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Drama on 4

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Afternoon Drama: James Lees-Milne

Tobias Menzies

Victoria Hamilton

Tom Mison

Sean Murray

Philippa Stanton

Joanna Brookes

David Seddon

Hannah Wood

Marion Nancarrow

Christopher William Hill

Drama on 4: James Lees-Milne: Episode 2: The Unending Battle

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Factual: Life Stories

James Lees-Milne

Episode 2

Episode 2: The Unending Battle

The Unending Battle

BBC Radio 4 - Drama on 4, James Lees-Milne, The Unending Battle

The realities of war strike home for Lees-Milne, when Tom Mitford returns on leave.

The realities of WWII strike home when the dashing and adored Tom Mitford returns unexpectedly on leave. Stars Tom Mison.

by Christopher William Hill

It's 1944 and James Lees-Milne - and the National Trust - have returned to London. Comfortably accommodated in a flat in Cheyne Walk, Lees-Milne is attempting to secure a nearby property to house the musical collection of Boer War veteran, Major Benton Fletcher. Late one night, whilst trying to telephone a friend, Lees-Milne has a crossed line and makes the acquaintance of an anonymous woman. A friendship grows over the telephone wires, but at the woman's insistence they both keep their identities secret. When Lees-Milnes's childhood friend Tom Mitford returns unexpectedly from the continent, a sexual attraction is reawakened. Tom, however, has been a committed red-blooded male since Eton and is now determined to settle down after the war and raise a family - expecting James to help him sift through a list of potential wives. Tom is now a realist in love, but Lees-Milne is still an idealist. When disaster strikes, Lees-Milne must rely on the mysterious woman at the end of the telephone more than ever before.

Produced & directed by Marion Nancarrow

The three plays star Tobias Menzies (Rome; Game of Thrones ) as James Lees-Milne and Victoria Hamilton (Lark Rise to Candleford; Victoria & Albert) as the novelist Nancy Mitford and chart four years during the war when Lees-Milne was at his most industrious in trying to secure properties for the National Trust. In this play, Joseph Mison (Salmon Fishing in the Yemen; Lost in Austen) stars as Tom Mitford.

Drama on 4: James Lees-Milne

BBC Radio 4

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Three plays inspired by the diaries of writer and architectural historian James Lees-Milne

By Christopher William Hill. Three plays inspired by the diaries of writer and architectural historian James Lees-Milne that chart the decline and fall of the English country house

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