If you like warm, feel-good Sunday evening TV you'll love Calendar Girls.

Often moving, nearly always good-humoured, this film will fill your heart.

It's beautifully shot in breath-taking Dales locations and, with a hugely impressive cast bringing to life some no-nonsense middle-class characters, it's a refreshing change from the Grim Up North Brit-flicks that appeared in the wake of The Full Monty and Billy Elliot.

The scenery is stunning, and it's fun to spot familiar locations such as Skipton and Burnsall. It's not difficult to see why the Americans in particular will go crazy for this film.

But despite the idyllic villages and the cut flowers, the northern grit is there in the steely determination of the ladies of the WI who dare to bare all.

There are some great one-liners in Tim Firth's witty script and you can forgive the shaky northern accent of Helen Mirren, pictured with Julie Walters at the northern premiere, when you hear her tell a formidable WI conference that she'll 'run through Skipton naked covered in plum jam' if it means the nude calendar wins their approval.

The stripping scenes have drawn most attention, but the funniest bits are at the WI, with endless talks on such crowd-pleasing subjects as rugs, tea-towels and broccoli - although the constant renditions of Jerusalem wore a bit thin.

One of the most poignant scenes was Mirren and Walters in dressing gowns standing on a cardboard set in LA, feeling reality disappearing and trying to make sense of a crazy US promotional tour.

Mirren is great as feisty but vulnerable Chris, always trying to get things right. Tricia Stewart, Mirren's character, says that after seeing the film she decided 'she was more like me than I am'.

John Alderton is terrific as the character based on John Baker, whose death from leukaemia inspired the WI (his wife included) to launch the calendar and raise thousands to help others with the cancer. He may only be in the film for ten minutes or so, but Alderton beautifully plays a man full of life, painfully aware that it's slipping away from him.

Julie Walters is also moving - and funny - as Annie, based on John's wife Angela. She can change your mood with the flick of an expression, from stifling giggles at a WI meeting to choking back tears in a hospital waiting room.

And Penelope Wilton gives a striking performance as a wronged woman reclaiming her identity.

It's not often you get such great British actresses together in one film and this, coupled with the fact that this one was inspired by a home-grown story, makes it a must-see. It will break your heart and lift your soul.