Personal Services

Personal Services follows Christine Painter, a single mother and waitress who is struggling to make ends meet while also renting out two flats. When her tenants fail to pay, she ends up settling her own debts with her landlord through sexual favours, and the arrangement gradually draws her into a more organised business. With help from the prostitute Shirley and a cross-dressing customer known as Wing Commander Morten, she turns her suburban house into a discreet establishment serving older men, offering role-play and other personal services rather than straightforward sex.

The film is loosely inspired by the real experiences of Cynthia Payne, whose suburban brothel and the court case that followed became a British tabloid story. Terry Jones directed, four years after Monty Python's The Meaning of Life and two years before Erik the Viking, from a screenplay by David Leland. Julie Walters leads the cast as Christine, with Shirley Stelfox, Alec McCowen and Danny Schiller among the credited performers.

Released in February 1987, the comedy took around 2 million dollars worldwide, a modest return. On IMDb it holds a 6.3 rating from roughly 2,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6 out of 10 from a much smaller group of 48 voters, suggesting a limited but reasonably settled response from those who have seen it.