Seeing Michael Caine as an elderly magician in the new film Is anybody there? was a good experience; it portrayed a lovely relationship with a boy obsessed by and learning to cope with death. Thinking about it though, why did we have to have a film set in a 1980s care home? Perhaps because the small-business style of the home made it more personal, so you could personalise the problems, when nowadays they are often big chains.

More to the point, while I welcome some campaigning about the need of older people in care homes, why are we often showing the problems of running them, rather than what you can achieve. It’s another example of the ‘good news isn’t interesting’ syndrome. But I think Slumdog Millionaire showed that you can make an interesting and ‘feel-good’ movie about someone overcoming disadvantage, and older people can use their experience to overcome barriers in their lives.