Bettie's Books

bookshelves: winter-20142015, amusing, published-2011, radio-4, northamptonshire, britain-england, suburbia, flufferoonies

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b017mx3z

Description: As is well-known: Yorkshiremen wear flat caps and Essex girls wear short skirts; Liverpudlians are scallies and Cockneys are wideboys. Northamptonians gaze wistfully at these stereotypes and wish for an identity of any kind and a label less ridiculous than Northamptonians. Northamptonshire, let us be clear, is neither north, nor south nor in the Midlands. It floats somewhere between the three eyeing up the distinctiveness of each with envious eyes. Now Katherine Jakeways is giving Northamptonshire an identity. And she waits, benevolently, for her home-county to thank her. And possibly make her some kind of Mayor.

Joined by the same incredible cast which graced Series One - including Sheila Hancock as the Narrator, Penelope Wilton, Mackenzie Crook, Felicity Montagu and Kevin Eldon - and with the exciting addition of Geoffrey Palmer, North by Northamptonshire promises once again to delight audience and critics.

Wadenbrook is a small market town in a corner of Northamptonshire, and will be familiar to anyone who has ever lived anywhere. This year, its residents are building up to a Dickensian Festival weekend, so expect mob caps, cravats and shawls which are usually used as cat-blankets. Also expect a great many laughs, a certain amount of loneliness, and the same warmth and affection which underpinned the widely-praised first series.

1/6 Residents of the market town of Wadenbrook are preparing for the Dickensian Festival.

2/6 Jan has Helen back at home, but is it what she really wants?

3/6 A visiting choir sets hearts aflutter among the ladies of Wadenbrook.

4/6 A storm is gathering in the town, and Esther has a big question for Ken and Keith.

5/6 The dawn of the Dickensian festival brings chaos to Wadenbrook, and Angela has something to tell Frank.

6/6 Norman may have stopped the parade, but the festival must go on. Meanwhile Helen has news for Jan and Frank, and love blossoms for a most unlikely couple.

Written by Katherine Jakeways
Produced by Victoria Lloyd

John Biggins............Keith
Mackenzie Crook.........Rod
Kevin Eldon.........Jonathan / Ken
Shelia Hancock........... Narrator
Jessica Henwick.............Helen
Katherine Jakeways.... Esther / Jacqui
Felicity Montagu..............Jan
Geoffrey Palmer..........Norman
Lizzie Roper............Angela
Penelope Wilton............Mary
Rufus Wright..............Frank.