Jim Broadbent is the eponymous Harold, a retired middle manager of a Devon brewery, whose life is upended when he receives a letter from an old friend and work colleague, Queenie.

It’s a farewell note. She’s dying of cancer in a palliative care home in England’s distant north-east.

Harold dutifully pens a short reply but when he ambles down to the shops to post it, he’s struck by a bolt from the blue – or, more accurately, from a young woman with blue hair who advises him to go see Queenie in person.

And so he does, unannounced, unprepared and entirely on foot.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. Photo supplied

He calls ahead to the hospice. If Queenie knows he’s coming, he reasons, she has hope and cannot die.

He also calls his wife, Maureen (Penelope Wilton). She’s deeply unimpressed.

Week by week, as Harold tramps along country roads, he discards the creature comforts. He posts his debit card back to Maureen and becomes what used to be called “a gentleman of the road” – living off the land, sleeping in barns, relying on the kindness of strangers.

As Harold stumbles northwards, however, his...