Wide-Eyed and Legless

For the 1975 song by Andy Fairweather Low, see Wide Eyed and Legless.

Wide-Eyed and Legless
Directed byRichard Loncraine
Written byJack Rosenthal
Deric Longden
StarringJulie Walters
Jim Broadbent
Thora Hird
Sian Thomas
Andrew Lancel
Music byColin Towns
Production
companies
BBC Films
Island World Productions
Distributed byThe Sales Company
Release date
  • 5 September 1993 (1993-09-05)
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Wide-Eyed and Legless (known in the US as The Wedding Gift) is a 1993 made-for-TV British drama film, directed by Richard Loncraine starring Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Sian Thomas and Thora Hird.

It is based on the 1989 book Diana's Story by the writer Deric Longden, who co-wrote the script with Jack Rosenthal.[1] The film tells the story of the final years of Deric's (played by Broadbent) marriage to his wife, Diana (Walters), who contracted a degenerative illness which left her wheelchair-bound and in almost constant pain and which medical officials were unable to understand at the time, though now believed to be a form of chronic fatigue syndrome or myalgic encephalomyelitis. As Diana's health deteriorated, she encourages him to spend time with another woman whom Longden has met (the partially-sighted and legally blind novelist Aileen Armitage (Thomas)), to help ease his pain over her eventual death.[2]

  1. ^ "Deric Longden: Deric Longden, who has died aged 76, wrote books that brought a gentle and life-enhancing humour to the problems of living with disability". The Daily Telegraph. 4 July 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
  2. ^ "The Wedding Gift". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 8 January 2022.