Me Before You (2016 Thea Sharrock)

Prolific writer of romantic fiction Jojo Moyes heard a story about a quadriplegic ex-rugby player who wanted to end his own life; that made it into a bestseller which she adapted, her first screenplay. (Sharrock's previous job was two episodes of 'Meet the Midwife'.) She somewhat surprised us in the extras by claiming that she doesn't normally really 'discover' her characters until midway through writing - this one being different. Interestingly the original announcement was that Neustadter/Weber (500 Days of Summer, The Spectacular Now, The Fault in our Stars) were to adapt it and Jojo assumed someone else would do it, but 'they' said 'Do you want to have a go?' and she said 'Yes' (full interview here). There's no mention of these two in the credits so don't believe announcements.

Emilia Clarke gives a wonderfully whimsical and sweet performance opposite Sam Claflin (there's a certain Bridget Jones-Hugh Grant to it.) Good cast encompasses Janet McTeer, Charles Dance, Samantha Spiro, Brendan Coyle, Jenna Coleman, Matthew Lewis (Harry Potter series), Stephen Peacocke, Vanessa Kirby and Joanna Lumley.

It's perhaps slightly unsubtle at times but what Q calls 'a little gem', though I'm not sure Moyes really gets to the nub of why dying was the only option. Shot by Remi Adafarasin in Panavision, with presumably his son Ben as second assistant camera; editor is John Wilson  (London Road, Downton, The History Boys).

It's Pembroke Castle. The tropical island is Mallorca. Place Dauphin in Paris does look nice,