By the time she arrives in London, the book shop has permanently closed, but she still visits it. She is on a promotional tour for her book 84 Charing Cross Road which is about her 20-year correspondence with a secondhand bookshop specializing in out-of-print books. In 1971, New Yorker Helene Hanff is on an airplane heading for London. The film has become something of a cult classic among bibliophiles and epistemophiles.

Dench has said that 84 Charing Cross Road is one of her favourite films in which she has appeared. Additionally, Dench was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and Whitemore for Best Adapted Screenplay. Bancroft won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her portrayal of Hanff. The film garnered mainly positive reviews from critics, as well as receiving numerous industry awards and nominations. Several characters who are not in the play were added for the film, including Hanff's Manhattan friends and Doel's wife Nora.

The screenplay by Hugh Whitemore is based on a play by James Roose-Evans, which itself is an adaptation of the 1970 epistolary memoir of the same name by Helene Hanff - a compilation of letters between Hanff and Frank Doel dating from 1949 to 1968. It is produced by Bancroft's husband, Mel Brooks. 84 Charing Cross Road is a 1987 British-American drama film directed by David Jones, and starring Anne Bancroft, Anthony Hopkins, Judi Dench, Mercedes Ruehl, and Jean De Baer.

84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff