Gloomsbury: Series 1-3: 18 Episodes of the BBC Radio 4 Sitcom

Limb, Sue

ISBN 10: 1785290878 ISBN 13: 9781785290879

Publisher: BBC Books, 2015

Synopsis

Miriam Margolyes, Alison Steadman, and Nigel Planer star in Sue Limb's comedy parodying the arty and adulterous adventures of the Bloomsbury Group. A stellar cast, including Roger Lloyd-Pack, Morwenna Banks, Jonathan Coy, and John Sessions, join in this affectionate send-up of the infamous Bloomsbury literary group, who dominated the English cultural scene in the early 20th Century. The series follows the fortunes of Vera Sackcloth-Vest - writer, gardener and transvestite - and her urge to escape from the tranquillity of the rather cramped little castle in Kent thatshe shares with her doting but ambiguous husband, who is "something in the Foreign Office." Vera's heart is forever surging with exotic passion, either for Ginny Fox, a highly-strung novelist who adores her, or the beautiful but shallow Venus Traduces. As the scene shifts from Kent to London, and Cornwall to Monaco, this close-knit coterie is divided by misunderstandings, jealousies, and rows, whilst the colorfully chaotic characters are joined by such sort-of familiar figures as DH Lollipop, TS Jellitot, and Sigmund Void.

About this title

About the Author:

Sue Limb is a British writer and broadcaster. She is the co-author of a biography of the Antarctic explorer Captain Lawrence Oates. Her work includes novels – many of them for young adults – and the sitcom Up the Garden Path. She has written a number of comedy series for radio: The Wordsmiths at Gorsemere, The Sit Crom, Four Joneses and a Jenkins and Alison and Maud; and also Growing Pains (a documentary about ageing), Hilaire Belloc, and Cities (six programs of literary anthology). Under the name Dulcie Domum, Limb wrote Bad Housekeeping, a humorous weekly column in the Guardian's Guardian Weekend section between 1988 and 2001. In 2012 she wrote the Radio 4 series Gloomsbury starring Miriam Margoyles and Alison Steadman.

Review:

"This has turned into one of the funniest, slyest, most naughtily inventive and brilliantly performed shows on the air. Sue Limb has come up with a parodic reflection of Bloomsbury which bursts out of its frame to become an entire parallel comic world. Miriam Margolyes is magnificent as Vera, writer, chatelaine of Sizzlinghurst, married to Henry (Jonathan Coy) to whom she is devoted while being in love with Ginny (Alison Steadman) who’s in love with anyone else. Alas, this is the final episode." —Gillian Reynolds, Telegraph

About this edition

• Publisher: BBC Books
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1785290878
• ISBN 13: 9781785290879
• Binding: Audio CD
• Number of pages: 1