Book of the Week - Dear Mr Bigelow - Episode 2

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. As the nation mourns the death of the King, Frances gears up for her first driving lesson, learns how to deal with a firebomb at Civil Defence classes and, with rationing still very much in force, is faced with the stark choice of kidney soup and consomme de tapioca at Bournemouth's smartest restaurant in town. Abridged by Doreen Estall.