Gilda And Her Daughters. Gilda (Sian Thomas). Copyright: BBC
Gilda And Her Daughters

Gilda And Her Daughters

  • Radio comedy drama
  • BBC Radio 4
  • 2009
  • 1 episode

Comic play about three sisters and their mother who gather at their family home after the death of the father. Stars Sian Thomas, Pippa Haywood, Kathryn Hunt, Claire Bleasdale and Jonathan Keeble

Key details

Genre
Comedy Drama
Broadcast
2009
Channel
BBC Radio 4
Episodes
1
Stars
Sian Thomas, Pippa Haywood, Kathryn Hunt, Claire Bleasdale and Jonathan Keeble
Writer
Carine Adler
Producer
Pauline Harris
Company

Gilda is a charming, eccentric, unpredictable Romanian-Jewish septuagenarian whose larger-than-life personality towers over her three daughters.

When her husband Walter dies, Gilda returns from hospital with her three daughters. The sisters' reaction to Walter's death could not be more different.

Amy, the eldest, cries inconsolably and her claustrophobia seems to worsen, while middle-child Nathalie tries to control Gilda's life and looks everywhere for her father's will. The youngest, Clarissa, gets stoned, writing awful poetry to be read at the funeral.

Gilda plays each daughter off against one another, telling them individually that they are her favourites, bestowing a special present to each one.

Lies and secrets collide when it transpires that Amy has to face the fact that Walter may not have been her biological father. The two younger siblings are keen to explore this possibility, wondering if they shouldn't get more of the inheritance if they're daddy's "real children". Gilda is having none of it, "Who cares who the father is - it's the mother who's important". In fact Gilda, idiosyncratic as ever, has plans of her own that don't involve any of the daughters.

Additional details

Production
Studio
Soundtrack
The trumpet player was Jamie Prophet.

Broadcast details

First broadcast
Monday 9th November 2009 at 2:15pm on BBC Radio 4
Episode length
45 minutes
All previous repeats
  • Monday 20th August 2012 at 2:15pm on Radio 4