10 Years Before The Walking Dead, Andrew Lincoln's 'Irredeemable' Rom-Com Became the Lowest-Grossing Film in British History

Andrew Lincoln will forever be remembered as Rick Grimes from The Walking Dead because this role allowed this talented British actor to finally make it over to the States. However, the actor also enjoyed a successful career in TV and movies long before he was the hardened sheriff. Thus, it's fair to say that he is a very notable actor around the world.

Yet, one of his earlier projects received the unwanted label as the lowest-grossing film in British history. Offending Angels features some of the most notable names in British and Irish talent, so fans would assume that it is a bit of a hidden gem. However, issues within the wider film industry meant that this film was always doomed to fail.

Offending Angels Earned Less Than £100 at the Box Office

Offending Angels is a small British rom-com written and directed by Andrew Rajan. The story follows Sam (Andrew Lincoln) and Baggy (Andrew Raja), two men who dream of bigger things but usually can't be bothered to get off the sofa and make them happen. One day, they meet two guardian angels named Zeke and Paris, who plan to do everything in their power to make the men's lives come true. However, Paris is a former dolphin, and Zeke is a former squirrel, making things a tad more difficult than expected.

Compared to Andrew Lincoln's other British rom-com, Love Actually, Offending Angels seems worlds apart. However, it seems to be a product of its time. Back in the 2000s, the British film industry was finally coming into its own thanks to hits like Trainspotting and Human Traffic. So, it's no surprise that Rajan also wanted to try his hand at independent filmmaking and put an absurdist spin on things. It should also be mentioned that Offending Angels was a very low-budget film with just £70,000 to its name. Still, the director managed to produce a feature-length film with a great cast, including Jack Davenport and Stephen Mangan.

While Offending Angels is not to everyone's taste, it did very well on the festival circuit. It sold out every screening at Raindance in 2001 and Gothenburg in 2002, attracting an avid audience of offbeat comedy fans. In 2002, it took the opening spot at the Berlin Britspotting Festival, allowing it to gain an even wider international audience. So, when it was picked up by an Arden International sales agent, the director assumed that it was going to be a box-office smash. Yet, Offending Angels managed to scrape just £79 at the box office, making it the lowest-grossing film in British history. To add insult to injury, the film only sold 8 DVDs, which is very disappointing considering this film was released well before streaming services.

25 years on, Offending Angels is still recognized for its poor box office performance. However, audiences need to realize that this film received a plethora of mixed reviews. On the one hand, the BBC bluntly labeled it a "truly awful pile of garbage." But other critics saw value in the complex story and also praised its ability to open up more roles for British Asian talent. However, Rajan produced a video series back in 2024, and it's clear that Offending Angels failed because of failings in the British film industry, not because of his work.

This Film Was a Victim of Poor Timing

Even after all this time, the press enjoyed highlighting Offending Angels' lackluster success on the mass market, but in reality, the film was quite prevalent. As an indie gem, Offending Angels garnered a lot of positive acclaim. It's evident that Rajan was trying to subvert the typical rom-com and offer the audience bundles of dry humor. For example, the scene where Sam and Baggy have a food fight in their living room is genuinely funny, and it's evident that the cast is also having fun with the scene. Thus, in a lot of ways, this film achieved everything it set out to do. Offending Angels has a very typical British romance arc, but also offers heavy doses of humor.

However, things started to go wrong in the post-production stages. As part of his video series, Rajan explained that he lost half of his funding partway through the project, so he was forced to bargain with other creatives to get the film finished. When the film was finally picked up by a mainstream company, it wasn't long before the wheels fell off completely. Back in 2000, Ardent International was owned by Prince Edward and typically focused on documentaries that painted the Royal Family in an exceedingly positive light. It wouldn't be wrong to say that the Prince used his status to create films that suited him, such as bizarre documentaries about upper-class Britain. However, since this content was well-received in the US, a lot of filmmakers were keen to work with the studio to get their foot in the door.

Prince Edward eventually left the company in 2002 after his company produced a documentary about Prince William. A two-man crew entered the University of St. Andrews, which went against a lot of guidelines surrounding the privacy of Royal Family members. Plus, after everything that occurred with their mother, Princess Diana, many industry professionals felt that this was a low blow. As such, the release of Offending Angels arrived just as Prince Edward was fleeing the industry, meaning that the film had very little support from experts. Thus, it seemed that after struggling to get the film off the ground in the first place, Offending Angels was then stuck with a production company that went against its own moral and political guidelines.

Offending Angels Is a Unique Coming-of-Age Film Teeming With Talent

Though it may sound redundant, Offending Angels is not as bad as the press makes it seem. While the script is a tad weak in certain places, particularly when it comes to dialogue, the film is no different in terms of its surrealism than something like Spaced or Ideal. Offending Angels mirrors a very unusual subsection of Britain, one that doesn't concern itself with social graces or etiquette and simply prefers to reflect the real issues of the time period. Plus, it should be mentioned that Rajan didn't set out to create the latest comedy flick. Instead, Offending Angels was born out of frustration, and the director merely wanted to see somebody like himself on screen. On his blog, the director explains

Another aspect that critics fail to recognize is the influence of competition. When Offending Angels hit the box office, Keira Knightley's cult classic Bend It Like Beckham was making great waves in the British film industry. While Bend it Like Beckham highlighted the nuances of British Asian life in a very funny and admirable way, Offending Angels aimed to showcase these aspects in a mature light, filled with profanity, childish humor, and recreational drugs. Thus, even though these films are completely different, it is hard not to compare them because they have the same aims. Bend It Like Beckham aimed to dismantle the stereotypes surrounding British Asian families during this time, and Offending Angels just wanted to highlight the importance of this type of representation in mainstream media.

Also, it's fair to assume that none of the cast were negatively impacted by the film's failings. Stephen Magnan is now one of Britain's biggest comedic actors and even met his wife on the set of this film. Actors like Jack Davenport have made great strides in the international film industry, starring in hits like the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and The Talented Mr. Ripley. Audiences will have also seen Shaun Parkes in the incredible series Small Axe, which earned him a BAFTA nomination back in 2021. Even Andrew Rajan has found success after Offending Angels, creating an educational course and becoming a published author.

So, even though audiences will struggle to find Offending Angels on any mainstream streaming services, the film still deserves a second chance at gaining the appreciation it deserves.