Whatever Happened to Baby Jane Austen? (BBC Radio 4) | iPlayer
The Superhero Complex Novel/iHeart Radio
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Cheat! Somethin’ Else
A big slice of jolliness in the Friday 11.30am slot on Radio 4 last week. Whatever Happened to Baby Jane Austen? is half an hour of cheery silliness, with Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders doing their French and Saunders thing while playing two warring sisters. French is Florence, a serious, put-upon novelist; Saunders is Selina, a blithe, grande dame actor. Florence is the Jane Austen, Selina the Baby Jane: do you see? Even if you don’t, the characters are sharply enough drawn to be understood within a couple of minutes. Last week’s opening episode (of five) had Florence trying to get Selina out of the bathroom, where she’d been for six hours. She’d worked out how to work the taps, but not the plug: “A plug? Is it an electric bath, because that sounds quite dangerous?” An old joke, sure, but still funny, especially when Saunders delivers it.
