Consuming Passion: 100 Years of Mills & Boon

What a clever idea! The story of the founding of the Mills and Boon empire is told in three separate ways. First, the real story of the early days of the company from 1908 to the 1920s is dramatised, then a parallel story is introduced of a 30-something 21st century university lecturer leading discussions on the Mills and Boon phenomenon. A third story also unfolds as a would-be author acts out her fantasies in the 1970s. The way these stories are resolved is very satisfying and believable. In their way, they are all Mills and Boon stories and all tell the history of the company's success by demonstrating the attraction of the age-old themes. All acting is first class and the attention to detail in the First World War era is admirable. I've never read a Mills and Boon novel but I would no longer be ashamed if I had.

All 3 strands of this tale are interwoven so seamlessly that you forget they are separate. The scene where Emilia Fox's character Kirstie finally succumbs to O-T Fagbenle's Jake, is one of the most erotic (yet in no way salacious or pornographic) I have seen on a BBC TV drama. O-T is really hot stuff! At the same time the underlying story of Mills & Boon itself is sufficiently well fleshed out (excuse the pun) to be believable and top hold the attention. The third strand, of the fantasising author manqué also rings true, if a little over the top (but since much of it takes place in her head, reality does not necessarily come into it. All in all this is a drama I have watched twice on TV and would happily watch again - plenty to interest and hold the attention.