GENRE: BBC play

DIRECTOR: Karel Reisz [both for the Theatre and TV production]

WRITER: Terence Rattigan

PRODUCER: Simon Curtis for The BBC's Performance series. First produced by the Almeida Theatre Company in London. Then at the Apollo Theatre for a limited run.

PRINCIPAL CAST: Penelope Wilton [Hester Collyer], Colin Firth [Freddie Page], Ian Holm [Sir William Collyer] et al. [Picture show Penelope Wilton as Hester Collyer in the stage version, which was filmed by BBC.]

ABOUT THE PLAY: This post WW 2 drama circles around Hester, who's left a comfortable marriage and loving husband for the the charming, hopelessly inadequate, former wartime flying ace Freddie, who in turn leaves her for a new life in South America.

MY RATING:*** Good ensemble play. Penelope Wilton was much praised for her performance as Hester. Colin is excelling in yet another no-good-cad [as for example Simon Westward in Circle of Friends, filmed the same year: 1994] and, as usual, he plays the cad with nuance and depts.