Book of the Week - Dear Mr Bigelow - Episode 1

Sophie Thompson reads from the letters of Frances Woodsford, a Bournemouth council worker, to wealthy American widower, Paul Bigelow, who she never met, written between 1949 and his death in 1961. They evoke life in postwar Britain, and are introduced by Woodsford herself, who is now in her 90s. Frances enlightens Mr Bigelow about rationing, the differences between Britons and Americans, and her endless problems with her elderly mother. Abridged by Doreen Estall.