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In Nancy Mitford's classic festive comedy, Paul Fotheringay, our penniless, feckless anti-hero, contrives to spend Christmas at the ancient country seat of the Bobbin family at Compton Bobbin.

To salvage his reputation and his pride, Paul Fotheringay decides to write an unmistakably serious biography of a Victoria poetess, Lady Maria Bobbin, whose copious journals survive at Compton Bobbin, now presided over by the terrifying and redoubtable current Lady Bobbin.

When Paul asks to see the journals, Lady Bobbin, who cares for nothing but fox-hunting, refuses access. However, with the help of her son, the spoilt and dissolute young Etonian Bobby Bobbin, and acting on the advice of woman of the world and retired courtesan Amabelle Fortescue, Paul smuggles himself into the household as Bobby鈥檚 鈥渢utor鈥� for the Christmas holidays. But here Paul falls hopelessly in love Bobby鈥檚 sister, the na茂ve and charming Philadelphia, and romantic chaos ensues.

Will Paul ever get to write his life of Lady Maria, or will he have to find a proper job so that he can marry Philadelphia? Will Philadelphia plump for him or for the marvellously rich and titled Lord Lewes? And what will Lady Bobbin do when she discovers that Paul is a fraud? Moreover, how will they all get through the ghastly Compton Bobbin Christmas?

Recorded on location in Suffolk, Christmas Pudding is a wonderful comedy of bad manners, in which the carefully measured ingredients of disguised suitors, amorous rivalry, unsuitable liaisons and comic misunderstandings, are cooked up into a delicious festive treat, topped, like a generous spoonful of burning brandy, by the glowing brilliance of Mitford鈥檚 comic dialogue.

Cast:
Nancy Mitford.....HILARY GREATOREX
Paul Fotheringay.....JAMES ANTHONY-ROSE
Walter Monteath.....THEO FRASER STEELE
Sally Monteath.....ROSANNA MILES
Amabelle Fortescue.....CHARLOTTE PARRY
Lady Gloria Bobbin.....GEORGIE GLEN
Bobby Bobbin.....ISAAC FRANKLIN
Philadelphia Bobbin.....CHARLIE CAMERON
Major Stanworth.....PETER HAMILTON DYER
Michael Lewes.....JACK GOGARTY

Adapted by Robin Brooks
Directed and Produced by Fiona McAlpine
Sound Design by Alisdair McGregor
Broadcast Assistant: Hermione Sylvester

An Allegra production for 成人论坛 Radio 4

Picture Credit : Nancy Mitford in 1932 by Bassano Ltd 漏 National Portrait Gallery, London

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