Lucy Hutchinson

Emma Kennedy is unlucky that her childhood-memoir sitcom comes so soon after Raised By Wolves and Cradle To Grave, but it doesn't help itself by sticking to such well-worn ground: tonight, Dad (Dan Skinner) fails to dissuade Mum (Katherine Parkinson) from learning to drive, while 10-year-old Emma (the ace Lucy Hutchinson) hunts for the sender of her first Valentine. The characters are well acted, but are either familiar types or wacky wildcards, and feel secondary to the light-brown 1970s nostalgia.

From Grandma's House to The Thick Of It, Bafta-winning actress Rebecca Front has a genius for playing comedy characters tinted with a tragic aura. In her autobiographical Little Cracker of a drama we see the same quality in Front's own life, with Young Rebecca (Lucy Hutchinson) dealing with some heavy-duty emotions by refusing to go to school - until sympathetic head teacher, Miss Dyson (Front herself), steps in to help.

It's the turn of The Thick of It's Rebecca Front to head up tonight's short comedy from Sky. Like the majority of these gently amusing films, Rainy Days and Mondays is a little self-indulgent in its nostalgia, trading as they do on their creator's childhood (Chris O'Dowd's effort spawned the brilliant Moone Boy), but the strength and breadth of talent involved make it an enduringly intriguing project.

In her episode, a young Rebecca develops a death-anxiety complex that belies her years and stops her going to school. These films tend not to delve far beneath the surface of the sometimes dark subject matter, leaving their success resting almost wholly on the subtlety of the young actor at the centre. In this case, Lucy Hutchinson does an impressive job of capturing both overbearing childhood dread and the magical moment its shadow lifts.

Young Rebecca is in tears at the prospect of going to school, throwing her uniform and satchel out of her bedroom window. Is she suffering from school phobia brought on by starting "big school" as the so-called experts believe, or is there something deeper at play?

Rebecca and Jeremy Front's charming period piece explores the gulf between childhood fears and adult understanding of them with gentle humour and a great heart, while steering clear of trite nostalgia. Lucy Hutchinson is terrific as the morbid young Rebecca, while Samantha Spiro and Richard Lumsden deliver their usual quality, and Front (hapless MP Nicola Murray in The Thick of It) is commanding as the kindly headmistress who comes to young Rebecca's aid.