Dustbin Baby is a BBC television film directed by Juliet May, based on Jacqueline Wilson's 2001 novel of the same name.

On April's fourteenth birthday, Marion, her adoptive mother, gives her earrings, not the mobile phone she wanted.

Pat remembers April and gives her a newspaper cutting telling the story of her discovery as a baby in a dustbin behind a pizza parlour.

The film's screenplay was based on Jacqueline Wilson's 2001 novel Dustbin Baby, and was written by Helen Blakeman, who had previously worked on Pleasureland.

Dustbin Baby was co-commissioned by CBBC and BBC One, and was produced by Kindle Entertainment, a production company specialising in children's television.

[3] Director Juliet May, at the time of filming, had 14-year-old twins, and so found "the fact that the lead, April, is 14 years old ... very interesting" as she felt she could "kind of understand 14-year-old children".

[4] Though the "gritty realism" of Wilson's novels was different from Dakota Blue Richards's first role as Lyra Belacqua in The Golden Compass, she was happy to take on the character of April.

[10] Dustbin Baby was filmed over summer 2008[10] in London and the surrounding areas, with scenes at Hatfield House and in Barnet.

[11] Before the completion of the filming, Wilson was quoted as saying she was "thrilled at the prospect of Dustbin Baby being brought to life by such a talented cast and production team.

Clark, who has since campaigned with their mother against characters with conditions such as Asperger syndrome being played by actors without the condition, said "My Asperger's made some things on the film set difficult at first, like dealing with the sudden noise of the storyboard, but I was soon so focused on acting that I didn't notice anything else.

[2] The film includes the themes of bullying, youth crime, domestic violence, unwanted pregnancy, and teenage angst.

"[2] Tom Sutcliffe, writing for The Independent, spoke of the limits of taboo themes in family dramas, and said the film's "account of a life lived in care couldn't have had swearing, or casual drug use, and when a shadow fell over a child's bed at night, it wasn't the care-home manager coming to exercise some horrible droit de seigneur [sic], as it might have been in an adult drama".

"[5] On Behind the Bin, a making-of documentary about Dustbin Baby, Wilson said that "lots and lots of people will identify with" the central theme of adoption, as at fourteen "you start to look at your mum and dad and think 'I'm nothing like them', and everyone seems to have fantasies about that they were adopted or something, and so I think that it's a typical teenage thing that you question who you are".

[18] Stevenson described the character of Marion as "cranky, stubborn and lonely", saying that living alone has made her "become quite idiotic and eccentric".

[5] Richards spoke of the character of April, saying that "the residential schools and children's homes were completely different from my life.

[10] During its initial run on BBC One, Dustbin Baby was watched by 2.3 million viewers, giving it a 15.4% share of the audience.

In an article in The Times David Chater awarded the programme the TV choice of the day, describing it as "tremendous", and "the wonderful surprise of Christmas".

[5] This view was shared by producer Anne Brogan, who said that the film was something "that parents and children will enjoy watching while giving them much to talk about".

[3] Tom Sutcliffe, writing for The Independent, said Stevenson was "good as a woman who was far more comfortable in the past than the present", and that "her performance was more than matched by that of Dakota Blue Richards as April, mostly banked-down and wary but prone to sudden wild flashes of anger".

He criticised some of the "implausibilities", saying that the plot was, at times, "a lot kinder than the world might have been", but said that "it still made you well up with its final reconciliation" with emotion that had been "honestly earned".

[14] Euan Ferguson, in an article in The Guardian, said that the film "hooked and haunted", and added that Stevenson played Marion like "a kind of updated" Jean Brodie.

[23] Dustbin Baby was also shortlisted for the British Academy Children's Awards in the drama category, along with The Sarah Jane Adventures (also by the BBC), S4C's Rhestr Nadolig Wil, and the online show following boyband US5.

[25] Blakeman was shortlisted for the British Academy Children's Award for best writer, thanks to her screenplay for Dustbin Baby,[26] and won.

Children aged between seven and fourteen were able to vote for their favourite television show from a choice also featuring Blue Peter, Dani's House, Newsround, Prank Patrol, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Hannah Montana, Phineas and Ferb, iCarly, and SpongeBob SquarePants.

It's especially satisfying to win awards for really distinctive and hard-hitting factual and drama, which has always been, and always will be, a unique and central part of what BBC Children's does.

[31] It was rated PG by the British Board of Film Classification, due to "mild threat, violence and one sex reference",[32] and was marketed with the tagline "April is about to lift the lid on her past".

[31] The DVD included a 24-minute making-of feature, "Behind the Bin: The Making of Dustbin Baby",[33] containing interviews with Jacqueline Wilson and production staff and cast.