football Club's Alexandra Stadium and the Glyndŵr University Racecourse Stadium in Wrexham, North Wales were used for the scenes set at Stoke City's football ground.[20][21]

Reception

Writing in The Guardian, Sam Wollaston praised Jones's "lovely, very human, performance".[22]

Andrew Anthony, for The Observer, said "Jones realised its potential with such poignant insight into character that it’s impossible to imagine anyone else playing the part. [Baldwin]'s life has been a triumph of unselfconsciousness, which is easier read about than captured. But in a story fraught with the danger of sentimentality, Bowker located a sort of comic truth about an innocent at home and Jones made that truth both funny and movingly real."[23]

Ellen E Jones, reviewing the film in The Independent, said: "The triumph of Marvellous is that it's a feel good film that feels good, not through any Hollywood schmaltz, but through the sheer force of Baldwin’s own optimistic personality".[24]

Sarah Crompton, for The Daily Telegraph, described Marvellous as "sweet and sharp... on the whole a great number of people emerge well from this film, including Stoke City’s former manager Lou Macari (played by Tony Curran but also popping in as himself) and many long suffering clergy. It might have been too cute in different hands, but both Toby and Gemma Jones gave performances that were almost as miraculous as the story itself."[16]

Jim White, writing in The Sunday Telegraph, described it as "a wonderful, uplifting, life affirming 90 minutes of television. And the most compelling argument yet that – despite all the evidence presented by previous filmic depictions of the beautiful game – it is possible to extract telling fiction from football."[25]

Julie McDowall for Scotland's The Herald, described it as 2014's best television programme.[26]

Rachel Cooke in the New Statesman said of Toby Jones' portrayal of Baldwin that he "played him brilliantly, turning in an understated performance that combined innocence and wryness to powerful effect". She praised Bowker’s "pitch perfect script, which was as natural sounding as a conversation overheard on the top deck of a bus", and Farino’s direction – "so deft, quirky, witty and attentive to important details (buildings as well as moods; rooms as well as body language)".[27]

Reviewing the programme for the Stoke Sentinel, John Woodhouse said "It says everything for Neil that Marvellous was ever made. For in times when television is seduced by vacuity and celebrity, it doesn't sound that promising a pitch. A drama, set in Newcastle [under Lyme], about a man saddled with the tag of 'learning difficulties' who reveals himself to be so much more? Good luck with that one. And yet here it is – primetime BBC2."[28]

Stoke Sentinel columnist Simon Lowe described it as "the most human of stories: a truly stirring, laugh-out-loud tearjerker of a drama. Part biopic, part musical (has there ever been a better use of the ukulele in a piece of television – and I’m including George Formby’s contribution to the instrument’s status in that?) and part incredible journey, Marvellous was life-affirming and inspirational."[29]

Lou Macari was quoted in the Stoke Sentinel as saying: "The film really captures Nello [Neil Baldwin] as he was and for those who didn't know him I can assure them everything in the film is true. There are many moving moments, and it must be the best 90 minutes viewing Stoke-on-Trent has had for a long time."[30]

Awards

At the 2015 British Academy Television Awards, Marvellous won the Single Drama award and Gemma Jones received the British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Baldwin's mother.[31] Baldwin collected the former award and made an acceptance speech.

DVD

The DVD and a digital download of Marvellous were released on 1 December 2016.

Marvellous book

Baldwin's autobiography, Marvellous: Neil Baldwin – My Story, written with the help of Keele University alumnus Malcolm Clarke, was published in hardback by John Blake Publishing in August 2015.[8][32]

