Synopsis
In the first part of this series about the romantic novel, presenter Daisy Goodwin looks at the enormous industry romantic fiction has become today, and asks why this most derided of literary genres remains so enduringly popular. She performs a scientific experiment to prove that reading romantic novels can lower your stress levels and also finds that they can improve your sex life and make you sleep better. Contributors include Jilly Cooper, Joanna Trollope, Sophie Kinsella and Marian Keyes.
Essential Poems (To Fall in Love With) | 05: Love in a Life
Actors Prunella Scales , Christopher Lee and Matthew Macfadyen appear in the last of the series, reading poems by Betjeman, RS Thomas and Yeats that celebrate a love expected to last a lifetime and those that help with survival when it all goes wrong.
Essential Poems (To Fall in Love With) | 04: Grass is Greener
Prunella Scales recites Moyra Donaldson's Infidelities, Amanda Holden reflects on Loss by Wendy Cope, and Damian Lewis reads Jealousy by Rupert Brooke.