After Henry
- Radio sitcom
- BBC Radio 4
- 1985 - 1989
- 34 episodes (4 series)
Culture and generation-clash comedy in which middle-aged widow Sarah lives with her elderly, difficult mother Eleanor, and daughter Clare. Stars Prunella Scales, Joan Sanderson, Benjamin Whitrow and Geraldine Cowper.
Press clippings
Personally, I suspect the relationships in After Henry (Radio 4, Tuesdays and Thursdays) are nearer the mark. Maybe the grannie, as played by the admirable Joan Sanderson, is a bit of a caricature; and since the series comes into the general category of light entertainment, the reactions are oversimplified. But the three women - grandmother, mother and daughter - represent no more than a slight exaggeration of real life.
Val Arnold-Forster, The Guardian, 4th February 1989My first reaction to the original series was that this is no subject for comedy. But, with the last in this present series coming next week, I'm happy to admit that After Henry has been the most consistently successful series I've heard on radio. And if the comedy comes from the recognition of reality in the situations and the characters, that's a reliable way of making us laugh.
Val Arnold-Forster, The Guardian, 7th November 1987It would take the skills of Jane Austen to turn the painful relationships of the three women into anything approaching comedy. [...] Simon Brett is a clever and observant writer, and Peter Atkin is an expert producer. But After Henry has ceased to be comedy.
Val Arnold-Forster, The Guardian, 20th September 1986