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

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In the `80s, she met Gavin Petrie while he was features editor for She magazine. He later became features editor for TV Times, and as well as becoming Jan’s husband, would also become her comedy writing partner. “We were looking at comedy and thinking this is just not funny – there was a lot of very poor comedy in the `80s,” she says. “We thought, you know, we actually could do better than this.” As a one-off episode broadcast on Radio 4 on New Year’s Day, Conversations from a Long Marriage portrayed Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam as a married couple for over 40 years. Children of the Sixties, they were still free spirits, drawn together by their passion for music – and each other. The show followed their conversations that took 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 had a dodgy knee and was on statins, and when they discussed the marriage break-up of their closest friends, Sally and Peter, there was jealousy and talk of affairs. She suggested there are advantages to single beds, separate holidays and wanted to go clubbing in Ibiza for her imminent ‘big’ birthday.

Gorgeous is what Lumley does, and gorgeous is what she loves, as she explains in the first episode. When she was young, she loved the piano and wanted to play. But she struggled with reading the notes, so lessons went no further. Still, she and her family listened to classical records, and she heard music, too, when doing dance classes in Malaya, specifically Offenbach’s Barcarolle: “I can hear it to this day.” When pop came along, “I liked gorgeous music, so I loved the Everly Brothers… Elvis had a beautiful voice.” Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam play a couple who have been married for over 40 years. Children of the Sixties, they're still free spirits, drawn together by their passion for music - and each other. Come on!’ I’d shout at my radio and TV. ‘Where are my contemporaries? The strong, smart, funny women who have laughed and loved their way through life since the Summer of Love, and might still be married to the sexy hippie they met at Glastonbury 71?’ " This week, it seems everything is making Roger grumpy, including a neighbour putting out his bin on the wrong day; a car alarm in the night and a shortage of streaky bacon. Roger claims he’s ‘normal’ because ‘most men live lives of quiet desperation’ but Joanna discovers it’s her fault he’s feeling fed up.Jan’s writing career began in her 20s. She was encouraged by a “wonderful” English teacher, her father’s own humour-filled writing - letters, and talks he was often asked to give - as well as schoolgirl banter with a close-knit group of friends who have stayed together throughout their adult lives. She married young, at 19, but as she became a busy freelance writer, found she and her husband were going in different directions, so they decided to part. Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam will return for Series 4 and Series 5 of Conversations From A Long Marriage, the Radio 4 comedy created by Jan Etherington. 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.

I’ve always tried to write about what’s going on in my life, not necessarily telling verbatim stories from our lives but using them as a benchmark,” she says. “They say ‘write about what you know’, but I think it’s more ‘write about what makes you laugh’ because it’s very therapeutic, even if you’re going through a tough time, divorce or a trauma like Next of Kin. Most of the couples I’m writing about are bowling along, then there’s some huge trauma and they have to deal with it.” Her couples are always equal partnerships. “I hate the idea of dozy husbands who can’t work the dishwasher. All the couples I write about are equally strong - they support each other. If there are jokes about cooking it’s about her incompetence rather than his. But that’s not where the laughs come for me – I'm interested in the emotional strength of the couples, or the people I’m writing about. Vulnerability comes in different ways.” They’re a very clever couple – they work off each other feed off each other,” says Jan. “There’s a real strength in their relationship.” As well as clever, insightful writing, a large part of the magic of Conversations comes from the casting of Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam. Joanna, says Jan, agreed to do the part immediately she read the script, saying it was as though Jan had “listened at her window”. When Jan asked her who could possibly play her husband she suggested Roger – the man all her friends want to be married to. Jan spends just a few days each year with them, recording in a studio, but she says it’s clear they have fantastic chemistry and love working together. Written for Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam by award-winning comedy writer and journalist Jan Etherington, who’s been married for 35 years to Gavin Petrie, with whom she created many hit radio and TV series (Second Thoughts, Next of Kin, Faith in the Future, The Change). Conversations from a Long Marriage is her first solo narrative comedy series.Conversations from a Long Marriage is a two-hander comedy, starring Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam, as a long-married couple who met in the Summer of Love and are still passionate about life, music and each other. We listen to – and empathise with - their dangling ‘conversations’ covering everything from health scares, jealousy and confessions, to TV incompatibility and sourdough bread.

Propelled into a different world, Jan and Gavin became full time writers. Faith In The Future, followed and won Jan and Gavin a British Comedy Award. “Everybody loved it and it was fantastically fun to do,” she says. They then wrote Next of Kin, inspired by their hedonistic neighbours in Sunbury, in which Penelope Keith and William Gaunt play an affluent couple forced to abandon their dreams of early retirement when their estranged son dies and they reluctantly become guardians of their orphaned grandchildren. The show follows their 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. The new run will see the long married loving couple dealing with a new, young rescue dog, a feisty old auntie, handing out advice to friends and godchildren - and "sailing away into the sunset". Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam star in Jan Etherington’s award-winning comedy, as a couple who are passionate about life and each other. This week: they drop in on some old friends they haven't seen for years. And while Joanna and Roger feel the same as they always have, their friends seem to have changed beyond recognition. He's moved from technicolour to tweed, and she's never even heard of Stormzy. Details of organisations offering information and support with some of the issues in this episode are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.

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Conversations from a Long Marriage is written by Jan Etherington, who has been married to Gavin Petrie for over 30 years. Second Thoughts , Faith In The Future and Next Of Kin. She says: “ Conversations From A Long Marriage will resonate with couples of any age but especially those who are still dancing in the kitchen, singing in the car and trying to keep the passion alive.” Talking to British Comedy Guide about the genesis of her latest show, Etherington explained further: “I wrote it for Joanna Lumley because she epitomises that ageless style and curiosity for living in the moment. Roger Allam is absolutely wonderful, one of the gods of radio and it was just magical to see them together, they are so in tune and they genuinely like each other.” Sitcom is what most marriages are really like – repetitive and ridiculous – and Jan’s words are some of the best ever written on the subject’ RICHARD CURTIS This book gives me hope ... that life and marriage might permanently include taking the absolute piss while simultaneously dancing in the kitchen' Emma Freud