References
  1. Eames, Tom (3 March 2014). "Toby Jones to star in BBC drama Marvellous". Digital Spy. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
  2. Dowell, Ben (3 March 2014). "Toby Jones to play man with learning difficulties in fact-based BBC2 film". Radio Times. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
  3. Lang, Neil (3 March 2014). "Toby Jones to star in BBC Two film Marvellous". ATV Today. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
  4. "Stoke City: Former kit man Neil Baldwin receives honorary degree at Keele University". Stoke Sentinel. 16 July 2013. Archived from the original on 28 September 2014. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  5. Beckett, Francis (9 March 2010). "How Neil Baldwin became Keele University's mascot". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  6. Simon, Jane (25 September 2014). "Marvellous – Toby Jones is outstanding portraying extraordinary life of Stoke City kit man Neil Baldwin". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  7. Spinks, Martin (11 September 2014). "Stoke City: Lou Macari leads plaudits for Neil Baldwin film". Stoke Sentinel. Archived from the original on 26 September 2014. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  8. Baldwin, Neil (with Clarke, Malcolm) (2015). Marvellous. John Blake Publishing. ISBN 978-1784186432.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. "Toby Jones on playing Neil Baldwin in Marvellous". BBC News. 24 September 2014. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  10. Dickson, E Jane (25 September 2014). "Neil Baldwin: "Prince Edward is the best royal I've met – I just knocked on his door"". Radio Times. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  11. Jeffries, Stuart (21 September 2014). "Toby Jones: totally Stoked". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  12. Collin, Robbie (23 September 2014). "Toby Jones interview: 'Every character has a special need'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  13. Walsh, John (13 September 2014). "Quiet genius of Toby Jones: From The Hunger Games to Truman Capote, Hollywood can't get enough of British acting's most versatile talent". The Independent. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  14. McIver, Brian (16 September 2014). "Scots actor Tony Curran on splitting his time playing an alien gangster and a Scottish football legend". Daily Record. Glasgow. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  15. "Marvellous: Q&A with Lou Macari". TV blog. BBC. 23 September 2014. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  16. Crompton, Sarah (25 September 2014). "Marvellous, BBC Two, review: 'sweet and sharp'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  17. "Marvellous". BBC Two. 25 December 2014. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  18. Creamer, Jon (4 March 2014). "BBC2 orders Pete Bowker's Marvellous starring Toby Jones". Televisual. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
  19. "Marvellous – BBC2" (Press release). Keele University. 25 September 2014. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
  20. Barnes, Liam (8 May 2014). "Stoke City's Victoria Ground recreated at Crewe Alexandra for Neil 'Nello' Baldwin film". Stoke Sentinel. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  21. "Marvellous! TV drama filmed at Wrexham's Racecourse wins two BAFTAs". Daily Post (North Wales). 11 May 2015. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  22. Wollaston, Sam (26 September 2014). "Marvellous; Your Home in their Hands review – two Neil Baldwins meet real Lou Macari and real Gary Lineker". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  23. Anthony, Andrew (27 September 2014). "TV review". The Observer. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  24. Jones, Ellen E (25 September 2014). "Marvellous, BBC2, review: A film that feels good but not through any Hollywood schmaltz". The Independent. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  25. White, Jim (28 September 2014). "Peter Bowker's uplifting BBC drama featuring Toby Jones truly was Marvellous". The Sunday Telegraph. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  26. McDowall, Julie (25 September 2014). "TV review: Marvellous, the best programme this year". The Herald. Glasgow. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  27. Cooke, Rachel (24 September 2014). "BBC2's Marvellous lives up to its name". New Statesman. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  28. Woodhouse, John (25 September 2014). "Marvellous: Stoke City kit man Neil Baldwin's biopic". Stoke Sentinel. Archived from the original on 25 September 2014. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  29. Lowe, Simon (29 September 2014). "Simon Lowe: Marvellous film puts Nello up there with all the Stoke City greats". Stoke Sentinel. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  30. "Stoke City: Lou Macari calls Neil Baldwin film 'a big hit'". Stoke Sentinel. 12 September 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  31. "Ant and Dec repeat Bafta success". BBC News. 10 May 2015. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  32. McCann, Jamie (16 August 2015). "Modest 'Mr Marvellous' Stoke City kit man unmoved by brush with fame". Sunday Express. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
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