A 37-minute masterclass in British awkwardness that'll make you cancel all your afternoon plans.
Arthur Dodsworth has recently retired. He lives alone except for his budgie and memories of his late wife Winnie. One afternoon his nap is interrupted by the doorbell; his former secretary, Peggy Prothero, has come to visit. A brash, charmless woman who seems to take no pleasure in anything but putting people down, Miss Prothero wants to fill her old boss in on all the changes that have taken place at work since he left. Dodsworth isn't very curious, and as the visit wears on it puts a little strain on his politeness and patience. Miss Prothero doesn't enjoy it much either, but lingers on as there's a bombshell she wants to drop. The docketing system Dodsworth introduced thirty years earlier, which revolutionised the firm, has been scrapped by her adored new boss Mr Skinner. The crowning achievement of Dodsworth's career has just become obsolete, and she wants to tell him all about it.
Acting
Routledge's passive-aggressive masterpiece.
Writing
Alan Bennett's precision-cut dialogue.
Direction
Frears finds horror in the mundane.
Director
Stephen Frears
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Patricia Routledge later became famous as Hyacinth Bucket; this role shows her gift for social toxicity without the laugh track.
Part of BBC2's 'Six Plays by Alan Bennett' series — the era when British television treated 37 minutes of office cruelty as prime entertainment.
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