Swallows and Amazons (2016 film) an old-fashioned relic. And the grey, blustery Lake District weather could hardly be more British". Swallows and Amazons (2016 film) Swallows and Amazons is a 2016 British family adventure film directed by Philippa Lowthorpe and written by Andrea Gibb, based on Arthur Ransome's children's novel of the same name, first published in 1930. The film stars Andrew Scott, Rafe Spall, Kelly Macdonald, Jessica Hynes, and Harry Enfield. Principal photography began on 21 June 2015 in the Lake District. The film, which was released on 19 August 2016, is the third audiovisual adaption of the novel; the first being a 6-part
Nancy Blackett chance, being so much dominated by Nancy". When Ransome was first writing "Swallows and Amazons" in 1928, it was unusual for a female character to display such active leadership over males as Nancy Blackett does in the whole series of books and whilst children in children's literature had become increasingly self-motivated towards the end of the 19th century, they were, until Swallows and Amazons, still largely bounded by a "closed nursery-orientated world". In "Secret Water", Daisy the leader of the "Eels" is their leader, although younger than her brothers Dum and Dee. Nevertheless, despite writing Nancy in an unconventional role,