Radio 4 |
1999 (four episodes) |
Barry Grossman's sitcom -- apparently one of the few series to be commissioned on the basis of an unsolicited submission to the BBC script unit -- was picket-fence stuff dealing with the clash of cultures in a north London Jewish community. The settled existence of Orthodox rabbi Abraham Fine (David de Keyser) is disturbed by the appearance of a brand-new Reform synagogue led by the vivacious Su Jacobs (Tracy-Ann Oberman), a youthful and decidedly non-traditional rabbi, who sets about introducing the Hillsend area to the wonders of the world-wide web and her profound views on the importance of cosmetics. The storylines poked a certain amount of fun at both leading characters, mainly through the agency of Abraham's long-suffering wife Sadie (Doreen Mantle), unarguably the true wise teacher of the series, who befriended Su and strove to keep the peace with varying degrees of success. Henry Goodman and Jonathan Kydd played regular supporting characters, and there were guest appearances from Warren Mitchell and former Week Ending star Sheila Steafel.