Cold Comfort Farm Have Always Been Starkadders at Cold Comfort Farm", set several years later and based on "Conference at Cold Comfort Farm", when Flora is married with several children, was broadcast. In 1995 a television film was produced which was generally well-received, with critics. Janet Maslin in the "New York Times" wrote that this screen version "gets it exactly right". The film starred Kate Beckinsale as Flora, Joanna Lumley as her friend and mentor Mary Smiling, Rufus Sewell as Seth, Ian McKellen as Amos Starkadder, Eileen Atkins as Judith, Stephen Fry as Mybug, Miriam Margolyes as Mrs. Beetle, and Angela Thorne as
Kate Beckinsale found her "energetic and appealing" while Elvis Mitchell of "The New York Times" described her as "luminous but determined." In an uncomplimentary review of the film, Ebert described her as "a good actress, but not good enough to play this dumb." The film has grossed over $77 million at the worldwide box office. In 2002 Beckinsale starred in Lisa Cholodenko's "Laurel Canyon" as a strait-laced academic who finds herself increasingly attracted to her free-spirited future mother-in-law. The independent film was another opportunity for Beckinsale to work with Christian Bale, her "Prince of Jutland" co‑star. She found their sex scene awkward