Handful of women

At The Five Wives of Maurice Pinder I had to suspend my disbelief so hard that my brain chafed. Mr Pinder is an ordinary south London labourer who likes marrying, getting divorced and keeping the divorcees at home. Curtain up and he’s living with three former wives — and a new young filly has just cantered into the yard. The women rub along OK and accept that each gets just one night a week with the epic seducer. Only Mr Pinder isn’t epic, nor is he much of a seducer. He’s a sentimentalist who likes nattering and cuddling. Wife number one is a childless long-suffering depressive and it’s easy to see how the obsessive spouse-collector bagged her. But he has nothing to offer wife number two, a posh, sparky, hard-drinking sex-pot (memorably portrayed by Clare Holman) who’s up for fun and games. And never in his wildest dreams could he have landed wife three, a beautiful, strong-willed Caribbean spiritualist.