MANILA, Philippines - SOLARtv Big Ticket presents Nanny McPhee on Dec. 12 at 9 p.m. Taking place in 19th century England, widower and undertaker 41-year-old Cedric Brown (Colin Firth) has seven children: 11-year-old Simon (Thomas Sangster), 10-year-old Tora (Eliza Bennett), nine-year-old Lily (Jennifer Rae Daykin), eight-year-old Eric (Raphaël Coleman), seven-year-old Sebastian (Samuel Honywood), five-year-old Christianna (Holly Gibbs) and one-year-old Agatha (Hebe and Zinnia Barnes). He loves his children very much, but spends little time with them, unable to handle raising them all on his own. The children have had a series of 17 nannies, whom they systematically drive out; it is a point of pride for them to get rid of each nanny as fast as possible. They also terrorize the cook, Mrs. Blatherwick (Imelda Staunton) but are cared for and loved by Evangeline (Kelly MacDonald) the young scullery maid.
In this dark and witty fable, the recently widowed Mr. Brown is in need of yet another nanny for his seven children. (They ran off the first 17 nannies.) Nanny McPhee becomes number 18, and she is very unlike any nanny the children have had before. An unsightly person with magical powers, Nanny McPhee teaches the children that there are consequences to bad behavior.
Though Nanny McPhee seems quite unlike Mary Poppins, she sees the family’s need and sets out to help them in as deep and profound a way as the magical Mary did with the Banks family. And, when the fate of the Brown family becomes uncertain, Nanny McPhee’s guidance may be the only thing that pulls them through.