One-sidedness in a biopic can never be a good thing, but particularly when the film opens with a disclaimer stating that "some scenes have been invented [...] for the purposes of the narrative". It just left me wondering which scenes were invented and for what purpose; to exaggerate Blyton's flaws even more? I know little about Blyton's private life, but I struggle to believe anyone could be as abhorrent as the person portrayed here. It feels like a mean-spirited character assassination.

Lawson, MacFadyen and (to some extent) Carter give passable performances, but ultimately there's too much of Blyton the Monster without any balance to show that -- flawed or not -- she was a complete human being, and the end result feels distractingly like a hatchet job.