The British period drama is shaken out of its slumber with an avalanche of f-bombs in this exhilaratingly sweary comedy that reunites Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley, following The Lost Daughter. Made with an eye for the commercial crowd but featuring enough rebellious spirit to set it apart, Wicked Little Letters is based on a real 1920s scandal, with the opening text informing us that the events we’re about to see are ‘more true than you’d think’. 

Colman and Buckley are unimprovably cast as Edith Swan and Rose Gooding, two warring neighbours and former friends living in the seaside town of Littlehampton. Edith is a meek, devoutly Christian spinster, who is under the control of her ferociously critical father (a superb Timothy Spall, playing it straight). Rose, on the other hand, is a free-spirited, hard-drinking Irish immigrant, living with her daughter (Matilda The Musical’s Alisha Weir) and lover (Malachi Kirby).

After Edith begins receiving letters stuffed with obscene, wildly imaginative insults, the potty-mouthed Rose is suspected, though it hardly seems her style. Smelling a rat, upstanding female police officer Gladys Moss (an excellent Anjana Vasan) defies her sexist boss to conduct her own covert investigation, gathering a gang of sympathetic local women for assistance.

Taking toxic smalltown attitudes to task with a light touch, Wicked Little Letters highlights anti-Irish prejudice in a way that’s seldom seen on screen. It’s also alive to the hypocrisy of so-called morally upstanding Daily Mail-devouring types, whose vitriol is revealing. The result is a mischievously entertaining, neatly structured story of female frustration, liberation and solidarity, featuring two full-throttle lead turns and fine support from comic stalwarts such as Joanna Scanlan and Lolly Adefope. Thea Sharrock’s solid if uninspired direction is lifted by the spectacular cast, while the script from Jonny Sweet is just really fucking funny. 

Wicked Little Letters is in cinemas from Friday 23 February.