Harnessing Peacocks (DVD)

Sir John Mills, Peter Davison and Serena Scott Thomas star in this warm, funny and romantic story of a woman forced to make a new life for herself in a Cornish seaside town. Based on Mary Wesley's bestselling novel, Harnessing Peacocks is adapted by the multi-award-winning Andrew Davies (The Way We Live Now, Bridget Jones' Diary). As a teenager, the beautiful Hebe was disowned by her family after becoming pregnant by a masked stranger during a fiesta in the Italian town of Lucca. Twelve years on, she has established herself in an unattractive terraced street in Penzance. Her official profession is part-time cook, catering to rich old ladies who value her personal attention. But Hebe has another source of income: she is a prostitute with a very limited set of wealthy male clients - her "peacocks". The income from her dual role enables her to send her illegitimate son, Silas, to boarding school. Then, a mysterious figure enters the network of discreetly intersecting relationships that exists between Hebe, her clients and their families. And he is certain that he recognises her...