The Lost King

The true story of the unearthing of the remains of King Richard III from beneath a parking lot is given a comedic twist by writer Steve Coogan, director Stephen Frears, and actor Sally Hawkins, the last of whom stars as Phillippa Langley, a history nerd with a ‘hunch’ about the location of the king’s burial place. Hawkins is marvellous as a chronic fatigue syndrome sufferer who defies the more scholarly archaeologists around her, pursuing her vision (literally—she is visited in dreams by the king…) to its triumphant end. ‘Hawkins breathes tremulously vulnerable life into a character who overcomes apparently insurmountable obstacles to prove to the world that she deserves to be taken seriously – the true heart of the piece… “The Lost King” is an underdog story that proves a perfect vehicle for Hawkins’s reliably winning screen presence.”—Mark Kermode, The Observer