Vera Drake is a 2004 British drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh, telling the story of a working-class woman in London in 1950 who performs illegal abortions.
The film also contains a subplot about an upper class young woman, Susan (Sally Hawkins), the daughter of one of Vera's employers.
Susan is raped by a suitor, becomes pregnant, and asks a friend to put her in contact with a doctor, through whom she can obtain an abortion.
The doctor refers her to a psychiatrist, who prompts her to answer questions in a certain way, so that he can legally recommend an abortion on therapeutic psychiatric grounds: that she has a family history of mental illness and that she may commit suicide if not allowed to terminate the pregnancy.
The abortion costs her a hundred guineas.
The name guinea was long used to indicate the amount of 21 shillings (£1.05 in decimalised currency).
The slang term for a shilling as a currency unit was a "bob".
