Idid not have high expectations for "The Ballad of Wallis Island", said Danny Leigh in the Financial Times . Developed from a 2007 short film by its co-stars, poet-comedian Tim Key and his writing partner Tom Basden, it is "a British comedy low in budget and high in whimsy" – a formula that "I for one have learnt to dread". Yet the film turns out to be a "delight".

Key plays Charles, a verbose, socially awkward widower who has won the Lottery and used the proceeds to buy a crumbling house on an island somewhere off the coast of Britain. Living in near-total isolation, he invites his favourite musician – washed-up mid-2000s folk star Herb McGwyer (Basden) – to come to the island to perform for him in its grounds. Yet when the latter arrives, he proves to be "a sour egomaniac" with little

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