Stuart Douglas

In 1970, while on a location shoot in Shropshire for the downmarket BBC sitcom Floggit and Leggit, ageing actor Edward Lowe—a ‘short, stocky northerner with a receding hairline and bad eyesight’, who plays the pompous and officious lead, a role based on himself—stumbles across the body of a young woman, apparently the victim of a tragic drowning accident. But there's...

It’s 1971 and, in between filming seasons of Floggit and Leggit, ageing actors Edward Lowe and John Le Breton sign up for a short run of Shakespearean tragedies at the Bolton Playhouse. But, once in Lancashire, they discover they have been invited to join the theatre’s repertory company for two reasons – because the company manager is keen to take...