Helena Bonham Carter helps bring Toast memoir to life

Helena Bonham Carter is to star in a BBC film bringing to life food writer Nigel Slater's celebrated memoir Toast.

The actress will play Slater's step-mother in the nostalgic drama for BBC1 which traces the writer's journey to adulthood through evocative tastes and smells.

The 60s-set adaptation will see Slater played by child star Freddie Highmore, who took the title role in Tim Burton's Charlie And The Chocolate Factory.

Best-seller Toast has sold more than a quarter of a million copies, chronicling a childhood through foods which have gone in and out of fashion such as Caramac bars and Arctic Rolls.

Slater sought solace in food after his adored mother died when he was just nine, and he had a difficult relationship with both his father and the woman he married.

He has said: "Food has been my career, my hobby, and, it must be said, my escape."

Casting was announced at the Cannes Film Festival today.

Toast will be the second time Bonham Carter played one of Highmore's parents. She was Charlie Bucket's mother in the Roald Dahl adaptation, which was directed by her partner Burton.

BBC1 controller Jay Hunt said: "Toast is a wonderfully nostalgic drama that will be a real treat for BBC1 viewers. This remarkable cast is sure to really bring Nigel Slater's story alive."
Executive producer Alison Owen, of Ruby Films, described it as a "wonderful coming of age story".

"Freddie and Helena were our dream choices for Toast," she added.

The film was scripted by Lee Hall, who won an Oscar nomination for Billy Elliot, and will be directed by SJ Clarkson, who has worked on TV dramas such as Life On Mars, Mistresses and Heroes.