Sparring Bosum Pals, Prunella Scales and Patricia Routledge, Return in a Festive Instalment of BBC Radio 4's Hit Comedy Serial.

Christmas is coming to the folk of Little Shagthorne and Hethergreen, and festive recipes are being passed up and down the line with zeal. Whilst Irene goes on a goose chase for an elusive mincemeat ingredient, Vera is busy at the Singing Kettle cafe with turkey-stuffing demonstrations and mince pie competitions - this inbetween preparing to entertain the whole of her flock at home (minus, in the wake of foot and mouth, Howard and Antony's own prize-winning pedigrees).

It doesn't take long, however, for the sparks to fly between the on-off correspondents and their kin. As Vera struggles with coddled carp for Christmas Eve dinner, Irene learns that her own daughter Lesley is in fact in Kuala Lumpar and not, as planned, at the homestead of Hethergreen. Meanwhile, Vera's philandering son-in-law is in the broom cupboard with the au pair, resulting in unexpected visitors turning up on both the Small and the Spencer doorsteps.

For the ladies of letters, this particular season of joy could be the shortest on record…