This feature-length spin-off from the hit BBC comedy series The Fast Show was based on sketches from the show featuring Lord Ralph Mayhew (Charlie Higson) and his faithful Irish estate worker, Ted (Paul Whitehouse).
The impoverished aristocrat lives in his family mansion (Ladybower Hall) on an expansive country estate. Ted had worked for Lord Mayhew’s late parents before Ralph inherited the estate.
Ralph’s world is turned upside-down when he is advised by his drunken lawyer, Rowley Birkin (also Paul Whitehouse), that a clause in his inheritance stipulates that he must marry by his next birthday or he’ll lose the house and the estate to his mad aunt Cecilia – which means Ted will also lose his cottage home and his livelihood.
The painfully shy and emotionally repressed landowner meets a succession of unsuitable choices, including horsey Henrietta Gladstone (Arabella Weir) – “How’s your jaw? Can you take a punch?”; sweet young Henrietta Blough-Pendleton (Miranda Richardson) who turns out to be – quite literally – a nazi, and nympho coke-head Henrietta Spain (Gina Bellman).
Ralph does eventually meet a girl who seems lovely and ideal – Wendy Carter (Saskia Wickham).
As Wendy consumes more and more of Ralph’s time, Ted experiences profound jealousy and heartbreak before discovering that Wendy’s brother, Cliff Carter (Simon Day), has engineered the romance solely to seize control of Ralph’s valuable estate and build a 5-star golf hotel.
Ted must step in to save the kind and vulnerable Ralph from total ruin.
It’s a tender comedy with almost unbearably sad moments, including extensive flashbacks detailing Ralph’s lonely childhood with a cruel father and a cold, thoughtless mother, when Ted was the only person who ever showed him true kindness.
There’s a great supporting cast, including Kathy Burke as Mrs Ted.
Location filming took place at the 300-year-old Cound Hall in Shropshire (former home of romance novelist Barbara Cartland) and Gaddesden Place near Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire.
Ted/Rowley Birkin/Kevin Brown
Paul Whitehouse Ralph Mayhew/Aunt Cecilia/Ralph’s Father
Charlie Higson Mrs Ted
Kathy Burke Tall Tom/Cliff Carter/Friend of Dorothy
Simon Day Short Tom
Paul Bigley Mrs Jenkins/Ralph’s Mother/Henrietta Gladstone
Arabella Weir Henrietta Blough-Pendleton
Miranda Richardson Henrietta Spain
Gina Bellman Lulu
Louise Brill MissPaxman
Eryl Maynard Cousin Jack
Simon Roberts ConfirmedBachelor
Mark Williams Arm Wrestling Woman
Catherine Newell Dog Barking Woman
Fiona Allen Line Dancing Twins
Helen Cregeen
Debbie Stringer Mrs Brown
Miriam Humphries Young Ralph
Ollie Peel Landowners at Party
Richard Griffiths
Richard Wilson Girls at Party
Angela Lee
Donna Ewin Wendy Carter
Saskia Wickham Interior Designer
Colin McFarlane Farmer
Andrew Livingston Vicar
John Thomson
Director
Christine Gernon
Video
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Ralph’s world is turned upside-down when he is advised by his drunken lawyer, Rowley Birkin (also Paul Whitehouse), that a clause in his inheritance stipulates that he must marry by his next birthday or he’ll lose the house and the estate to his mad aunt Cecilia – which means Ted will also lose his cottage home and his livelihood.
Ralph does eventually meet a girl who seems lovely and ideal – Wendy Carter (Saskia Wickham).
It’s a tender comedy with almost unbearably sad moments, including extensive flashbacks detailing Ralph’s lonely childhood with a cruel father and a cold, thoughtless mother, when Ted was the only person who ever showed him true kindness.
