Prolific TV writer Simon Nye (Men Behaving Badly), teams up again with Martin Clunes (Men Behaving Badly/Doc Martin and much, much more!) for this 50 minute re-take on the 'Beauty and the Beast' fable.
An ugly man lives isolated in a massive house tended to by the live-in help, Mr. and Mrs. Robbins. (Peter Vaughan and Gwenllian Davies are magnificent fun as the devoted manservant and the terrible cook.) They try to set the poor fellow up with toffee-nosed totty, but nothing really works.
When the boiler goes on the blink for the umpteenth time, it's finally time to call in real plumbers (Sam Kelly) and his daughter, the delicious Cathy (Sienna Guillory.) Cathy manages to break an expensive vase and thus begins an unlikely friendship...
A delightful and funny script makes the whole story race by far too quickly. It's a simple tale with a big heart and some very funny moments along the way.
The experienced director, Ben Bolt (Doc Martin... yeah, welcome to the incestuous world of British television!) directs the teleplay with just the right amount of gentle humor. The story doesn't get mushy and it all ends very nicely. At the very end, we learn even more about the beast... something that will make the union of Tom and Cathy a very satisfying one indeed! ;)
Great British television!
An ugly man lives isolated in a massive house tended to by the live-in help, Mr. and Mrs. Robbins. (Peter Vaughan and Gwenllian Davies are magnificent fun as the devoted manservant and the terrible cook.) They try to set the poor fellow up with toffee-nosed totty, but nothing really works.
When the boiler goes on the blink for the umpteenth time, it's finally time to call in real plumbers (Sam Kelly) and his daughter, the delicious Cathy (Sienna Guillory.) Cathy manages to break an expensive vase and thus begins an unlikely friendship...
A delightful and funny script makes the whole story race by far too quickly. It's a simple tale with a big heart and some very funny moments along the way.
The experienced director, Ben Bolt (Doc Martin... yeah, welcome to the incestuous world of British television!) directs the teleplay with just the right amount of gentle humor. The story doesn't get mushy and it all ends very nicely. At the very end, we learn even more about the beast... something that will make the union of Tom and Cathy a very satisfying one indeed! ;)
Great British television!