Jackson Booth-Millard Directed by Mike Leigh (Secrets & Lies, Vera Drake), I vaguely knew the concept of this one-off drama in the Play for Today series, and a few clips of it looked interesting, so when I got the opportunity I didn't miss it. Basically eccentric and snobbish Beverly Moss (Alison Steadman) with husband Laurence (Tim Stern) have invited their new neighbours Angela (Janine Duvitski) and Tony (John Salthouse) round for drinks. She has also asked divorced neighbour Susan 'Sue' Lawson (Harriet Reynolds) to come while her daughter Abigail has her fifteenth birthday party downstairs. Laurence stays for a little while and sits back while Beverly tries to entertain and serve drinks to her guests making rather silly small talk, and then he leaves for a quick job. Beverly and the guests talk about easy to drop subjects such as their marriages, children and taste in music, while the host doesn't take a no for an answer asking them to have more alcoholic drinks, and she forces them to share her opinion. Laurence returns to this pretty dull atmosphere where the alcohol is slowly taking effect, and Beverly is resorting to not only boasting, being insensitive and forceful, but it gets worse. Beverly starts flirting with with Tony right in front of her husband, and he tries to get his own back with his snappy attitude when putting on music and asking them to eat and drink stuff. As time goes by Sue does worry a little about what Abigail is getting up to downstairs, but Beverly with her trying to be nice ways wants Laurence and Tony to check, but she doesn't want a fuss. Eventually the snapping from Laurence increases with the playing of the music, the dancing with each other, and the one that really does it, taste in art. It is when Beverly goes to fetch a painting Laurence really hates that the tantrums really kick off, the two female guests sit back with the two men shouting the odds. In the end, Beverly turns hateful to Laurence, who has a heart attack which turns out to be fatal, and Sue calls Abigail downstairs, and something bad happens to her too. You can tell with the one location and mostly made up of dialogue that this was based on a play, but it is actually quite realistic, I can remember situations similar that I have been in. No-one can imagine this without the central performance by Steadman, with her odd voice, repetitive "there we go", "lovely" and "no go on" phrases, and just being completely up herself. It is cringing, and to be honest I found it more uncomfortable (in a good way) than funny, but that is what makes it so good, I would definitely recommend people watch it. Alison Steadman was number 30 on The 50 Greatest British Actresses, Beverly was number 76 on The 100 Greatest TV Characters, the programme was number 18 on The 50 Greatest TV Dramas, and it was number 11 on The 100 Greatest TV Shows. Very good!

algoyo The best bit (for me) is when Beverley is putting on Donna Summer's "Love to Love You" and fixing herself a drink at the beginning of the play. She puts the needle on the record and at the same time she opens the drinks cabinet's sliding door directly above her head with her spare hand in a smooth, perfectly performed robotic motion. She then sits to consume her drink and, with the look of a Basilisk, surveys her domain. It is her appearance which really startles. Her red dress is of the finest polyester, but exposes her flesh in unflattering ways. She sometimes looks like a jellyfish, with the tendrils flapping away, or like some monster who has made a dress out of the leftover bits of red meat of her victims. Either way, you are in no doubt that Beverley is the hostess with the mostest. You know you are in for trouble when her husband Lawrence comes in and she pipes up "Hi". It's done in such a dissatisfied, unloving way, that you can see she's going to kill him one way or another.

Martin Dawson This 'Play for Today' is brilliant, I remember watching them and this one inparticular. If I remember right it would have been a Saturday night. I did not relise the social signifcance of the play until years later when it clicked and I realised it mirrored my loony family! My Mother, Aunties and Grandmother would hold 'do's' like this, and the spoke like it as well, complete and utter 'boredoom'. The discussions would centre on each other kids (My Cousins and me), the latest car in the family, the furniture (usually from 'Habicrap' or G-Plan). One social yard stick was how many bottles of spirit and booze could be collected and stored. The yucky '70's wall paper, ornaments and 'suites', egh, I can see why men, like me son's of women like this, of a certain age got hobbies around this time that stayed with them when they got married. The other subject discussed was jobs and it would end up in a heated discussion of who had the best and most paid. I can see why home computers and the invention of Satellite TV came about, to escape this moronic '70's life. A brilliant film that reminds one how bad it was. Oh, Alison is gorgeous...

wilywilliam I reckon that this is the sort of movie that gets film students all excited. There are so many levels to this flick that you could probably go on for days pulling apart and examining the different characters, relationships and commentaries. But I recommend you watch this film purely for entertainment purposes - it's great. The actors are believable, the story is simplistic (yet so effective) and the period touches are great - because this is essentialy a period drama (the period being very firmly in the 1970s). For a film to have such little plot yet remain so compelling is testament to each and every element that makes up this movie. Watch it.