It was hard to tell who the heroes were in John Mortimer’s Paradise Postponed, Thames Television’s blockbuster about dotty socialist vicar Simeon Simcox (Michael Hordern) – “The Red Rector” of the village of Rapstone Fanner – and how he died and left all his money (including a fortune in brewery shares) not to his two sons but to Leslie Titmuss (David Threlfall), a local lad turned Tory MP.
Perhaps Fred (Paul Shelley), the rector’s youngest son, was the character we should have liked. He had ‘Standards’ – but no spine. or the other Simcox son, successful novelist Henry (Peter Egan).
Most people, though, enjoyed David Threlfall’s unscrupulous Titmuss more – if only for his Edward Heath vowels.
The Thames Television series spanned thirty years but seemed all stop-start with too much talk and not enough action, and in the frequent flashbacks, the actors always looked the same age.
Fred Simcox finally learned the truth about his father – and that the Simcox, Fanner, and Titmuss families were linked in a way that no one could have imagined.
Truths of all sorts also caught up with Leslie Titmuss, who risked losing both his fortune and his political career.
Thames also produced a three-part sequel, Titmuss Regained, in 1991.
Fred Simcox
Paul Shelley
Leslie Titmuss
David Threlfall
Rev. Simeon Simcox
Michael Hordern
Dorothy Simcox
Annette Crosbie
Henry Simcox
Peter Egan
Agnes Simcox
Eleanor David
Sir Nicholas Fanner
Richard Vernon
Dr Salter
Colin Blakely
Lady Grace Fanner
Jill Bennett
Charlotte ‘Charlie’ Titmuss
Zoë Wanamaker
Doughty Strove
Thorley Walters
Episodes
Death of a Saint | The Temptation of Henry Simcox | Chez Titmuss | Living in the Past | The Wrongs of Man | The Lost Leader | And a Happy New Year to You, Too! | Enigma Variations | The Gods of the Copy Book Headings | Faith Unfaithful | The Simcox Inheritance
