Dustbin Baby (film)

Dustbin Baby is a BBC television film directed by Juliet May, based on Jacqueline Wilsons 2001 novel of the same name. It was first broadcast on BBC One onDecember 2008. The film stars Dakota Blue Richards as April, a troubled teenager who was abandoned in a dustbin as an infant, and Juliet Stevenson as Marion Bean, Aprils adoptive mother. David Haig stars as Elliot, Marions friend and colleague. The screenplay was written by Helen Blakeman, and the film was produced by Kindle Entertainment. Dustbin Baby deals with themes including maternal bonding, bullying, and youth crime. The story revolves around April running away on her fourteenth birthday, while Marion searches for her. Aprils life is recounted in flashbacks as she meets people and visits places that are significant to her.

On Aprils fourteenth birthday, Marion, her adoptive mother, gives her earrings, not the mobile phone she wanted. They argue, and April leaves for school. After lying to her friends, claiming she has a phone and is going to the dentists, April chooses to play truant. While at work at a stately home, Marion hears that April has not arrived at school. She talks to her friend and colleague Elliot, who unsuccessfully tries to dissuade her from leaving. April visits the home of Pat Williams, who cared for her as a baby. Pat remembers April and gives her a newspaper cutting telling the story of her discovery as a baby in a dustbin behind a pizza parlour. In a flashback, a young April is seen living with Janet and Daniel Johnson. The Johnsons relationship is an abusive one, leading to Janets suicide. Meanwhile, Marion goes to Aprils school, where she talks to Aprils friends, and realises that they were lied to. April then leaves Pats home, and travels alone to Janets grave. Marion continues to search, and, in a shopping centre, meets Elliot, who has joined her. April then visits the now abandoned Sunnyholme Childrens Home, where she lived when she was younger. In a flashback, an eightyearold April lives at the Sunnyholme. Cared for by a woman named Mo, April befriends an older girl called Gina and is introduced to Pearl, a girl of her age. Pearl behaves in front of Mo, but actually bullies April. Gina wakes April one night to involve her in a burglary, and, later, Pearl attacks April, holding her head under water, and then tears up Aprils beloved paper dolls. April confronts Pearl, who she pushes down a flight of stairs, and is reprimanded by Mo. A voiceover from 14yearold April says Gina was then moved on, and, eventually, April is also moved on.The flashback jumps forward to Aprils time at Fairdale Residential School. She befriends Poppy, who has Asperger syndrome. In the present, Marion buys a mobile phone for April. Back at Fairdale, April is being taught by Miss Bean

Source: Wikipedia