Wish You Were Here (1987)
 Loosely
based on the early life of notorious Streatham brothel madam
Cynthia Payne, David Leland’s bittersweet directorial debut is
an introspective character study of an irrepressible teenager that
refuses to be crushed by her colourless surroundings.
Sixteen-year-old Emily Lloyd runs riot in her auspicious screen
debut, whilst Tom Bell is seedily impressive in this well observed
postcard of English nostalgia.
Set in an austere post-war Brighton, England, Lynda (Lloyd), a
teenage girl troubled by her own inner demons, yearns for her
mother, five years dead, and rebels against her emotionally
sterile father (Geoffrey Hutchings) and the strait-laced residents
of their drab seaside town.
She is, as she says often, bloody bored. So she resorts to
infantile shock tactics - she hoists up her skirt and shows her
knickers to the local bus crews; she bends over and flashes her
backside at her neighbours; and she uses a lot of rude words. All
the time. Very loudly.
Lynda attempts to retain several jobs including employment at a
hair salon, bus station and hotel, but time and again she’s
sacked due to her insolence, provocative clothes and foul
language.
 Exceptionally
immoral and with a hunger to be loved, Lynda embarks on a series
of sexual explorations, notably an affair with lecherous family
friend Eric (Bell) - promiscuity that eventually lands her in dire
circumstances when she becomes pregnant.
Unemployed and disowned by her father due to her
self-destructive rambunctious, a defiant Lynda has some very
crucial decisions to make about her future.
She rejects the options of abortion or adoption and ends up as
an unmarried mother. Head held high, she wheels her pram through
the local park in front of all the gob-smacked townsfolk. That's
it.
Emily Lloyd is the daughter of British actor Roger Lloyd Pack (Only
Fools & Horses) and her mother used to be Harold Pinter's
secretary.
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