Content

The Full English is a British kitchen sink realism meeting an Asian ghost story – a darkly comic, restrained chamber piece set within the contained world of a café and its kitchen. The film is a two-hander between two men from different backgrounds, each navigating a quiet existential crisis in a small English town.

When retired restaurant and takeaway owner Rick Shaw returns to his former premises to help the new owner, Big John – who, in the midst of a midlife crisis, has broken down in his kitchen – memories of his past return like ghosts to haunt him.

Questions of luck, fortune, and timing in life are brought to the fore as Big John compares Rick’s prior success running a Chinese restaurant and takeaway with his own disastrous attempt to run a breakfast café. What he fails to see is the ultimate cost of that success: the loss of Rick’s wife, who worked alongside him for decades. Now Rick, like Big John, is also questioning his own life and the decisions that shaped his journey.

Dates

September / October 2026 TBC

Roles

Roles Details

Title

Rick

Content

Lead. Male.
Male, Hong Kong-Chinese, early 60s to early 70s. A widower and reluctantly retired Chinese restaurant owner and chef. For decades he and his wife ran a successful restaurant and takeaway in a small English town. Following her sudden death, Rick gives up cooking and the business, selling the remaining lease to Big John. Now widowed and adrift, Rick cuts a lonely figure in his adopted country of England. Without his wife, he struggles to find purpose, filling the void with gambling–a habit that often leaves him out of pocket.
Must be able to speak fluent Cantonese and adequate English.

Salary

Rate: £150 / day Total Pay: £600 (est. 4 days of work)

Ethnicities

White

Gender

Male Only

Age

50 - 70