Dorothy — determined it is not too late

Press, 11 February 1986, Page 19

Dorothy — determined it is not too late

For Dorothy, life in retirement with her husband, Ernest, should be a rich and rewarding experience. She enjoys the material comforts of a suburban lifestyle and the attentions of her loyal, if somewhat overbearing friends, Jack and Esme. She delights in her two grandchildren, Felicity and Mick, and is busy preparing for Felicity’s forthcoming marriage. But beneath the veneer of a warm smile and a sympathetic ear, Dorothy is far from happy. Her long relationship with Ernest has been dutiful, rather than loving, and is not eased by Ernest wielding the gruff authority in the home that he once commanded at the

office. Her oldest friend, Alice, has recently been instiutionalised in an old people’s home, her colourful and indomitable spirit fenced in, but unbowed, by authority. Meanwhile, Mick is about to be sent away to boarding school to improve his examination chances in spite of his displaying a practical turn of mind which more than compensates for his academic failings. But his parents do not recognise this and Dorothy cannot interfere. While flat-hunting with Felicity and her daughter-in-law, Jane, Dorothy is taken with a small cosy place over an antique shop which Felicity dismisses as too small for

her and Daniel. The rooms remind Dorothy of happier times many years ago when she was just beginning life’s adventure, free from responsibilities to everyone but herself. For Dorothy, this flat presents an opportunity to make what she can of the life that is left to her. It is an opportunity she is determined to seize in spite of the pressures and inhibitions exerted by her class, her generation and her familyi “Winter Sunlight,”a four-part British drama, begins on Two at 10 p.m. It stars Elizabeth Sellers as Dorothy, Derek Francis as Ernest, Derek Farr as Jack, Betty Marsden as Esme, and Patricia Hayes is Alice.