Gary Oldman stars as the controversial playwright and provocateur who rose from working class Leicester lad to the toast of swinging '60s London - not forgetting a brief pit stop in prison - before his promising future was cut short.

Stephen Frears - director of My Beautiful Laundrette and The Queen - created a queer classic with this outrageous biography. Gary Oldman gives a memorable performance in the lead role and receives more than capable support from an all-star British cast that includes Alfred Molina, Vanessa Redgrave and Julie Walters.

Oldman delivers outrageous one-liners and scandalous sexual barbs with a Cheshire cat grin in a film that captures the giddy charm of a true English eccentric and the tragedy of an artist lost in their prime.