I'm In Love With Anne!

I've always admired Anne Reid as an actress – she appears to be able to bring warmth and humour to any role she plays – but I saw her in last night's BBC Four drama 'In Love With Barbara' in which the depth and strength of her talents were revealed in their true glory. She played the indefatigable and cranky Dame Barbara Cartland in this beautifully scripted docu-drama (written by Jacquetta May) about one of the twentieth century's most lampooned characters. Matt Lucas's portrayal of Dame Sally Markham in Little Britain was an amusing and clever send-up of the famous romantic novelist, and it might have been tempting for the writer and producers of this latest drama to adopt a similar vein. However, they chose instead to portray Dame Barbara with an intelligence and sympathy that was most unexpected. Yes, she was an inexorable snob who wore too much jewellery and make-up, but there was a much more complex and yes, stronger side to this woman too.

The device used was to run two inter-connected stories: one, featuring a few months in her life as the woman we all knew and recognized – the pink chiffon draped, pearl & diamond encrusted, flamboyant show-off from the 1970s; and then secondly, a younger Barbara – more vulnerable, more damaged, yet more resolute than we would otherwise have known. This younger Barbara was brilliantly acted by Sinead Matthews who (incidentally) bears a remarkable and uncanny resemblance to a younger Anne Reid, and who somehow managed to portray a woman who – although very different from the Barbara we know – was the woman whose steely resolve in the face of tragedy and despair formed the personality that emerged in the later years. Sinead Matthews was the caterpillar and chrysalis to Anne Reid's butterfly. Two amazing performances and a deeply clever script – well done to everyone.

If you missed it, and want to witness how this surprisingly intelligent production managed to rehabilitate a figure of general ridicule into a character of sympathy and understanding, then you can catch it again several times this week on BBC Four or watch it on BBC iPlayer at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00f7zg2

So, uplifted by this story of bravery and determination, I shall set about making my own day as exciting and rewarding as one of Dame Barbara's. Now, where is my string of pearls, and where is my pink chiffon outfit? More to the point, where is my secretary...?

"Her heaving bosom betrayed the passion she felt for the darkly handsome young Viscount..."