Gloomsbury by Sue Limb Series 1

Episode 1 00:00
The Trials of Attempting an Elopement

The series follows the fortunes of Vera Sackcloth-Vest (Margolyes) - writer, gardener and transvestite - and her urge to escape from the tranquillity of her rather cramped little castle in Kent which she shares with her doting but ambiguous husband Henry (Coy), who is 'something in the Foreign Office'. Vera's heart is forever surging with exotic passion for Ginny Fox (Steadman), a highly-strung novelist who adores her, or the beautiful but shallow Venus Traduces (Banks).

In episode one, Vera longs to elope to Mediterranean sunshine with one of her bosom chums. But her first choice, Ginny, is stubbornly impervious to adventure and Venus Traduces is fully booked for elopements until next April. Will Vera run off instead with the perky waitress at Lyons' Corner house? Meanwhile, what is Vera's husband Henry up to as telegrams fly between him and Archie Pinkerton-Poker at the Foreign Office?

Episode 2 28:06
Desperately Seeking Peace and Quiet
In Episode Two, the novelist Ginny Fox is visiting her friends Vera Sackcloth-Vest and Henry Mickleton, who live in a modest unassuming little castle in Kent.

Ginny has writer's block, so Vera tries desperately to provide peace and quiet, gagging the blackbirds and cloaking the gravel paths in velvet. But their tranquil idyll is shattered by the explosive arrival of Venus Traduces, hell-bent on recapturing Vera's heart with a series of appalling musical serenades.

Ginny's tiresome husband Lionel has followed her incognito with a portfolio of herbal remedies, but Henry manages to detain him in the pantry whilst Ginny and Vera dive under the covers to devour a steamy new book, Lady Hattersley's Plover by the intriguing proletarian writer D.H. Lollipop. The chums emerge flushed and enthralled, convinced that they must meet D.H. Lollipop and experience his dangerous animal magnetism at first hand.

Episode 3 56:06
The St Ives School of Painting
The writer and transvestite Vera Sackcloth-Vest and her bosom chum, the novelist Ginny Fox, go down to St Ives in search of the writer of very naughty books Mr D.H. Lollipop. Their husbands, Henry and Lionel, accompany them, hoping to prevent their wives from succumbing to the dangerous animal magnetism of Lollipop, whose book Lady Hattersley's Plover has scandalized and unsettled them all.

Vera's persistent and flamboyant admirer Venus Traduces arrives, desperate to re-kindle their Sapphic passion. However she is distracted when, on the cliff path, she meets a thin man with a red beard who exudes animal magnetism. He informs her that his wife is away in London being painted by Augustus John, invites Venus to call him Dave, and ravishes her in the brambles.

Meanwhile, though Vera and Ginny seem to search in vain for Lollipop, he is always much closer than they think.

Episode 4 1:24:08
Trying to Avoid Unpleasantness

The gardener Vera Sackcloth Vest and her husband Henry are obliged to offer hospitality to the writer of very naughty books Mr D H Lollipop and his new flame, Venus Traduces - who formerly harboured a Sapphic passion for Vera.

The guests are accommodated in the dovecote as Henry will not have Lollipop in the house, in case the cook Mrs Gosling is exposed to impertinences. Vera is hoping that Lollipop will be able to improve her prose style, but instead he seems to take pleasure in trashing her garden and redesigning her study. Lollipop is intent on awakening Venus's blood consciousness but, alas, any educational impulse involving Venus is doomed to failure.

As Venus's passion for Lollipop begins to flag, she finds consolation with the gardener Gosling on the potting bench. Despite Henry's precautions, Mrs Gosling is exposed to Lollipop's impertinences, and the outcome is unexpected and inconvenient.

Episode 5 1:52:05
A Desperate Attempt to Have Fun
The writer Vera Sackcloth-Vest has to tear herself away from her beloved garden just at the moment when her mammillarias are about to open.

She and her husband Henry have been summoned to London by her bosom chum, the novelist Ginny Fox. Ginny and her husband Lionel have realized that they have never had what is known as "fun" and they beg Vera and Henry to provide it.

Simultaneously, Vera's ardent acolyte Venus Traduces asks Vera to educate her, so she can be taken seriously by the Gloomsbury set. Exhausted by her efforts to educate and entertain, and haunted by the fear that her beloved Henry will soon be posted to the Balkans, Vera endures an emotional crisis at a picnic in Kensington Gardens.

Rescue arrives unexpectedly, and she escapes back to her beloved Sizzlinghurst, just as her mammillarias lift their saucy little faces to the sun.

Episode 6 2:20:08
He's Got to Be Stopped
era Sackcloth-Vest is bracing herself for the departure of her adored husband Henry on a Foreign Office posting to Romania.