goodnight and mister tom begin in an impossibly exquisite village in the south of england where the sun always seem to shine . before we have much idea of the period we hear a radio announcement of the declaration of world war ii . soon a train blow cloud of steam brings refugee child from london and when shy little william be billet with reluctant and gruff old tom ( who you just know will turn out to have a heart of gold ) our tale begin . and what a load of sentimental claptrap it be . in fact it just the old odd couple buddy formula . aren not any new story be write . a i suggest there hardly any period feel in the village and not much more in london apart from the odd old ambulance rattle around . and certainly no hint of the horror of the blitz a london citizen file politely into air raid shelter . even when the local schoolteacher husband be declare miss presume kill and he be later restore to life . i find ` goodnight and mister tom cliched and obvious and john thaw accent conjure up a picture of ronnie barker of the two ronnies with a straw in his mouth do his ` country bumpkin accent . incidentally my wife enjoy this movie for all the reason that i dislike it and look at fellow imdb reviewer i seem to be in a minority of one .