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Ladies of Letters

All Episodes 2009 - 2010

  • Ended
  • #<Network:0x00007fb638604118>
  • 2009-02-03T23:10:00Z
  • 30m
  • 7h 8m (20 episodes)
  • United Kingdom
  • English
  • Comedy, Drama
Ladies of Letters is a BBC Radio 4 comedy series starring Patricia Routledge and Prunella Scales, based on the series of books of the same name written by Carole Hayman and Lou Wakefield. Routledge stars as Vera Small and Scales as Irene Spencer, two elderly ladies who share a sometimes rocky relationship conducted by correspondence. Patricia Routledge originally played Irene in A Lady of Letters, a 1988 episode of Alan Bennett's BBC television series, Talking Heads. The success of the first series of Ladies of Letters spawned adaptations of several sequels: Ladies of More Letters; Ladies of Letters.Com; Ladies of Letters Log On; Ladies of Letters Make Mincemeat; Ladies of Letters Spring Clean; Ladies of Letters Go Global; Ladies of Letters Say No; Ladies of Letters Go Green; Ladies of Letters Crunch Credit and Ladies of Letters Go Crackers. Each of the 15 minute episodes come as part of BBC Radio 4's long running magazine programme Woman's Hour. A ten-part television adaptation of the first radio series has been made for ITV3, which began on 3 February 2009.

20 episodes

Series Premiere

2009-02-03T23:10:00Z

1x01 Episode One

Series Premiere

1x01 Episode One

  • 2009-02-03T23:10:00Z22m

Two widows forge a friendship through letters. After Irene's daughter gets married, she receives a thank you note from Vera, and their correspondence begins.

2009-02-10T23:10:00Z

1x02 Episode Two

1x02 Episode Two

  • 2009-02-10T23:10:00Z22m

Irene's beau Bill hits it off with Vera, but after a disastrous holiday experience, the ladies stop speaking to each other for two years.

2009-02-17T23:10:00Z

1x03 Episode Three

1x03 Episode Three

  • 2009-02-17T23:10:00Z22m

Vera steals the spotlight at a soiree that Irene invites her to, leaving Irene feeling insecure.

2009-02-24T23:10:00Z

1x04 Episode Four

1x04 Episode Four

  • 2009-02-24T23:10:00Z22m

Vera doesn't take the news of her unmarried daughter Karen's pregnancy very well, but Irene hits it off with the girl and the two share some time together.

2009-03-03T23:10:00Z

1x05 Episode Five

1x05 Episode Five

  • 2009-03-03T23:10:00Z22m

An incident at the demonstration puts Irene in hospital suffering from amnesia, and Vera's attempts to help jog her memory cause more confusion. But worse is to come!

2009-03-10T23:10:00Z

1x06 Episode Six

1x06 Episode Six

  • 2009-03-10T23:10:00Z22m

Circumstances see both Irene and Vera in jail at the same time, but with Christmas coming up and lots of activities to arrange, it doesn't seem such a bad place to be.

2009-03-17T23:10:00Z

1x07 Episode Seven

1x07 Episode Seven

  • 2009-03-17T23:10:00Z22m

Vera and Irene continue to enjoy their captivity aboard the prison ship, and spend their time advising and helping their fellow inmates, whilst subverting the system from within.

2009-03-24T23:10:00Z

1x08 Episode Eight

1x08 Episode Eight

  • 2009-03-24T23:10:00Z22m

Irene launches an appeal to free her friend from prison, but Vera is content with her incarceration. So will the news of an impending by-pass through Vera's house change her mind?

2009-03-31T22:10:00Z

1x09 Episode Nine

1x09 Episode Nine

  • 2009-03-31T22:10:00Z22m

Vera is released from prison, but is soon overwhelmed by domestic chaos back at the farm. Irene lets the villagers know about the proposed bypass, but could Vera's home be haunted?

2009-04-07T22:10:00Z

1x10 Episode Ten

1x10 Episode Ten

  • 2009-04-07T22:10:00Z22m

As the bulldozers move in on Vera's house, Irene wins a camper van in a raffle and the friends agree to leave their troubles behind them and set off on a trip around the world trip together. End of Series One

Season Premiere

2010-04-12T22:10:00Z

2x01 Episode One

Season Premiere

2x01 Episode One

  • 2010-04-12T22:10:00Z21m

Irene and Vera have a disastrous reunion at the funeral of a gentleman friend. Vera takes a nasty tumble dancing inappropriately at the wake, leaving Irene as her reluctant carer.

