Radio adaptation of Bob Larbey’s TV sitcom, starring Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer as former sweethearts reunited in middle age.

As Time Goes By was a hugely successful British TV romantic comedy starring Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer, which ran for 9 series, plus two “specials”.

38 years before, Jean a young nurse (Judi Dench) and Lionel a young army officer (Geoffrey Palmer) had been in love. Lionel was posted to Korea and by mischance, they lost contact.

38 years later, the now widowed Jean is running a secretarial agency and Lionel, a divorced ex-coffee planter, meet again by chance and their romance starts to blossom again, in a gentle romantic comedy.

The radio series uses the same cast as the TV original- though in Series 1 the part of Alastair, Lionel’s boisterous publisher, is not played by Philip Bretherton who was so brilliant in the part. Although the scripts are near identical, the series lacks the sparkle of the TV series, but stands up well, especially if the listener has never seen the TV version.