Cooking in a Bedsitter: The Complete Series 1 and 2

A BBC Radio 4 Sitcom

By: Sue Teddern, Katharine Whitehorn

Narrated by: Beattie Edmondson, Nikesh Patel, John Bowler, John Dougall, Karen Bartke, Alison Belbin, Eleanor Bron, full cast

Both series of the engaging romantic comedy set in a 1960s bedsit, inspired by Katharine Whitehorn's cookery classic

It’s 1964, and 22-year-old Trisha moves into a West Hampstead bedsitter to escape her controlling suburban parents and her boring fiancé, Keith. She’s determined to make it as a swinging, get-ahead girl-about-town, but finds herself struggling with homesickness, loneliness and the challenges of cooking a decent meal on a single gas ring.

Then she rescues a grotty wardrobe from her landlady’s attic, and it yields a surprising treasure – a copy of Cooking in a Bedsitter, which becomes her bible. Soon, she’s rustling up tasty treats for dinner parties and double dates – aided by Deepak, the dishy young medical student from across the landing.

He introduces her to the delights of aloo pakora, she surprises him with a picnic at the seaside – but when their burgeoning relationship is snuffed out by Trisha’s parents, she moves on, to a different bedsit and a new man. She’s definitely over Deepak: or is she? If she wants him back, she’ll have to move fast – before he heads out of her life forever...

Written by Sue Teddern (soloparentpals.com), and interspersed with recipes and extracts from Katharine Whitehorn’s original book, this appetising romcom stars Beattie Edmondson and Nikesh Patel.


Production credits
Written by Sue Teddern
Inspired by Cooking in a Bedsitter by Katharine Whitehorn
Extracts from Cooking in a Bedsitter read by Karen Bartke and Eleanor Bron
Directed by Emma Harding

Cast
Trisha – Beattie Edmondson
Deepak – Nikesh Patel
June – Alison Belbin/Ellie Darvill
Len – John Bowler/Rupert Holliday-Evans
Tony – John Dougall
Katharine Whitehorn – Karen Bartke/Eleanor Bron
Jill – Natasha Cowley
Keith/Mike – Finlay Robertson
The Hunk/Stuart – Luke MacGregor
Male Guest/Big Nev – Gavi Singh Chera
Female Guest/Sal – Catriona McFarlane
Moira – Isabella Inchbald
Robert – Clive Hayward
Karl – Adam Fitzgerald
Julie/Clare/Susie – Abbie Andrews
Policeman – Neil McCaul
Malcolm – Gary Duncan
Errol – Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 28 Nov-19 Dec 2016 (series 1) and 4 Dec-25 Dec 2017 (series 2).

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