A Private Function (1984)

Name: A Private Function
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1984-11-09
Duration: 96 min
Rating: 6.5
Cast: Michael Palin, Maggie Smith, Denholm Elliott, Richard Griffiths, Tony Haygarth

When a clandestine party goes wild, it's all about pork... and prestige.

Comedy

In the summer of 1947, Britain prepares to commemorate the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip. To get around food-rationing laws, Dr. Charles Swaby, accountant Henry Allardyce and solicitor Frank Lockwood are fattening a black-market pig for the big day. Egged on by his wife, meek Gilbert Chilvers steals the swine, but the couple must conceal it from inspector Morris Wormold.

Release Date: November 9, 1984
Runtime: 1h 36m
Rating: 6.5/10 (65 votes)

Director: Malcolm Mowbray

Cast: Michael Palin, Maggie Smith, Denholm Elliott, Richard Griffiths, Tony Haygarth, John Normington, Bill Paterson, Liz Smith

Production: Handmade Films

northern england pig satire yorkshire rural area working class post war food rationing 1940s

IMDb

Full Cast (30 people)

Michael Palin as Gilbert Chilvers
Maggie Smith as Joyce Chilvers
Denholm Elliott as Dr. Swaby
Richard Griffiths as Allardyce
Tony Haygarth as Sutcliff
John Normington as Lockwood
Bill Paterson as Wormold
Liz Smith as Mother
Alison Steadman as Mrs. Allardyce
Jim Carter as Inspector Noble
Pete Postlethwaite as Nuttol
Eileen O'Brien as Mrs. Sutcliff
Rachel Davies as Mrs. Forbes
Reece Dinsdale as P.C. Penny
Philip Wileman as Preston
Charles McKeown as Medcalf
Susan Porrett as Mrs. Medcalf
Donald Eccles as Father
Denys Hawthorne as Hotel Manager
Don Estelle as Barraclough
Eli Woods as Ernest
Amanda Gregan as Veronica
Paula Tilbrook as Mrs. Turnbull
Bernard Wrigley as Painter
Lee Daley as Painter's Boy
Gilly Coman as Dorothy
Maggie Ollerenshaw as Woman
Josie Lane as Mrs. Beavers
David Morgan as Mervin
Jill Goldston as Woman in Cinema (uncredited)

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Reviews

CinemaSerf - 7/10

The forthcoming wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip is a cause for celebration in post war Britain, but it isn’t going to affect rationing that still only allows one person one rasher of bacon per week. The folks of a small Yorkshire town have their own cunning plan. Secreted in the middle of the woods, they have a pig. Despite the best efforts of the ferret-like detective “Wormold” (B...

December 6, 2025