It is autumn 1989. Ian Charleson (Andrew Scott), still best known as the devout sprinter of Chariots of Fire, is desperate to get back on stage and do something that matters. When Daniel Day-Lewis walks out of Richard Eyre's Hamlet at the National Theatre, the role of a lifetime suddenly opens up. There is one problem. Charleson is living with AIDS, and his doctor, Margaret Johnson (Olivia Colman, reunited with her Fleabag co-star), warns him the part could finish him. He signs on anyway, and what follows is a race against his own body to hold the stage as the Prince of Denmark, night after night.

A superb ensemble fills out Charleson's world: Johnny Flynn as Richard Eyre, Billie Piper as his best friend Patsy Pollock, David Dawson as filmmaker Derek Jarman, who pushes Ian to go public about his diagnosis, and Peter Mullan as Ian's father, with Joe Locke, Juliet Stevenson and Monica Dolan among the familiar faces. The film moves between rehearsal rooms, hospital corridors and the hardest conversation of all, the one Ian finally has with his parents.

Expect a film about stubborn courage, loyal friendship and the strange, healing power of performance, carried by a central turn that already has festival audiences talking. Bring tissues, and stay for the curtain call.

Did you know?

Andrew Scott has played Hamlet himself. He took the role in Robert Icke's acclaimed 2017 stage production, which transferred from the Almeida to the West End and earned him an Olivier nomination for Best Actor. Two of his co-stars from that run, Juliet Stevenson (Gertrude) and Luke Thompson (Laertes), join him again in Elsinore. Nigel Havers, who ran alongside the real Charleson in Chariots of Fire, also has a cameo.

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