Ladies of Letters

Ladies of Letters is a BBC Radio 4 comedy series starring Patricia Routledge and Prunella Scales, based on the series of books of the same name written by Carole Hayman and Lou Wakefield. Routledge stars as Vera Small and Scales as Irene Spencer, two elderly ladies who share a sometimes rocky relationship conducted by correspondence.

Patricia Routledge originally played Irene (Ruddock) in A Lady of Letters, a 1988 episode of Alan Bennett's BBC television series, Talking Heads.

The success of the first series of Ladies of Letters (broadcast in 1997) spawned adaptations of several sequels: Ladies of More Letters (1999); Ladies of Letters.Com (2000); Ladies of Letters Log On (2001); Ladies of Letters Make Mincemeat (2001 Christmas Special); Ladies of Letters Spring Clean (2004); Ladies of Letters Go Global (2006); Ladies of Letters Say No (2007); Ladies of Letters Go Green (2008); Ladies of Letters Crunch Credit (2009) and Ladies of Letters Go Crackers (2010 - this series features Anne Reid instead of Patricia Routledge as Vera Small, see below).

Each of the 15 minute episodes come as part of BBC Radio 4's long running magazine programme Woman's Hour. A ten-part television adaptation of the first radio series has been made for ITV3, which began on 3 February 2009.