Beautiful Thing

Sixteen-year-old Jamie lives with his mum Sandra and her younger boyfriend in a low-rise block of flats in Thamesmead, London.

Living next door is the rowdy Leah, who has been expelled from school and spends her days sunning herself and listening to Mama Cass. And on the other side is Ste, also sixteen. His father’s anger means that he often hides out in Jamie and Sandra’s flat, spending the night there to escape being beaten.

Ste and Jamie start off top-and-tailing in Jamie’s bed, since there’s nowhere else to sleep, and Harvey unfolds their tentative, awkward relationship with delicacy and with joy. Beautiful Thing’s crisply authentic dialogue darts between aching, soul-searching emotion and sharp winning comedy, perfectly capturing the thrill of a first love.