The Night Watch

Completed2011United Kingdom89 min

In post-war London, Kay wanders through a city whose return to ordinary life offers her little comfort. Helen works at a marriage bureau while…Read more +Read less −

In post-war London, Kay wanders through a city whose return to ordinary life offers her little comfort. Helen works at a marriage bureau while clinging to her increasingly troubled relationship with writer Julia. Their lives are connected by experiences neither time nor peace has resolved. Moving backwards through the war years, the film gradually reveals how love, chance encounters and moments of courage brought these women together and drew them apart. Richard Laxton’s adaptation of Sarah Waters’s novel follows people whose private attachments do not fit the public stories being told around them. As earlier choices come into view, the familiar shape of the present changes, showing how much can remain hidden inside an apparently unremarkable meeting.

Drama Romance History

Sapphic characters & cast

Anna Maxwell Martin

as Kay Langrish

Main sapphic character

1977-05-10Taurus

Exact-film cast panel publicity portrait

Claire Foy

as Helen Giniver

Main sapphic character

1984-04-16Aries

Exact-film cast panel publicity portrait

Anna Wilson-Jones

as Julia Standing

Main sapphic character

Official platform credited performer publicity portrait

BEHIND THE SCENES

Details & credits

Country: United Kingdom
Language: English
Premiere: 2011-07-12
Runtime: 89 minutes
Director: Richard Laxton

Exact-film official platform titled key art; rights pending

Artwork source & permission status

Editorial review approved — rights not independently confirmed

Exact-film official platform titled key art; rights pending

Original publication ↗

Sources & editorial notes (7)

Last researched 2026-10-31. Editorially approved.

year: Exact film identity and substantive sapphic lead/story evidence
genres: Exact film identity and substantive sapphic lead/story evidence
status: Exact film identity and substantive sapphic lead/story evidence
country: Exact film identity and substantive sapphic lead/story evidence
language: Exact film identity and substantive sapphic lead/story evidence
directors: Exact film identity and substantive sapphic lead/story evidence
description: Exact-film primary identity, narrative, cast or edition evidence
watch links: Official exact-film viewing destination, subject to territory, entitlement and edition restrictions
western cast: Exact film identity and substantive sapphic lead/story evidence
premiere date: Ofcom broadcast bulletin identifies BBC Two The Night Watch broadcast 12 July 2011
runtime minutes: Exact film identity and substantive sapphic lead/story evidence
classification note: Exact-film primary identity, narrative, cast or edition evidence
representation type: Exact film identity and substantive sapphic lead/story evidence