Author:Raymond Chandler,Robert B Parker,Toby Stephens,Full Cast
Fast-talking, trouble-seeking private eye Philip Marlowe is a different kind of detective: a moral man in an amoral world. California in the ’40s and ’50s is as beautiful as a ripe fruit and rotten to the core, and Marlowe must struggle to retain his integrity amidst the corruption he encounters daily. In Poodle Springs, Marlowe is fresh from his honeymoon with heiress Linda Loring, and living a life of idle leisure in the upmarket Californian town of the title. But being a kept man soon loses its charm and, bored and restless, Marlowe sets up shop as an investigator once more. Hired by a local criminal to find a gambler on the run from his debts, he is sucked into a world of bigamy, blackmail and murder... The eighth and final Philip Marlowe novel, Poodle Springs was unfinished at the time of Raymond Chandler’s death in 1959. It remained so for another 30 years, until crime writer Robert B. Parker completed the novel to mark the centenary of Chandler’s birth. Starring Toby Stephens, this entertaining dramatisation by Robin Brooks retains all the pace and intrigue of the original book.
Borrowed Time is a witty, creative and exciting tale of manipulation by an alien intelligence, in which the real villain happens to be compound interest.
—— Daniel Tessier , http://www.doctorwhoreviews.co.ukthe writing and acting are so tight they're in danger of cutting off your blood supply
—— Jane Anderson , Radio TimesCabin Pressure is one of the best written, cast, acted and directed comedies on anywhere.
—— Gillian Reynolds , Daily TelegraphThe more I listen to John Finnemore's Cabin Pressure, the more I think what a stonking masterpiece it is. Perfect in every department.
—— Philip Pullmanno-holds-barred
—— Listvery funny but also very moving
—— The London Papervery funny
—— Hampshire Viewthere are moments here that shine with the genius for observational comedy for which Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders (the Fatty of the title) are famous
—— GuardianDawn writes (with) tenderness, caring and oodles of charm. Well-paced, it's a reminder of why she has been a staple of the British comedy scene since the early 1980s
—— Guernsey PressAnyone perparing for another dry, identikit celebrity autobiography is going to be delighted by these hilarious memoirs
—— SheFrench can still cut the comic mustard
—— Time Outwhile much of the book's tone is that of the unassailably jolly Dawn we all expect ... other letters are tear-jerkingly poignant and none more so than those she writes to her late father Denys French
—— Daily ExpressFor all her honesty anyone hoping for a light-hearted romp will be delighted ... While her charm shines throughout, the more intense moments stay with you in a way that most celeb autobiographies can only strive for
—— Sunday Expressyou'll be captivated by her witty and warm style
—— PrimaSelf-depracating yet never self-pitying, irreverent yet never truly cynical, she comes across as a woman genuinely at ease with herself ... French is engaging company, and at her best she writes about heartbreak and elation with such grace that her book is impossible to dislike
—— Boston Standard