Bettie's Books

bookshelves: winter-20142015, play-dramatisation, published-2004, class-war

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00fnxcb

Description: Satire on English snobbery, adapted from his own novel by Julian Fellowes. On a visit to the local stately home, middle-class estate agent Edith meets Charles, the extremely eligible Earl.

Narrator ...... Nicholas Farrell
Edith ...... Sophie Roberts
Charles ...... Hugh Bonneville
Lady Uckfield ...... Celia Imrie
Lord Uckfield ...... Richard Mitchley
Isabel ...... Sophie Thompson
David/Eric ...... Rupert Vansittart
Caroline ...... Caroline Harker
Simon ...... Julian Rhind-Tutt
Bella ...... Bernice Stegers
Singer ...... David Benson.

On a visit to the local stately home, middle-class estate agent Edith meets Charles, the extremely eligible Earl.

News of Edith and Charles's romance hits the gossip columns but Lady Uckfield and the rest of Edith's aristocratic soon-to-be in-laws are not impressed.

3/5. Edith's privileged yet dull new existence is shaken up when a film crew arrives at Broughton Hall, among which is the handsome Simon Russell.

Simon is on sparkling form when David and Isabel Easton invite the Broughtons and some of the film crew out for dinner, not realising that they are making a dreadful faux pas. But the evening takes an embarrassing turn and Charles is forced to make an early departure.

Edith and Simon move in together, leaving Charles devastated. But life with an actor is not as glamorous as Edith had hoped and, when she makes an unfortunate discovery, she is forced to make a choice.