Dir.: Mike Barker; Script: Mike Barker Scén./Script: Stuart Hepburn; Phot.: Ben Seresin; Ed.: Guy Bensley; Mus.: Bernard Butler; Cast: John Hannah, Helen McCrory, Jason Flemyng, Toni Collette, Darren Brownlie, David Brownlie, Lauren McMurray, Lauren McCracken, James Nesbitt, Elaine Lordan, Brian Pettifer, Tim Woodward, Caroline Berry, John Pierce Jones; Prod. & Sales: Handmade Films, 15 Golden Square, 1st Floor, Londres W1R 3AG (Grande-Bretagne), tél.: (171) 434 31 32, fax: (171) 434 31 43.

Spanner, a local Edinburgh loan shark, wants his money, but Bernadette doesn't have it. Her good-for-nothing husband, Spendlove Senior, has run off with it to London. That night Spanner returns with a gasoline-filled milk bottle, pauses to light his cigarette, then tosses the flaming bottle into the house. The James family -- 12-year-old Spendlove Junior, sisters Geraldine and Jessica -- have a narrow escape. On a bus to London, Junior bemoans being named after his father. When they finally catch up with him in a karaoke bar, Junior's opinion of his dad is amply confirmed. Instead of money, Bernadette is offered a drink and malign neglect. Bernadette's options are limited. She disappears into a nearby jewellery shop and reappears pursued by an apoplectic jeweller. Spendlove Senior refuses to play Clyde to Bernadette's Bonnie, but she is a firm believer in the dictum that the family that robs together stays together. The James Gang is born. From one "daring" job to another their reputation grows, the cops and the media hot on their trail...