Anna Chancellor

Radio Times review

The piquant minutiae of Tilling make the world of Mapp and Lucia go around. It's about bridge parties and who takes tea with whom. Since Lucia's arrival the social map has been re-drawn now that she dominates its cultural life, to the exclusion of its grinning once-grande dame, Elizabeth Mapp.

In the second episode of Steve Pemberton's adaptations, the quaint town is thrilled by the arrival of a mysterious Indian gentleman who claims he is a "guru". He is immediately annexed by a ravenous Mapp (Miranda Richardson, outrageous teeth bared) who aims to run him while excluding her arch rival and nemesis, Lucia (Anna Chancellor, oh-so-chic).

Devotees of E.F. Benson's Mapp and Lucia books will know that the guru didn't visit Tilling (he went to Riseholme) but no matter, it's another deliciously snooty hour.

Steve Pemberton's gorgeous new adaptation of author EF Benson's Mapp and Lucia stories is so delicious in every detail you won't be able to stop after just one episode.

Like a massive box of luxury ­chocolates you'll want to devour another one as soon as the first is over, so thank you to the BBC for ­scheduling the three episodes on consecutive nights - ending on New Year's Eve - so you don't have too long to wait.

And when that's over, you'll ­probably want to track down the Channel 4 version that was screened 30 years ago, go and buy the original books and then start badgering the BBC to make another series.

That landmark 1985 version is a tough act to follow and Pemberton - who is quite brilliant here as Lucia's gay best friend Georgie Pillson - has secured two superb actors to bring the warring queen bees of the seaside town of Tilling to life a second time.

As Miss Elizabeth Mapp, Miranda Richardson is armed with a set of slightly too large false teeth to turn her overly polite smiles into acts of pure passive aggression, while Anna Chancellor as the elegant Mrs ­Emmeline "Lucia" Lucas looks as though she has stepped straight out of the 1930s.

As she rents Miss Mapp's house for the summer, and sets out to win over the townsfolk of Tilling with her smatterings of bad Italian and limited musical accomplishments, the battle lines are drawn for an unmissable comedy of manners in this genteel war of social one-upmanship.

Meet Mapp and Lucia... aka Queenie and Duckface

Miranda Richardson and Anna Chancellor on E.F. Benson's comedy of manners, and the joys of waging war over bridge parties and garden fetes...

Radio Times review

Miss Elizabeth Mapp, all big teeth and buttery smiles, is the queen of Tilling, ruling the social and cultural life of her dinky little seaside town like a cloche-hatted monarch.

But Mapp's reign is threatened by the arrival in Tilling of chic, elegant Emmeline Lucas, known to all as Lucia, so glamorous in her widow's weeds. The stage is set for war over the bridge tables as the women battle for supremacy.

Fans of E.F. Benson's peerless 1930s Mapp and Lucia series of comic novels should be thrilled by Steve Pemberton's careful adaptations for this three-part series (he's a huge fan and plays Lucia's fey, platonic friend Georgie Pilson).

Miranda Richardson, who's Mapp with a terrifying set of gnashers and a touch of the Margaret Thatchers, and Anna Chancellor, in a series of fabulous vintage dresses, are just marvellous as the rivals. The whole thing is the campest of treats.

My highlight: Mapp and Lucia

I was worried when I heard there was to be a new TV adaptation of E.F. Benson's wonderful novels of interwar snobbery, but Miranda Richardson and Anna Chancellor are a credit to the great man.

Mapp & Lucia: Discover the delights of Rye

Follow in Miranda Richardson and Anna Chancellor's footsteps in this charming literary Sussex town.

"She always follows the latest fashions - we can only hope that one day she catches up to them ..." Miranda Richardson and Anna Chancellor are more than a match for each other as Lucia and Mapp in this delicous, acid-tongued adaptation of EF Benson's 1930s cut-throat world of garden fetes from Steve "League of Gentlemen" Pemberton.

Mapp and Lucia: Hilarious and delightfully bitchy

Miranda Richardson and Anna Chancellor are on top form in this festive three-parter as two upper-class snobs try to out-do each other by whatever means necessary.

A Steve Pemberton-scripted adaptation of EF Benson's arch novels of small-town social snobbery. Mapp And Lucia may seem to have comedy gold written all over it, but in truth this opener takes too long to get going and, for all everyone involved seems to be having fun, at moments lacks pace and zing. Things improve, however, once busybody Elizabeth Mapp (Miranda Richardson) and regal Emmeline Lucas, AKA Lucia (Anna Chancellor), begin to battle in earnest to lead Tilling society. Continues tomorrow and New Year's Eve.