A Year in Provence (1993 David Tucker)

Based on Peter Mayle's memoir, adapted by Michael Sadler. Mayle thought it 'disastrous... The BBC, John Thaw, Lindsay Duncan; we didn't think anything could go wrong. But then we saw the rushes and our jaws just dropped. We couldn't believe how bad it was, but there was nothing we could do about it.' He died in January aged 78 and had planned a long 'lavish lunch' instead of a funeral.

Well we thoroughly enjoyed the performances and its sense of whimsy - almost like an Ealing comedy in places - and don't care so much how it differs from the original, which may have had its fair share of heightened truths anyway. I did think it might have benefited from being subtitled and we could have seen how much the couple increasingly came to speak French over the year, but the way it's been managed - requiring a basic French on the part of the audience whilst the rest is 'translated' through reactions - is OK.

Some of the French cast seemed vaguely familiar and of course we recognised Alfred Molina, James Fleet etc.

Truffle tents

It kept making me think of the last section of Any Human Heart.

It was only after I realised we had watched a truncated version and were over an hour short, which helps explain some of the plot ellipses.