Abigail's Party - BBC 4 at 9 tonight

[Housewife2010]

Time to put Demis Roussos on the record player and lay out the canapes.

Also, time to put on a maxi dress and some blue eye shadow, and maybe get the Mateus Rose out. Prawn cocktail for starters anyone?

It will be a trip down memory lane for some, and history lesson for others. Classic play.

Love Abigail's Party. There was a question about Demis Roussos on The Chase before and I was talking to DH about it. I knew the answer before it even came up.

Im wearing a rather splendid kaftan and I've opened the Blue Nun.

Do you guys also like Nuts in May? I think it might be my favourite ever film

Love Abigail's Party, we had a themed dinner party a couple of years ago. Time to dig out the kafatan again!

I’ve got a bottle of red in the fridge.

I've have stayed up to watch this now. Just what I needed this evening

I've just poured myself a glass of wine and some olives. Haven't seen this in years and I'm looking forward to it.

I'm wondering if Alison Steadman was pregnant when she filmed this. When she swished past in her kaftan just now I thought I saw a baby bump!

It's so aspirational 70s. I love the suite. I soooo wanted to live in a house like that.

I wonder if I can persuade my husband to grow a moustache?

@PimlicoJo i think she WAS pregnant. Apparently she was due to be on tour or something and took this because she was expecting. Mike Leigh wrote it for her, i think (they were married).

@agingdisgracefully thanks - I've seen this several times but never noticed before!

I'm really enjoying that this feels so retro and uncomplicated. At such a stressful time it feels soothing to watch something entertaining (even if it gets a bit fraught 😂).

The old days when we could invite people round....

This is my all time favourite film! I did this for gcse drama in 2000 and was so pleased because I loved it so much, everyone else gave me strange looks

Anyone up for pilchard curry? "A tasty and economical dish".

Watching now. Love Nuts in May too. If I had a son, I wanted to call him Keith.

I've watched the TV version and stage productions many times. My all time favourite play and I love Alison Steadman.

Wonderful. Tremendous tv. Alison Steadman was outstanding.

Oooooooh I will be watching this tomorrow- thanks OP

I've never seen it and always wanted to, but only spotted this thread I'll dig around and try find it somewhere.

Check iPlayer

I love "Nuts in May" . When I first saw it, I couldn't believe that Alison Steadman was the same actress who had played Beverley in Abigails Party.
The way her husband Keith spoke to her character in Nuts in May was priceless, as if he was a teacher speaking to a pupil !
"Now, then, Candice Marie . . . ."

Warning - SPOILERS! I couldn't stop laughing at Tony, his dead pan expression and one word answers - talk about the house guest from hell, it was like trying to get blood out of a stone! But the way he oozed silent contempt across the room towards his wife, while she whittered on endlessly with her nervous chatter, made it clear he'd be far from funny to live with - what a nasty character.

It was funny when they were discussing the party across the road, speculating about what Sue's 15yr old daughter might be getting up to, while not seeming to notice that they were worrying her sick with their random comments. It was very telling that at the end, when Lawrence died, that Beverley immediately made a grab for Tony, like she was already planning to play the grieving widow to get more attention from him.

All the characters are so well developed that by the end of the play you feel like you know them really well.

@PimlicoJo

Wonderful. Tremendous tv. Alison Steadman was outstanding.

Watch “Life“ - recent series on BBC. She is utterly phenomenal in that.

@Housewife2010

Check iPlayer

Thanks HouseWife2010 but can't get iPlayer where I am, hopefully I'll come across it somewhere

Cheers