Keep Off The Grass

A BAFTA award nominated drama about a park keeper who arrives to open up his park. Waiting at the gate is the bane of his life: a bag lady with three dogs. His Rastafarian assistant Errol arrives for work. As the day progresses, the lady and the keeper discover a common interest.

The park keeper (Dave King) arrives to open up and, as usual, encounters a lady with three dogs (Patricia Routledge). Then his helper "Errol" (Steven Woodcock) arrives on his bike - he's late, missed his bus. The rest of the day progresses normally with joggers and other dog walkers and that gives director Paul Weiland a free hand to illustrate that it takes all types to make a world! Eccentrics or what? It turns out that he has a penchant for gardening and that the legendary "Capability" Brown is one of his heroes. When the lady knocks on his door seeking some hot water for her tea, he discovers that both have an interest in the great British landscape gardeners and who knows, maybe this could be the start of a lovely friendship as we continue to watch the nutcases trying to train their pets and "Errol" grows his very own strain of "Turkish Grass" in the greenhouse. David Earl has scored this in a jolly and engaging fashion and though maybe it's five minutes too long, it's quite an amiable look at the British and their foibles. I've never did like dogs!