As a writer, the actor Rupert Everett has been compared to David Niven, Noel Coward and Lord Byron: wickedly observant, very British and extremely funny. And his new memoir Vanished Years gives full rein to those powers as Everett writes about the travails of a precarious career - fighting for good roles, effortlessly glamorous at parties.

Everett found fame in Britain with Another Country and Dance with a Stranger, and acclaim in Hollywood with My Best Friend's Wedding. But we meet him in the twilight world of a film finished but not released - and he's not confident it will restore his fortunes. However, at one of the many glamorous parties he attends, Everett has a flash of inspiration: to write Mr Ambassador - an American TV sitcom starring, of course, Rupert Everett in the title role.

And so begins an adventure in Hollywood, diving into the cut throat world of the networks and the pilot episode, where dreams and fortunes can be made or broken.

In episode four of his memoir, Rupert finds Mr Ambassador's path to success is paved with elephant traps.

Producer: David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment Limited production for BBC Radio 4. Show less