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England, the 1950s. Because of his brother's measles, 14-year-old Tom (Anthony Way) is sent to stay with his aunt (Greta Scacchi) and uncle (James Wilby) for the summer.
Opportunities for adventure in these surroundings seem limited until, at midnight, the grandfather clock strikes 13 times and the house turns into a Victorian residence, complete with magnificent garden. There, the pyjama-clad time-traveller meets the orphaned Hatty (Florence Hoath)...
Willard Carroll's adaptation of Philippa Pearce's childrens' book is handsome but quaint stuff. Aside from themes of time's malleability and the magic of childhood, it offers a flatly-paced, cloying fantasy of England's past as a whites-only rural idyll.
