“Put…the cabbage…down!” Jim Archer melds the whimsy of Wallace & Gromit with the pathos of Lars and the Real Girl and the unease of The Office to bring us a feel-good coming-of-age story of loner Brian.

Filmed in mockumentary style, David Earl plays his comedy character Brian Gittins as a lonely man, happy with his isolated life on a farm in North Wales, pottering around and building inventions that struggle for a purpose. There’s a flying cuckoo clock, an automatic cup scrubber and shoe trawler nets. He is treated with kindness and patience by the local villagers but not by local thug Eddie (Jamie Michie who you’ll know from just about any British drama, including Game of Thrones) and his tough wife Pam (the fab Nina Sosanya) and awful twin daughters.

Surprising even himself, Brian manages to make a robot out of odds and sods that becomes sentient. He chooses the name Charles Petrescu (and is played by Chris Hayward but not the Australian one) and suddenly Brian is a parent to an eager and sometimes fractious seven-foot child. He knows that life outside his farm might be cruel to Charles and allows only timid love interest Hazel (Louise Brealey – Molly Hooper from Sherlock) to meet him.

The story arc is not a surprising one as we know that Brian at some point is going to have to stand up to Eddie but it is nevertheless a heartwarming and enjoyable journey. The clear commentary on the anguish and vicissitudes of parenting was particularly pertinent as the screening I attended was a surprise (to most of the audience) ‘cry baby’ session which meant house lights up, sound mellowed and supportive inclusion of parents accompanied by children and babies. I had two babies in front of me and they weren’t so different from Charles – cute, guileless and at the start of the great adventure of life.

I recommend you stay until the end of the credits so that you can hear Charles perform his rap – “I’m Charles Petrescu. It’s nice to meet you.”

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