Conversations From A Long Marriage: based on the beloved BBC Radio 4 comedy starring Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam

by Jan Etherington

The first six episodes of the BBC radio comedy drama about a couple who have been married for over 40 years but are still passionate about life, love and each other

Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam play a married couple who met in the Summer of Love and have stayed together ever since. Children of the Sixties, they are still free spirits, drawn together by their love for music and one another.
We follow their conversations from the café to the kitchen table, taking in everyday chores, dealing with problems with long-held friendships and tackling their frustrations with each other. With warmth, wit and honesty, they talk about the indignities of ageing (he has a dodgy knee and is on statins, she resents her new, tri-focal glasses), their desire to still be seen as attractive and their fears and vulnerabilities around growing older.

There's jealousy and talk of affairs, confessions are made and long-held secrets are unearthed - but underlying it all is their enduring love for each other and their desire to keep the passion alive.

Written by award-winning comedy writer and journalist Jan Etherington, and based on her own 35-year marriage, this gentle comedy will ring a bell with couples of all ages.


Starring Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam
Produced by Claire Jones
A BBC Studios Production

272 pages, Hardcover

Published April 11, 2023

Reviews

[Cleaver Patterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderfully, laugh out loud funny. Whether you’ve ever been married or not you can relate to the effortless, comfortable banter between a couple who are clearly, besides loving each other, best friends. A gem of a feel good book.

[travelsalongmybookshelf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joanna and Roger have been married for over forty years. Children of the Sixties, they're still free spirits, drawn together by their passion for music - and each other.

Conversations from a Long Marriage is exactly that: following conversations that take them from the local café, to their kitchen table, taking in her resentment of new glasses - a symbol of ageing - and fury at being lectured by the dental hygienist. He has a dodgy knee and is on statins, and when they discuss the marriage break-up of their closest friends, Sally and Peter, there's jealousy and talk of affairs. She suggests there are advantages to single beds, separate holidays and wants to go clubbing in Ibiza for her imminent 'big' birthday.

This book is just laugh out loud funny. I have been making my way through this and chuckling away, reading out bits to my husband, who has been rolling his eyes as husbands do! Although we haven’t been married for forty years, so much of this you will recognise if you are in any relationship to be honest - this will make such a great stocking filler for Christmas. I’m passing this to my Mum for a read after I’ve finished!

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually 3.5 stars. I couldn’t make my mind up about this book. Firstly it isn’t a novel but a collection of plays written for Radio 4. The writer Jan Etherington realised that so often women of a certain age are shown rarely as strong independent women who still have lives and opinions so she decided to create her own. The couple, Joanna and Roger have been married for over 40 years, have no children, but do still have interesting lives and conversations as well as a busy sex life. A very different kind of thing to read.

[Nicholas Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable but quickly repetitive.

[Morag Ranford · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an utter joy!

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

So funny, and touching too.