Arthur Morrison (Broadbent) is a hearty Yorkshire Dales GP unafflicted by any form of self-doubt; a chancer who revels in the small scam.

Shrinking in his overbearing shadow is his sensitive son Blake (Firth), a youngster crippled by embarrassment by his father's bluff pride in getting owt for nowt.

The distant, fractured relationship is to persist even when Blake is a successful London writer in his forties with a wife (Gina McKee) and two small children.

However, the revelation that Arthur is suffering from terminal bowel cancer forces the prodigal son to return home and attempt to build some emotional bridges.

Hilary and Jackie director Anand Tucker firmly buries the memories of the wretched Shopgirl to produce a heart-wrenching study of family ties, distinguished by finely-wrought, acutely observed detail.

We share Blake's shame as his dad humiliates him in front of a pretty girl and join him in condemnation of Arthur's rather too friendly relationship with the flighty Beaty (Sarah Lancashire, excellent).

However, we also see the more appealing, tender side of his father; an impromptu driving lesson on a deserted beach and a doomed camping trip in the rain which ends in the local pub.

Tucker's clever use of flashbacks shows that its Blake's wretched suspicion of his father's infidelity to his adored mother (Juliet Stevenson in superb form) that poisons any positive filial tie he could establish with his dad.

Broadbent is marvellous as the emotional bulldozer while Firth beautifully conveys the concerns of a man terrified that he may be turning into the man he loathed as an adolescent.

Tim Evans