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Getting On

Jo Brand, Joanna Scanlan and Vicki Pepperdine star in this comedy of staff and patients "getting on" with it in an overlooked corner of the health service. Devised, written and performed by all three cast, and directed by Peter Capaldi, Getting On takes its subject matter – the care of the elderly – and gets to the heart, the hips and the bowels of it.

Darkly funny, tough and compassionate, Getting On follows the daily lives of the medical team as they go about their routine tasks, where messy choices are the order of the day. It's the story of one ward, in one hospital, which all of us will one day experience ourselves.

Welcome to Ward B4, a backwater in an NHS trust hospital. This is the world of slips, trips and hips; healthcare at its least glamorous. Sister Den Flixter, Nurse Kim Wilde and Doctor Pippa Moore assemble for ward round as the daily grind begins. But this day is different. The new male matron has just started work and an unsavoury stool sample and dead patient are causing problems. Kim, who has just returned to nursing, looks to Den for help, but Den has problems of her own.

Jo Brand plays Nurse Kim Wilde, Vicki Pepperdine plays Doctor Pippa Moore, Joanna Scanlan plays Sister Den Flixter and Ricky Grover plays Matron Hilary Loftus.

JP

Liz Smith's Summer Cruise

In Liz Smith's Summer Cruise, 87-year-old actress and comedian Liz Smith – known to millions as Nana in The Royle Family and Leticia in The Vicar Of Dibley – does the one thing she has never managed to achieve in her life – go on a proper holiday. In this special one-off programme, award-winning documentary film-maker Daisy Asquith follows the BAFTA-winning actress fulfill her modest ambition to join a group of like-minded individuals on holiday while she still can.

She decides to take a cruise, confident in the knowledge that she might not feel lonely, knowing many other single people choose this type of vacation, particularly if it is their first holiday experience alone.

The film gives an intimate and personal insight into Liz's life, both past and present, from the moment she plans her holiday, packs her bags, bids farewell to her friends, leaves the security of her sheltered accommodation and heads off on-board a 10-day Adriatic cruise to Venice. Was the holiday everything she dreamed of?

GD/JF

The Grandparent Diaries

Three 60-minute documentaries looking at the relationships between three very different sets of grandparents and their grandchildren.

The first film introduces North Londoner Ian Batten – fashion designer, father of four, grandfather of seven. In this warm, insightful film, Ian takes his grandchildren for a weekend by the sea for the first time – all seven of them, ranging from toddlers to teenagers.

As a Sixties dad who brought his own children up in the liberal spirit of the time, his approach seems to be a hit with the children. Bedtimes are relaxed and the kids happily chip in. But do his own children recall their upbringings as similarly idyllic and how has the free, liberal approach influenced their own views on parenting? Through interviews spanning three generations, the family's archive footage and observation, the film looks at how the philosophies of the Sixties influence Ian as a grandfather whilst celebrating the enduring traditions of grandparenting through the 20th century.

The second film introduces The Little Family. Molly Little is a typical 15-year-old girl. Constantly pushing boundaries like all teenage girls, there are daily battles at home, as she rallies for later curfews, shorter hem lines and more phone credit. But while Molly is, in many ways, an archetypal teenager, her living situation is not. Both Molly and her 10-year-old brother, Mitch, have been brought up by their 68-year-old grandparents Val and Ron Little since their mother Tammy died in 2000.

The desire to keep absolute normality for the children has been paramount for the Littles since Tammy died. Living with the generation gap is not easy for any of them – they also have their own private struggles to deal with, the loss of a mother and a daughter. But clinging to the normal routine of everyday life has helped get them through.

Through family archive, observation, interview and the children's video diary, this film builds up a moving and intimate picture of the Little family, past and present. Through the voices of Molly, Mitch, Ron and Val, it explores how far the love of these two doting (and grieving) grandparents has gone to repair a family coping with a tragic loss. Through the laughter, routines and arguments of daily life, the film observes to what degree grandparental love can and cannot fill the breach of a lost member of the middle generation and what that means for the whole family.

The final film in The Grandparent Diaries introduces 78-year-old widow Avril Pengilly, who three years ago sold her bungalow and moved in with her daughter, son-in-law and their 11 and 16-year-old sons. Far from being because she was too old and frail to look after herself, it was because they needed her help, both financially and practically, as much as she needed them.

Through interview and observation the film explores both the advantages and challenges for all three generations living under one roof. Using personal photographs and Avril's memories of her life lived in a small north Devon farming community, Avril looks back at her own history and how it has informed her role as a grandmother and mother today.

GD/JF

The Time Of Their Lives

A coming-of-age film with a difference is promised for The Time Of Their Lives, a 60-minute Storyville documentary.

In this portrait of three of the oldest residents living in the Mary Feilding Guild – a home for the active elderly in North London – the film introduces Rose, a former sex-therapist and a newspaper columnist since the age of 100; veteran Stop-the-War campaigner Hetty (102); and self-styled establishment lady Alison (87), who was once a reporter for the Daily Worker and a card-carrying communist.

Together the three women share their passionate concerns about everything – from terrorism and global warming to sex, death and the meaning of life – whilst quietly negotiating the final years of their lives.

Surprising, poignant and at times very funny, The Time Of Their Lives reveals the everyday mystery of how very old people experience life and the intense challenges that old age brings.

GD/JF

How To Be Old

In How To Be Old, Nigel Planer's alter-ego Nicholas Craig, master of invention, theatrical historian and "absolutely bloody passionate" actor examines the intricacies, pitfalls and sheer gruelling hard work that goes into the art of being old.

Craig looks at some of the options open to the faltering actor – the Casualty patient, the Dickensian "character", the put-upon, slipper-shuffling pensioner in peril. He examines the range of opportunities in TV commercials – the smiling grandfather and the smiling health insurance patient. Technique, script and choreography together with prop handling and the choice of cardigan are all up for debate.

Anyone keen on surviving the cut and thrust of old age in the fast lane should look no further than the extraordinary tour de force that is Nicholas Craig – actor, Renaissance man and would-be pensioner.

GD/JF

Also...

The Grey Expectations Season will also provide another chance to see George Melly's Last Stand, Mark Lawson talks to Liz Smith, John Mortimer: A Life In Words, Krapp's Last Tape and the 10-part series on the lives of the Chelsea pensioners, Once A Soldier.