British Comedy Guide
Gloomsbury. Image shows from L to R: Henry Mickleton (Jonathan Coy), Vera Sackcloth-Vest (Miriam Margolyes), DH Lollipop (John Sessions), Lionel Fox (Nigel Planer), Venus Traduces (Morwenna Banks), Ginny Fox (Alison Steadman). Copyright: Little Brother Productions
Gloomsbury

Gloomsbury

  • Radio sitcom
  • BBC Radio 4
  • 2012 - 2018
  • 30 episodes (5 series)

Radio parody of the arty Bloomsbury group. Stars include Alison Steadman, Miriam Margolyes, Morwenna Banks, Jonathan Coy and John Sessions. Also features Roger Lloyd Pack and Nigel Planer.

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Series 2, Episode 1 - Anarchy Looms Over Staplehurst

Talk of a general strike is in the air as Lionel and Ginny Fox pay a visit to Sizzlinghurst Castle to see Vera Sackcloth-Vest and Henry Mickleton.

Further details

Green-fingered Sapphist Vera Sackcloth-Vest shares a bijou castle in Kent with her devoted husband Henry, but longs for exotic adventures with nervy novelist Ginny Fox and wilful beauty Venus Traduces. It's 1921, the dawn of modern love, life and lingerie, but Vera still hasn't learnt how to boil a kettle.

Ginny is writing a new book and wants to pick Vera's brains about her aristocratic childhood. But all is not well. Henry thinks that Ginny is a bad influence on Vera because Ginny is so highly strung and Lionel thinks that Vera is too aristocratic and not socialist enough for Ginny.

Terrified that the oppressed people of Staplehurst will rise up and storm the castle, they flirt with a posh kind of socialism until the working class DH Lollipop pops in with his demi-mondaine Venus Traduces and tells them that he likes them just the way they are.

Broadcast details

Date
Wednesday 2nd April 2014
Time
11:30am
Channel
BBC Radio 4
Length
30 minutes

Cast & crew

Cast
Miriam Margolyes Vera Sackcloth-Vest
Alison Steadman Ginny Fox
Morwenna Banks Venus Traduces
Jonathan Coy Henry Mickleton
John Sessions DH Lollipop
Alison Steadman Mrs Gosling
Roger Lloyd Pack Gosling
Roger Lloyd Pack Lionel Fox
Writing team
Sue Limb Writer
Production team
Jamie Rix Director
Jamie Rix Producer
Clive Brill Executive Producer

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