Alan Shallcross

The Russian Soldier

What is it that Edgar Garrett sees, or thinks he sees, on his farm one morning in the mists of early spring? Whatever it is, one thing is certain. Life will never be the same again for him and his family.

Mr. and Mrs. Edgehill

Eustace and Dorrie Edgehill have decided to leave Samola, a British protectorate in the Pacific. After the failure of his latest harebrained scheme, no one is likely to give Eustace a job now. Or are they?

Only Children

Jill has everything; a successful career, four close, if somewhat exotic, friends (her 'family') and a live-in lover. They provide for all her needs including, eventually, a baby. But that is where reality sets in.

Wayne and Albert

When Wayne has to go and live with his grandfather Albert, they both initially resent the arrangement. Hostilities soften when they discover some common interests.

Last Love

Tending her husband's grave one day, Annabel Fox meets Jack Ives, a retired regimental sergeant-major. But when their friendship turns to love and talk of marriage, Annabel's children step in. They have other plans for her and, anyway, "He's so common, mummy..."

A Mother Like Him

A family of five orphaned children are going to be split up into different homes. What will happen if the eldest is officially made their foster parent?

The Man Who Married a French Wife and Other Stories

Tom Beauchurch , a successful New England lawyer, takes his wife Ginette to Paris for a second honeymoon. It is a Paris in the throes of the Algerian crisis; a crisis which soon threatens the very foundations of their marriage. A New York bartender refuses to lower his standards even when his boss threatens to sack him. Michael Loomis runs into trouble when he confesses to his beautiful young wife that he can't help eyeing the girls in their summer dresses ...

A Sudden Wrench

Christine takes up an unusual line of work and proves she is not just another bored housewife.

Autumn Sunshine

It is the autumn of 1981 and in Southern Ireland Canon Moran's wife has just died. Three of his daughters come to the funeral, but his youngest and favourite daughter Deirdre stays away ...

Mrs. Reinhardt

An Englishwoman seeking to escape her marriage arrives at a French hotel.

The Caretaker

The story of two brothers and a tramp. Harold Pinter's first major success as a dramatist.

The Girls in Their Summer Dresses and Other Stories

Three Irwin Shaw short stories are dramatized. In "The Girls in Their Summer Dresses" a young married couple stop for a drink on a Sunday morning in Manhattan, and the conversation turns to the husband's fidelity. "The Monument" centers on the conflict between a popular bartender with a following in an upscale Irish bar in 1938 Manhattan and its owner, who is determined to introduce a more economical whiskey in the establishment over the barkeep's objections. In "The Man Who Married a French Wife" the influential American husband of a French woman is asked by her former lover, a former resistance fighter, to help him escape the country.

The Kindness of Mrs Radcliffe

A day in the life of Mrs Radcliffe , who believes that the advice she so freely gives is done only out of kindness.

The Black Madonna

Lou Parker feels very strongly that she and her husband, Ray, are different from the Farrells and the Ackerleys. With them it's all television. But she and Ray have the local library and The Observer. They keep abreast. They're different.

Twelfth Night

Viola and Sebastian are lookalike twins, separated by a shipwreck. Viola lands in Illyria, where she disguises herself like her brother and goes into the service of the Duke Orsino. Orsino sends her to help him woo the Lady Olivia, who doesn't want the Duke, but finds that she likes the new messenger the Duke's sending. Then, of course, Viola's brother shows up, and merry hell breaks loose. Meanwhile, Olivia's uncle and his cohorts are trying to find some way to get back at Olivia's officious majordomo, Malvolio.

Sisters

A widow, Millie, moves in with her sister, Ada, who is also a widow. Millie finds the house is not too her liking and starts to make changes, to Ada's annoyance.

The Little Minister

In rural 1840's Scotland, Gavin Dishart arrives to become the new "little minister" of Thrums's Auld Licht church. He meets a mysterious young gypsy girl in the dens and to his horror Babbie draws him into her escape from the soldiers after she incites a Luddite riot. But unknown to Gavin, Babbie is more than she seems. And they must overcome her secret, the villagers' fears of her, and worst of all, Gavin's devotion to his mother's sensibilities, before they can openly declare their love.