Dream Horse review

Cinemas are open, so the feel-good Brit comedy is back.

Dream Horse and the Cefn Fforest community

The heartwarming story of how a South Wales community trained a Welsh Grand National-winning racehorse comes to the big screen today.

There hasn't been a good series about "second time around lovers" since Nineties sitcom As Time Goes By. This charming comedy-drama ends that drought in style. Celia Dawson (Anne Reid) and Alan Buttershaw (Derek Jacobi) are both widowed and haven't seen each other for 60 years. When the old flames are reunited via Facebook, their feelings are reignited - and they discover that it was a twist of fate that separated them in the first place.

This is superior fare, based on writer Sally Wainwright's (Scott & Bailey) own mother's internet romance. It's also directed by Doctor Who alumnus Euros Lyn and made by estimable production company Red. However, it's the performances that truly elevate it - not just from classy leads Reid and Jacobi who are amusingly irascible and sweetly bumbling, respectively, but a strong supporting cast which includes Sarah Lancashire, Nicola Walker, Tony Gardner and Ronni Ancona. All come into their own over the six episodes, as the lovers' families are thrown together amid sub-plots involving bisexuality, alchoholism and a murder mystery. Watch out for a neat surprise in the final scene of this opener.