Stella Gibbons: A BBC Radio Drama Collection

byStella Gibbons, Miriam Margolyes (Read by), John Westbrook (Read by), Patricia Gallimore (Read by), Jane Knowles (Read by), Victoria Hamilton (Read by), Adjoa Andoh (Read by)

Four Productions including Cold Comfort Farm

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Three full cast dramatisations of Stella Gibbons’s wise and wonderful classic novels

Stella Gibbons, best known for her 1932 novel Cold Comfort Farm, is unrivalled when it comes to bringing great stories of women, love and romance in the 20th century to life with wit, charm and compassion. Listen now to three of her best novels dramatized with a full cast featuring some of the nation’s best-loved voices.

Cold Comfort Farm. Strong of will 20-year-old orphan Flora Poste is blessed with every virtue save that of being able to earn her own living. Casting around for suitable relatives with whom she can make her home, Flora alights on the mysterious Starkadders and, ignoring the horrified shrieks of her friends, heads down to darkest Sussex. There she is confronted by an exceptionally odd cast of characters: grief-stricken Judith, fervently religious Amos, the lusty smouldering Seth, wild and mysterious Elfine and, of course, the invisible tyrant Great Aunt Ada Doom who saw something nasty in the woodshed. Many would be overcome by the simmering passions of the Starkadder family, but not Flora. All they need is a little organising… Starring Elizabeth Proud, Miriam Margolyes and Patricia Gallimore.

The brilliantly witty adaptation of the sparkling pre-war comedy of manners Nightingale Wood, brings Stella Gibbons to life as an artful fairy godmother, overseeing proceedings either side of Nightingale Wood. Through one idyllic year in the late 1930s, hearts beat and minds scheme, as the dowdy Wither family tries to compete with the glittering Springs. Bookish Tina Wither is in love with Saxon, her father's handsome and aloof chauffeur. Her shopgirl sister-in-law, Viola, has fallen for the dashing Victor Spring, the lord of the manor. And Madge is in love with a dog. Is it all hopeless? Under Stella’s watchful eye, might things just turn out for the best? Starring Victoria Hamilton and Adjoa Andoh.

In Westwood, adapted by Lynne Truss, Margaret Steggles moves to London in 1943. Through a dropped ration book, she meets the Challises who live at Westwood; an elegant house in Highgate. The charming Challis family soon take advantage of Margaret’s slavish admiration. She thinks she has found happiness but slowly she becomes disillusioned. With the help of Lady Challis, she learns that there are more ways of living than pinning one's happiness on another’s approval. Starring Rosemary Leach and Juliet Aubrey.

Cast and credits

Written by Stella Gibbons

Cold Comfort Farm

Cast: Elizabeth Proud, John Westbrood, Patricia Gallimore, Michael Spice, Jane Knowles, Roger Hammond, David Timson, Miriam Margolyes, Christopher Scott, Sion Probert, Cyril Shaps, Alexander John, Trevor Martin, Margaret Robertson, John Hollis, Alan Dudley, Fabia Drake, Malcolm Hayes, Stephen Garlick, Margot Boyd, Amanda Murray, Christine Absalom, David McAlister, Diana Bishop, Kathryn Hurlbutt, Nigel Anthony, John Rye, Pauline Letts.

Nightingale Wood

Cast: Victoria Hamilton, Dinah Stabb, Paul Moriarty, Francine Chamberlain, Simon Bubb,
Adam Billington, Adjoa Andoh, Alex Rivers, Joan Walker, Ian Masters, Victoria Inez Hardy,
Judith Coke, Gerard McDermott, James Lailey

Westwood

Cast: Rosemary Leach, Juliet Aubrey, Michael Fenton Stevens, Saffron Burrows, Caroline Harker, Mia Soteriou, Phyllida Nash, Jonathan Nibbs, Angela Barlow, Chris Donnelly, Jacqueline Tong, Martin T Sherman, Barbara Kellerman

About Stella Gibbons

Stella Gibbons was born in London in 1902. She went to the North London Collegiate School and studied journalism at University College, London. She then worked for ten years on various papers, including the Evening Standard. Stella Gibbons is the author of twenty-five novels, three volumes of short stories, and four volumes of poetry. Her first novel Cold Comfort Farm (1932) was an immediate success and won the Femina Vie Heureuse Prize for 1933. Among her works are Nightingale Wood (1938), The Bachelor (1944), Westwood (1946), and Starlight (1967). She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1950. Stella Gibbons died in 1989.

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