Thames View
2026 · 14m · United Kingdom
Directed by Zac Ella
Genres: animation, comedy, family
Tones: darkly comic, humorous, whimsical
In 1990s East London, the chaotic Potts family scrambles to recover Joyce Potts' stolen birthday present, with Big Jim enlisting his fearsome mother-in-law Edna to track it down across the Thames View Estate.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
A family comedy about recovering a stolen birthday present sounds like the setup for every wholesome British children's special ever made—except this thing leans into the chaos and the grotesque matriarch angle hard enough that it actually *becomes* something, which is the only reason I'm not bored by it.
Thames View positions itself squarely in the lineage of British comic animation with genuine formal control—the estate setting, the multigenerational ensemble, the tonal balance between whimsy and genuine darkness all speak to a filmmaker aware of what they're working within.
The decision to make Edna the *actual* force driving the narrative instead of a comic relief sidekick—that single casting/characterization choice transforms what could've been a generic recovery plot into something with real teeth and momentum.
Reviews
Seeking to subvert the boring cliches of city-life, the acclaimed cartoonist Rob Flowers takes us back to his 90s East London childhood with a colourful collage of Looney-Tunes shenanigans and crime boss grannies. Through the silliness and tongue-in-cheek humour of Rob's cartoon world, it becomes an entertaining patchwork of innuendos, British references and cinematic odes.