2010-04-19T22:10:00Z

2x02 Episode Two

2x02 Episode Two

  • 2010-04-19T22:10:00Z21m

Vera moves to a trailer park and falls in with some very suspicious company. She sends one of her newly acquainted thuggish neighbours to sort out her erstwhile friend.

2010-04-26T22:10:00Z

2x03 Episode Three

2x03 Episode Three

  • 2010-04-26T22:10:00Z21m

Safely abroad, Irene boasts about her new life in Australia - the fabulous weather, the delicious wine, an adorable granddaughter, and a handsome suitor called Vincent - to Vera.

2010-05-03T22:10:00Z

2x04 Episode Four

2x04 Episode Four

  • 2010-05-03T22:10:00Z21m

Vera and Irene both busy themselves raising their granddaughters, while their own daughters behave either mysteriously or very badly indeed. When Karen falls pregnant to trailer park heavy Damon, Irene can scarcely contain her joy!

2010-05-10T22:10:00Z

2x05 Episode Five

2x05 Episode Five

  • 2010-05-10T22:10:00Z20m

When Irene's increasing isolation draws her towards composing poems, one of her missives leads the social services to scrutinise Vera's claim to custody of her granddaughter Sabrina. In the end, too much wine tips Irene over the edge, and conversations with God are followed by a spell in the local asylum.

2010-10-19T22:10:00Z

2x06 Episode Six

2x06 Episode Six

  • 2010-10-19T22:10:00Z21m

Vera is in urgent correspondence with Lesley and then with Irene herself about Irene's breakdown. Was it the alcohol? or something more sinister?

2010-10-26T22:10:00Z

2x07 Episode Seven

2x07 Episode Seven

  • 2010-10-26T22:10:00Z20m

Having been 'rescued' from the clinic by Damon and Karen, Irene is now living rough in the outback.

2010-11-02T23:10:00Z

2x08 Episode Eight

2x08 Episode Eight

  • 2010-11-02T23:10:00Z21m

Vera reports more violence and mayhem at the trailer park, but is still providing a happy home there for granddaughter Sabrina.

2010-11-09T23:10:00Z

2x09 Episode Nine

2x09 Episode Nine

  • 2010-11-09T23:10:00Z21m

Vera is right to suspect that St John the vet is her grandson Nelson's father: he heads for Australia the moment he hears the boy may be his. Irene is now housekeeping for him.

2010-11-16T23:10:00Z

2x10 Episode Ten

2x10 Episode Ten

  • 2010-11-16T23:10:00Z21m

Despite the occasional cup of marijuana tea, Irene barely controls her irritation at Vera’s bossy interventions: has she forgotten that Irene has her own house back in England, thank you very much! She will be flying back to Blighty shortly, to mastermind the catering for Karen and St John’s wedding. Brian and Lesley - her daughter - are moving in together, so Vera’s suggestion that Irene bring Lesley’s daughter Cheryl Marie with her is completely out of order! Perhaps they should both focus on the up-coming Olympics - get healthy, concentrate on team efforts. Vera is outraged and informs Irene that she is considering legal action against her for theft of her daughter’s affections and for slander. She’d also like to point out that St John is poor as a church mouse and lives in a ‘bothy’, and that she’s busy on the day of the proposed wedding. Irene -now back in England - points out that Vera’s solicitor - Agabatha of the Astarte - is almost certainly a fake, that St John’s 12 bedroomed house (where Vera is welcome to live) is called the Bothy as a joke, and that Karen is willing to change the date of the wedding so that Vera can go. Vera succumbs, and moves into The Bothy. She and Irene fall to arguing about food for the wedding reception, what they might wear, and the wisdom of Vera’s involvement with the Astarte tribe. Jesus intervenes to prevent a new falling out, and inspired by the Olympic motto -’citius, altius fortius’ - the two ladies have a rattling good time at Karen and St John’s wedding

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