Heartwarming show keeps the entertainment coming (From Salisbury Journal)

Heartwarming show keeps the entertainment coming

11:29am Thursday 18th October 2012 in Entertainments

RADIO TIMES, SALISBURY PLAYHOUSE

RADIO during the Second World War conjures up images of families huddled around the wireless, eager both for news and light-hearted entertainment.

Radio Times focuses on the cast of a BBC variety show and their efforts to keep the show on air, despite the terrible happenings in the world around them.

Gary Wilmot is the star of the show, and is everything you would expect him to be – chirpy, enthusiastic and engaging the audience at every turn. Sara Crowe is less impressive as his love interest Olive. Her singing voice isn’t really strong enough to carry the role, although her performance was sweet enough for this to perhaps be overlooked.

The talented supporting cast are excellent, showing off not just their acting, singing and dancing skills, but also providing their own musical accompaniment, picking up the instruments dotted around the stage to provide the sounds to go with the era.

Putting in a brilliant turn as stuffy producer Heathcliffe Bultitude is John Conroy, whose transformation from BBC executive determined to enforce the rules to star turn on the radio is a joy to behold.

Perhaps the most endearing and charming quality of this heartwarming show is the way it manages to keep the laughs and entertainment coming while the audience is always aware of what is there in the background.

The wartime spirit of Britain is perfectly evoked - a time in which, as the radio show’s guest star says, “a country became a family”.

Morwenna Blake