Paradise Postponed

1 9 8 6 (UK)
11 x 50 minute episodes

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