Thames Television presented this three-part sequel to Paradise Postponed which revolved around the issue of urbanisation versus green spaces, and the narrow-minded, self-interest which motivated each camp.
David Threlfall, as MP Leslie Titmuss, now elevated to the cabinet, played a man who had aged mentally and physically, without having abandoned the chip on his shoulder. Threlfall captured superbly a man who had ossified, but whose vulnerability was only more intense.
When Titmuss wasn’t kicking down doors and haranguing his ambitious junior minister, Ken Cracken – played with his usual maverick air by Peter Capaldi – he was wining and dining his mistress in transport cafes, providing some of the funniest scenes with dialogue that was pure black comedy.
Kristin Scott Thomas, as his girlfriend Jenny Sidonia, paced her performance to match his so that an unlikely relationship was wholly credible. Both were widowed and unattached but otherwise appeared incompatible.
Titmuss acquired a stately home in the beautiful, unspoiled Rapstone Valley and intended for Jenny to help him fill it. Meanwhile, his new neighbours were fighting a development plan for the valley.
Once married, Leslie and Jenny honeymooned in Rome but their marital bliss was disturbed by Titmuss’s suspicion that Jenny had someone else in her life. When they returned home, she seemed to be spending a little too much time with Dr Fred Simcox (Paul Shelley), leader of the ‘Save Our Valley’ campaign.
The excellent supporting cast filled out the landscape, each obsessively engaged in his own pursuits, and each of them eccentrics in some way or other. The casting of Bill Oddie as environmentalist Hector Bolitho Jones was almost like that of television presenter Brian Walden, who had the task of playing himself.
Rosemary Leach, as lusty yokel Dot Curdle, was given some very funny scenes, while Sue Bramble (Jane Booker) was waspishly witty.
Leslie Titmuss
David Threlfall Jenny Sidonia
Kristin Scott Thomas Dot Curdle
Rosemary Leach Ken Cracken
Peter Capaldi Dr Fred Simcox
Paul Shelley Sue Bramble
Jane Booker Wilf Curdle
Harry Jones Evie Curdle
Joanna Brookes Hector Bolitho Jones
Bill Oddie Joyce Timberlake
Holly De Jong Len Bigwell
Paul Bradley Virginia Beazley
Tricia George Vernon Beazley
Colin Starkey Rev. Kevin Bulstrode
Albert Welling Col. Wilcox
John Horsley Sir Willoughby Blane
James Grout Jessica Hopkins
Emma Stephenson Greg Boland
Will Tacey Lorna Boland
Katherine Stark Elsie Titmuss
Sylvia Kay Nick Titmuss
Russell Porter Sir Christopher Kempenflatt
Andrew Burt Barty Pine
John Grillo Daphne Jones
Liz Crowther Joan Jones
Rosie Mortimer Mrs Tippett
Mona Bruce Jackson Cantelow
Harold Innocent Titmuss’s Driver
George Higgins Judge Phyllis Durst
Jo Kendall
