THE OLD WIVES' TALE

ANNA OF THE FIVE TOWNS

Against a background of life in the Staffordshire Potteries - a gossipy, myopic, savage community - Anna receives an inheritance but has to contend with her miserly father.

THE CARD: A STORY OF MISADVENTURE IN THE FIVE TOWNS

Set in the raw, Victorian world of the 'Five Towns', The Card tells the extremely funny and tangled story of Denry Machin's rise from mediocrity to fame through a series of ludicrous and yet perversely successful schemes. He dances, pleads, cheats and inspires his way through life in a series of set-pieces which wonderfully evoke a now long-gone world of civic balls, seaside excursions, newspaper boys and patent chocolate remedies. As everybody said after one of his most stylish coups, Denry 'was not simply a card; he was the card.'

GRAND BABYLON HOTEL

The Grand Babylon Hotel in London is an exclusive establishment. Mr Theodore Racksole, an American millionaire, visits with his daughter and decides to buy the place. Events then take an unexpected turn as Theodore and Nella Racksole play detective.