The social services department of the council is preparing a register of the elderly in the area and eager but green June Potter (recently transfered from transport) is despatched to gather information while obtaining some hands-on-experience. Mam and Dad are in their 60s and therefore must be in need of registering - but Mam and Dad, perfectly alert, able-bodied and streetwise have no intention of being registered. Thrown by Mam's no-nonsense approach, the increasingly desperate June resorts to Mr Farquarson's detailed notes on "Conducts of Interviews", while Mam sorts her out. This comic, ironic look at patronizing bureaucracy was first televised in 1982.
Alan Bennett is a renowned playwright and essayist, a succession of whose plays have been staged at the Royal National Theatre and whose screenplay for The Madness of King George was nominated for an Academy Award. He made his first stage appearance with Beyond the Fringe and his latest play was The Lady in the Van with Maggie Smith. Episodes from his award-winning Talking Heads series have been shown on PBS. His first novel, The Clothes They Stood Up In, was published in 2000. He lives in London.
