The Duke
- 2022 film
Jim Broadbent stars as a man who steals a painting from the National Gallery. Based on a true story. Also features Helen Mirren, Fionn Whitehead, Anna Maxwell Martin, Matthew Goode, Jack Bandeira and more.
- Repeated Friday at 11:15pm on BBC2
Press clippings
Big Boys, Dead Canny and Derry Girls creators up Writers' Guild awards
Jack Rooke (Big Boys), Anna Costello (Dead Canny) and Lisa McGee (Derry Girls) are amongst the nominees for the Writers' Guild of Great Britain awards 2023
British Comedy Guide, 6th December 2022Streaming: The Duke and other great heist movies
Roger Michell's delightful art-theft romp starring Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren joins robbery classics from The Lavender Hill Mob to Rififi and Widows.
Guy Lodge, The Guardian, 16th April 2022The Duke review
The latest entry in the 'truth is stranger than fiction' genre is The Duke - the final feature from versatile director, the late Roger Michell. This is the story of the improbably named Kempton Bunton (Jim Broadbent), an irascible campaigner for pensioners' rights, women's suffrage and, in his spare time, a would-be playwright. Quite why his script The Adventures Of Susan Christ never found an audience is anybody's guess.
Philip Caveney, Bouquets & Brickbats, 10th March 2022The Duke review
Jim Broadbent excels in true tale of art-stealing pensioner, writers Mark Kermode.
Mark Kermode, The Observer, 27th February 2022The Duke: Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren shine
How long does it take to realise that Jim Broadbent has, in Roger Michell's The Duke, happened upon one of his greatest screen roles? About five seconds.
Tom Shone, The Times, 27th February 2022Writer Richard Bean on his new film The Duke
Hull-born and now Stratford-based playwright has written some of the most exciting recent plays in British Theatre, including the hugely succcessful One Man Two Guvnors. As new film The Duke opens this week, he tells Gill Sutherland about living in a squat, trying stand up and where he gets his funnybones from.
Gill Sutherland, Stratford Herald, 26th February 2022The Duke: Why my family stole a masterpiece portrait
"If we grabbed it and ran... which is the best way to go? We go that way," he says, pointing to my right, "and we can get to the second floor, then go to the men's toilet and there's a ladder. Hopefully there's a ladder in the back, the ladder from 1961." The man giving me advice on how to steal a painting from the National Gallery knows what he is talking about. It was his family that stole the famous portrait of Goya's Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London.
David Sillito, BBC, 25th February 2022Jim Broadbent on art heists, the BBC and his friend Roger Michell
"You wouldn't be able to sell it as a fiction - if you said 'I've written this story', no-one would believe it. It's gloriously unbelievable, the whole thing," marvels 72-year-old Oscar winner Broadbent.
The Scotsman, 25th February 2022Movie review: The Duke
Comfortingly old-fashioned and cosy comedy fare.
Damon Smith, Breaking News Ireland, 25th February 2022Dad stole a £2.8m painting... now his story is a new film
Trailers and publicity for the film would have you believe that Broadbent's character Kempton Bunton carried out the daring art heist - but the thief was actually the driver's son, Jackie. 45-year-old grandson Chris tells The Sun: "My grandad witnessed his own dad come back from the war disabled and ending up isolated and alone."
The Sun, 24th February 2022