17. A Question of Attribution

An A to Z of UK Television Drama

While looking for a drama beginning with the letter Q, having decided to ignore that programme about that Bernard fellow, we quickly agreed that A Question of Attribution would make an excellent choice, partly as we knew it to be a celebrated and award winning drama, but also because it would be our first Alan Bennett. Oh mother! First written and performed for the stage in 1988, this drama about the fourth member of the Cambridge Spy Ring, Sir Anthony Blunt, was adapted for television in 1991 and features James Fox as Blunt, David Calder as his interrogator Chubb, and Prunella Scales as HMQ (Her Majesty the Queen). As well as praising Bennett's deft script and the performances of Fox, Calder and Scales, Andy and Martin discussed public access to art, the value of a 'time in Perth' clock, and the identity of the fifth member of the Cambridge Spy Ring. Step forward Lemaitre from The Reign of Terror and indeed Beta from The Krotons. Or maybe not. It doesn't take the pair long to get into politics and the dangers of our post-truth world, in a week when Britain was set to break international law because of the self-serving idiocy of its current government. What fun! Next Time: Ready When You Are, Mr McGill