Ladies of Letters

Maureen Lipman and Anne Reid star as warring widows in a marvellous TV adaptation of the hit radio comedy. When Irene Spencer (Lipman) meets Vera Small (Reid) at her daughter Lesley’s wedding reception they embark upon a correspondence unlike any other in the history of letter-writing, with exchanges about ungrateful children, quarrelsome holidays, and some rather dubious recipes. As the pensioner pen-pals keep their spirits up with sherry and shared recipes, their attempts at long-distance one-upmanship are strained by fractious families, misfiring romance and personal misfortune. In reality they are both lonely and taken for granted by their families.

Whether they are discussing the annual cricket club dance, a protest at a nuclear fuel dump or the prison ship in which they both wind up, the well-mannered, acrimony-laced missives just keep on coming. But, for all the unspoken animosity, it is clear that their correspondence is a lifeline for the two of them.

“…consistently brilliant…and not a single word or gesture goes to waste.”--Daily Mirror 
“Maureen Lipman and Anne Reid pull off something of a triumph in this wonderfully observed adaptation.”--The Daily Telegraph 
“…ticks all the right boxes. Lipman and Reid are an absolute dream of a comedy duo.”--TV Times

Maureen Lipman and Anne Reid return for a second series of this marvellous TV adaptation of the hit radio comedy. 

Having lost her home to the bulldozers in the first series of Ladies of Letters, we find Vera (Anne Reid) installed at Far Shores Trailer Park in Vicker-upon-St Agnes. Life is rosy for Vera until daughter Karen comes to stay. Meanwhile Irene (Maureen Lipman) flees the country to Australia, after being threatened by Karen’s demonic new lover, Damon. Living down-under and finding herself in the role of full-time child-minder to grand-daughter Cheryl-Marie, Irene takes a little too much comfort in the local viniculture. 

Corresponding in their inimitable love-hate fashion, the Ladies reveal their lives to be run ragged by ingrate offspring, their equanimity threatened by said offspring’s lovers, and the compensating pleasure of grandchildren’s company. Irene sinks in wine and swims in poetry, while Vera gets an intriguing insight into the goings on behind closed caravan doors. Another hilarious romp with the unstoppable Ladies of Letters.