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Beautiful, moving film.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

A heinously self-indulgent love letter to herself from Barbara Windsor, penned by her long-time friend and collaborator, Tony Jordan, with heavy input from herself including far too many cameo appearances speckled throughout.If the subject matter wasn't so self-serving, and if it hadn't already been done better previously (also with Ms Windsor in a cameo as herself), this might have been a little less vomit-worthy, since technically it is a pretty well-made film with excellent cinematography, production design, and editing. There are also some very good performances.However, the structure of this piece is annoyingly self-conscious, with a middle-aged Babs (and occasionally the elderly one played by herself) interacting with younger incarnations of herself and other characters from her past, all backstage at a seedy theatre, as she narrates, converses, and analyses her way through a history of daddy-issues and gangster boyfriends, with occasional shrill renditions of "Sunny Side of the Street" to alleviate the tedium.Essentially this is written and structured like a stage play, and it would probably have worked much better in that medium. On film, however, it comes off as tacky, forced, and muddled.As well as having far too many actresses playing Ms Windsor, including herself - often all at the same time - there are also archive film clips of her, giving us in the end a rather unpleasant case of too-much-Babs-itus!The final embarrassing self indulgence occurs at the very end when the real Barbara Windsor steps into a spotlight and sings "Sunny Side of the Street" to an audience of her friends and family, including Tony Jordan.All in all, then, a cinematic circle-jerk. Sometimes it's a good selling point for a movie to recommend that you bring plenty of Kleenex. Not in this case!

BBC does this kind of show incredibly well. Not knowing a huge amount about Barbara I was keen to see it and discover more. I'd no idea she was such a complex character, or that her relationship with her parents was so fractious. I've read a few of the reviews who quite rightly point out how good the woman that played the older Barbara was, but I thought they all had her to a t, especially the middle one, she captured the cheekiness of Barbara. I was hoping they'd have shown more of her Carry on Life, and the complex relationship she had with Sid James, they passed this important part of her life too quickly. Seeing her appear at the end of the film made it, I enjoyed all the more knowing she'd given it her blessing.Well done Beeb.

The BBC have produced some incredible biopic dramas in the past. The brilliant telling of the get-together of Britain's greatest double act 'Eric & Ernie', 'Fantabulosa' which was based on the diaries of entertainer Kenneth Williams, the superb portrayal by Ruth Jones of 'Carry On…' favourite Hattie Jacques in 'Hattie' and of course the story another comedy great, Frankie Howerd in 'Rather You Than Me'. I have to say though, they have excelled themselves with this recently screened drama on the life of another 'Carry On….' regular, and much-loved actress Barbara Windsor in 'Babs'. Beginning in the '90s we see Barbara in her end-of-the-pier dressing room, played at this point by Samantha Spiro, as she takes a rest between shows and starts to think back on her life and the decisions and situations that shaped her life. Almost along the similar vein of the Ghost Of Christmas Past from 'A Christmas Carol', the ghost of her deceased father guides her through the various stages of her life from her childhood to her rise to stardom. Honor Kneafsey plays the very young Barbara Deeks as she goes through auditions, choice of stage name 'Windsor', the trauma of being evacuated during the war, the heart-breaking divorce of her parents and the resulting distance she felt from a father who seemingly decided to ignore her. As the drama moves to Barbara's 20's, actress Jamie Winstone takes over the role, and is close to perfect as we see the rise of Barbara's stage career, her continued strained relationship with her parents, her troubled love and marriage to Ronnie Knight and, of course, her introduction to the 'Carry On…' movies. This drama seriously impressed me, and contained some very funny moments and some real poignant scenes, as we are guided through both the good, and bad times of Barbara's life. There are some genuinely incredible performances from the cast, including Nick Moran as Barbara's father John Deeks, Zoe Wanamaker as renowned theatre director Joan Littlewood and Luke Allen-Gale as Ronnie Knight. The real Barbara Windsor also makes a couple of appearances during the drama and a there's a wonderful finale with her too.So much praise though must go to the three actresses portraying Barbara. Young Honor Kneafsey, Jamie Winstone and of course Samantha Spiro (who has actually played Barbara before both on stage and in the TV drama 'Cor Blimey' which told of her time during the 'Carry On…'s and her affair with co-star Sid James).It's unfortunate that it has been broadcast too late for this year's BAFTA awards but if it doesn't win anything in next year's honours then there is something seriously wrong. This is a stunning drama, superbly written, well-acted and gives us so much more of the life of an actress we all know and love.

Samantha Spiro absolutely stole the movie, playing Babs looking back over her life, she played the part so well and looked like her so much you would be mistaken for thinking it was Babs who also played herself in a cameo role.Another person wrote they felt the back flashes with her talking to her father were tedious, they felt the director had gone of track with the story line. I on the other hand felt it gave a better understanding to where Babs was emotionally within herself as a woman, person, actress.Not forgetting she played herself within this film and it was about her life, i doubt very much she wouldn't allow something she felt did not give people a insight into her true self (at one point having a dig at her own sexual conquests).I felt the actress who played her as a young actress was all wrong, unlike Samantha Spiro she looked nothing like her. In her heyday Babs was a stunning Goddess, even to me as a child at the time i first saw Carry on movies. Unfortunately Jaime Winstone who played her was just not right for the role, looked nothing like her and i don't wish to sound rude but if you saw Babs in Carry on Spying she was skinny as hell with a big chest whereas Jaime Winstone was big all over. And unlike Babs she just couldn't sing, i wish they had dubbed Babs singing over hers as she does sing at the end and a hell of a lot better.As mentioned before, we all grew up with her in Carry on Movies yet only about 2 minutes of the whole movie covered it, nothing about her relationship with Sid James or her long life friendship with Kenneth Williams.The film just ends with the last 25 years of her life missing, all we get is a footnote at the end which to me is poor quality writing about a national treasure who is loved by millions of people.The only thing i felt heart warming about the footnote is her marriage to her partner Scott is still going strong, at last she has a man in her life she can depend on.