A BBC Radio 4 parody of the lives of the Romantic poets by Sue Limb, writer of the hit comedy Gloomsbury.
An everyday story of towering genius, set in and around the Lakeland retreat of William and Dorothy Wordsmith. The Wordsmiths have not long settled in their sublime cottage, when they are visited by the inebriate Samuel Tailor Cholericke and the lascivious Lord Biro, followed by numerous other romantically-inclined writers and leech-pedlars who arrive at the door of Vole Cottage. Dorothy must manage the increasingly chaotic household (assisted by Stinking Iris), while William focuses on his latest masterpiece, 'The Withered Turnip'. Set against an elegant musical background of trilling sheep.
Starring Denise Coffey as Dorothy Wordsmith, Geoffrey Whitehead as William Wordsmith, Simon Callow as Samuel Tailor Cholericke, Miriam Margolyes as Stinking Iris and Tim Curry as Lord Biro.
Cast:
Dorothy Wordsmith: Denise Coffey
William Wordsmith: Geoffrey Whitehead
Samuel Tailor Cholericke: Simon Callow
Stinking Iris: Miriam Margolyes
The Leechpedlar: Chris Emmett
Lord Biro: Tim Curry
Teresa Sanseveria: Helen Atkinson Wood
Percy Jelley: Hugh Thomas
Mary Godwit: Alison Fiske
Charles Lump: Nicholas le Prevost
Mary Lump: Julia Hills
Thomas de Quinine: Nickolas Grace
Sir Walter Spott: Bill Paterson
Mary Wordsmith: Iris-Gemma Morlay
John Sheets: Nicky Henson
Sara Cholericke: Angela Pleasance
William Bloke: John Shrapnel
Announcer: Eugene Fraser
Music by Stephen Oliver, sung by Cantabile
Produced by Jonathan James-Moore