A Taste of Honey

A Taste of Honey (1961) is a British drama directed by Tony Richardson — watch it online on iFILM. Adapted from Shelagh Delaney's stage play, the film marked Rita Tushingham's screen debut; she won a BAFTA for the role.

Seventeen-year-old Jo lives in a cramped Manchester flat with her mother Helen — flirtatious, irresponsible, more interested in her latest boyfriend than in her daughter. When Helen moves in with a man she barely knows, Jo is left to manage on her own. A brief relationship with a Black sailor leaves her pregnant. Her unexpected anchor turns out to be Geoffrey, a gay art student who moves in and quietly builds a home out of the wreckage. Dora Bryan, playing Helen, also took home a BAFTA for best actress.

Richardson shot Manchester as it actually looked — canal banks, street markets, soot-stained terraces — and that refusal to smooth anything over is what separates this from the sentimental kitchen-sink pictures of the era. Tushingham plays Jo without pathos, all sharp edges and stubborn survival. It remains one of the defining films of the British New Wave, six decades on. Stream A Taste of Honey (1961) in full online on iFILM.