ATV Choice: Up In Town with Joanna Lumley

Depending on your age, we suspect, Joanna Lumley will conjure up different things to different people. Science fiction fans will best recollect her for ATV’s Sapphire and Steel, while action fans look to The New Avengers and comedy lovers know her best from the BBC’s Absolutely Fabulous. Now she brings to screen another series which may become a classic.

Lumley stars as lonely middle-aged divorcee – Madison Blakelock – in a set of six tragi-comic monologues produced by Steve Coogan and Henry Normal for Sky Arts 2

Blakelock, who alludes to once having lived a life of splendour, reveals her struggle to embrace life as a divorcee, opening up about the break-up of her marriage, her extra-marital affair, dealing with rats in her home alone and her husband’s funeral, where she was surprised to find that no one recognised her.

In the first three marvellously-crafted ten-minute monologues, Maddie faces a worrying time as her beloved cat’s life hangs in the balance and reveals how her marriage came to a crashing end during an intimate birthday lunch with her husband.

The series has been written by Hugo Blick and will no doubt be somewhat compared to the Talking Heads beeb series which starred among others Maggie Smith, Julie Walters, Patricia Routledge and Thora Hird written by Alan Bennett.

Up In Town, Wednesday the 6th February at 9pm on Sky Arts 2