Woman in Mind is a dyspeptic sitcom set in 1986 starring Sheridan Smith as Susan, a moaning Home Counties housewife who slips into a Yorkshire accent when she gets cross. Susan sunbathes in her leafy garden sipping coffee and carping about everyone close to her. She loathes her scowling sister-in-law, Muriel. She can’t bear her husband Gerald, a cerebral vicar, and she refuses to revive their moribund sex life. She constantly badmouths their grown-up son, Ricky, who lives with a community of mute hermits in Hemel Hempstead.

How did this scout-hut show reach the West End?

In Act One we learn that the rules of Ricky’s community forbid him from speaking to his parents. But in Act Two the story changes. Ricky shows up and breaks his vow of silence by informing his prickly mother that he intends to emigrate to Thailand with his new bride. Susan speculates about the latest addition to the family. ‘Gauche,’ she sniffs. ‘A bit jowly,’ she adds. She has yet to meet her daughter-in-law but her instinct is to load up her shotgun and fire off a few pre-emptive rounds of abuse.

No wonder Ricky wants to put as much distance as he can between his bride and his venomous mother. He........

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