Author:Sue Limb,Denise Coffey,Geoffrey Whitehead,Simon Callow,Tim Curry,Full Cast,Miriam Margolyes

A BBC Radio 4 parody of the lives of the Romantic poets by Sue Limb, writer of the hit comedy Gloomsbury.

An everyday story of towering genius, set in and around the Lakeland retreat of William and Dorothy Wordsmith. The Wordsmiths have not long settled in their sublime cottage, when they are visited by the inebriate Samuel Tailor Cholericke and the lascivious Lord Biro, followed by numerous other romantically-inclined writers and leech-pedlars who arrive at the door of Vole Cottage. Dorothy must manage the increasingly chaotic household (assisted by Stinking Iris), while William focuses on his latest masterpiece, ‘The Withered Turnip’. Set against an elegant musical background of trilling sheep.

Starring Denise Coffey as Dorothy Wordsmith, Geoffrey Whitehead as William Wordsmith, Simon Callow as Samuel Tailor Cholericke, Miriam Margolyes as Stinking Iris and Tim Curry as Lord Biro.

Cast:

Dorothy Wordsmith: Denise Coffey

William Wordsmith: Geoffrey Whitehead

Samuel Tailor Cholericke: Simon Callow

Stinking Iris: Miriam Margolyes

The Leechpedlar: Chris Emmett

Lord Biro: Tim Curry

Teresa Sanseveria: Helen Atkinson Wood

Percy Jelley: Hugh Thomas

Mary Godwit: Alison Fiske

Charles Lump: Nicholas le Prevost

Mary Lump: Julia Hills

Thomas de Quinine: Nickolas Grace

Sir Walter Spott: Bill Paterson

Mary Wordsmith: Iris-Gemma Morlay

John Sheets: Nicky Henson

Sara Cholericke: Angela Pleasance

William Bloke: John Shrapnel

Announcer: Eugene Fraser

Music by Stephen Oliver, sung by Cantabile

Produced by Jonathan James-Moore