Mike Leigh's new film "Tender Loving Care" is a warm yet emotionally affecting drama about friendship, family and the strain on England's social safety net, reviewed here ahead of release. The 83-year-old writer-director has hinted this could be his final film, and the review frames it as a fitting, quietly powerful farewell, blending gentle humour with an undercurrent of political urgency about state neglect and social isolation.

The story centres on childhood friends Amy (Kate O'Flynn) and Rosie (Alice Bailey Johnson), both overworked social workers, alongside Amy's parents Birdie (Marion Bailey) and Geoff (Paul Jesson). After Amy is dumped by her boyfriend and moves in with Rosie, the film follows their daily struggles at work and unwinding together at home, before Geoff's health suddenly declines. Reviewers note the tone is gentler than in Leigh's more turbulent works like "Secrets & Lies" and "All or Nothing", with an unusually amiable central quartet whose darker emotions stay hidden beneath cheerful exteriors, built through Leigh's signature improvisation-based rehearsal process.