Vera Drake

Mike Leigh writes and directs this British drama starring Imelda Staunton as Vera Drake, a woman devoted completely to her working-class family. She spends her time caring for her elderly mother and sick neighbour, but also secretly visits women with unwanted pregnancies, helping them induce miscarriage. With this practice illegal in 1950s England, Vera risks imprisonment when the authorities discover what she perceives as her selfless acts of charity.

The cast also includes Philip Davis, Sally Hawkins, Eddie Marsan and Daniel Mays.