Ballet Shoes (film)

Ballet Shoes is a 2007 British television film, adapted by Heidi Thomas from Noel Streatfeild's 1936 novel Ballet Shoes. It was produced by Granada Productions (formerly Granada Television) and premiered on BBC One on 26 December 2007. It is directed by Sandra Goldbacher.

A previous adaptation of Ballet Shoes was produced in serial format by the BBC in 1975 and directed by Timothy Combe.

Plot

A young orphan, Sylvia Brown, and her nurse Nana come to live at her great-uncle Matthew's house in London. He is a paleontologist and is reluctant to take her in, but relents when he learns that he is her only living relative. Matthew is away a lot on travels collecting fossils, but he sends Sylvia letters and presents and she learns to love him.

It is 1919. Sylvia is now grown up. Matthew brings her back an orphaned baby girl, who has been rescued from a shipwreck. He names her Pauline Fossil. Sylvia and Nana reluctantly take her in. Two years later, in 1921, Matthew brings back another orphan, a Russian baby girl called Petrova. In 1923, Matthew sends a third baby, Posy, with ballet shoes that her mother owned and necklaces for the three girls. He also left some money in the bank for Sylvia, enough to last five years. That is the last the family hears of him.