Author:Wynyard Browne,Stephen Murray,Geoffrey Beevers,John Samson,Isobel Black,Jane Knowles
A BBC Radio 4 production of Wynyard Browne’s classic play about a 1950s family homecoming at Christmas.
It is Christmas Eve and the family are gathering at Reverend Martin Gregory’s Norfolk vicarage. A soldier son destined for Oxbridge, two elderly aunts with a passion for chatter, a cousin with a military background and a pair of daughters who are both hiding secrets join the vicar to celebrate the festive season.
But family tensions soon come to the fore, and as skeletons tumble from closets, the vicar finds his Christmas spirit sorely tested and is forced to reconsider all the values he holds dear...
The Holly and the Ivy was adapted as a successful film starring Ralph Richardson and Celia Johnson. Among the distinguished cast in this 1971 production are Stephen Murray, John Samson, Jane Knowles, Isobel Black and Geoffrey Beevers.
©2011 AudioGO Ltd (P)2011 AudioGO Ltd
Wild
—— NMEOne hell of a read
—— Classic RockA fitting tribute to one of our national treasures
—— The Suna highly compelling and involving tale of an actor at work.
—— Film ReviewWhether taken on its own or with the first volume, this is a magnificent work of biography... A stunning achievement
—— Simon Heffer , Literary ReviewWalsh's scrupulousness (also evident in this volume's predecessor) in contextualising and considering quotes, hearsays and other evidence reveals a more complete, complex picture... But what emerges most powerfully is a penetrating vision of a creative mind, of how it made its decisions and adopted its stances, of how, often, it didn't quite understand itself
—— Stephen Pettitt , Sunday TimesWalsh's eloquence, clarity and grasp of the composer's cultural milieu mean that this book is always gripping
—— Telegraph"Must never end up like Bobby Gillespie" It's not a bad strategy for life, and happily one the ferociously talented Luke Haines continues to adhere to in his follow-up to Bad Vibes. Resuming from where that excoriatingly brilliant book left off...Grimly amusing.
—— WordThe angrier Mark Kermode gets, the funnier he is; good news then that this book is FURIOUS
—— Empire[A] laugh-out-loud account that will tickle the funny bone of any film fanatic
—— StarWitty and incisive
—— ChoiceCutting and witty
—— Loaded[Kermode] clearly has a profound love of film and the depth of knowledge to go with it
—— Jeff Dawson , Sunday TimesAn angry blast about the state of cinema-going
—— Christopher Fowler, Books of the Year: Cinema , IndependentKermode sits in the stalls peeking through his fingers at what we’re served up on the silver screen and motormouthing about bad cinema in a frank and funny counterblast to all the Hollywood hype
—— SagaThe Good, the Bad and the Multiplex is the film critic’s anguished cri de coeur against overpriced 3D film tickets and soulless cinemas ... often very funny and enlivened with wonderful digressions borne out of a lifetime’s movie-going
—— Books of the Year , MetroDifficult to ignore
—— Good Book Guidea spritely, spirited tome ... with welcome doses of spicy self-deprecation and fascinating cultural history.
—— The Big Issue in the North