''Smelling of Roses'' was a

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

comedy series starring

Prunella Scales Prunella Margaret Rumney West Scales (''née'' Illingworth; born 22 June 1932) is an English retired actress. She portrayed Sybil Fawlty, the bossy wife of Basil Fawlty (John Cleese), in the BBC comedy ''Fawlty Towers'' and Queen Elizabeth ...

and written by

Simon Brett Simon Anthony Lee Brett Order of the British Empire, OBE Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, FRSL (born 28 October 1945 in Worcester Park, Surrey, England) is a British author of detective fiction, a playwright, and a producer-writer for ...

. There were four series, each of six episodes, broadcast from 2000 to 2003. The series was produced and directed by Maria Esposito (some episodes were directed by Brett). Scales stars as Rosie Burns, manager of her own

event management Event management is the application of project management to the creation and development of small and/or large-scale personal or corporate events such as festivals, conferences, ceremonies, weddings, formal parties, concerts, or conventions. ...

business in

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

, "In Any Event". The series also stars

Arabella Weir Arabella Helen Weir (born 6 December 1957) is an American-born British comedian, actress and writer. She played roles in the comedy series ''The Fast Show'', ''Posh Nosh'' and ''Two Doors Down (TV series), Two Doors Down'', and has written sev ...

as Rosie's daughter Kate, Rebecca Callard as Kate's daughter Jo, Duncan Preston as Bob, the company accountant, harbouring unrequited passion for Rosie, and

Annette Badland Annette Badland is a British actress known for a wide range of roles on television, radio, stage, and film. She is best known for her roles as Charlotte in the BBC crime drama series '' Bergerac'', Margaret Blaine in the BBC science fiction se ...

as Tess, the remaining member of staff, whose love life with her (unheard) partner Kevin is a recurring topic. Typically of Brett, intergenerational female relationships were the unifying theme of the series: Kate has just returned to England after a long spell working abroad during which she has left her daughter to be brought up by Rosie. The format of the show allowed different, and usually difficult, clients to appear in each episode such as the old disc jockey Kenny Truman (as played by

Chris Emmett Christopher Roderick Emmett (born 13 December 1938 in Nuneaton, Warwickshire) is a British actor and comedian best known for his work on the BBC Radio 4 comedies '' The Burkiss Way'' (1976-1980) and '' Alison and Maud'' (2002-2004). He was a re ...

) and radio station Gleam FM in the ''Talking to One Person'' episode.

Episode list

References

External links

''Smelling of Roses'' episode listing
BBC Radio comedy programmes 2000 radio programme debuts {{BBC-radio-stub