Four Joneses and a Jenkins

Aug 7, 2025 8:14 PM

Author:Sue Limb,Geoffrey Whitehead,Rebecca Front,Matthew Morgan,Michael Fenton Stevens,Nickolas Grace,Lisbeth Miles

An everyday story of sheep, sin and scholarship under the shadow of the Long Mynd

Written by Sue Limb (Gloomsbury, Skeletons in the Cupboard), this pastoral sitcom follows six months in the life of the Jones family, who live on a small farm in rural Wales.

We join them in September - the start of the farming year - as daughter Megan, a brainy 'plain Jane', sets her sights on Mr Bootle - only to find he's really just interested in birdwatching. December brings 'Goose-Feathering Night' - but Megan's determined to save Gudrun from a plucking. February finds her desperate to get into Oxford University but fearing rejection: could the creepy Mr Jenkins offer a solution? There are ructions in April, as her desire to escape the farm and become a student leads to a confrontation; while June sees a storm descend on the village, and the talk turns electric. And, as August arrives and the harvest is gathered in, Megan spurns the Carnival Queen contest in favour of a visit to Nana...

BAFTA-winning actress and comedian Rebecca Front (The Thick of It, Lewis, Avenue 5) stars as Megan, with Geoffrey Whitehead as Mr Jones, Lisbeth Miles as Ma Jones, Matthew Morgan as Owen, Michael Fenton Stevens as Mr Bootle and Nickolas Grace as Mr Jenkins.

In addition to Four Joneses and a Jenkins, this release includes a bonus programme: From Gorsemere to Gloomsbury: The Literary Lunancy of Sue Limb. In a three-hour guided tour through the worlds that flow from the pen of dramatist Sue Limb, Shaun Ley discusses the ideas and inspiration behind Sue's writing with the author herself, and chats with regular cast members including Nigel Planer and Miriam Margolyes. Featuring episodes from Sue's hit series The Wordsmiths of Gorsemere, Gloomsbury, The Sit Crom and Alison & Maud.

Four Joneses and a Jenkins was produced by Jonathan James-Moore

Cast

Mr Jones - Geoffrey Whitehead

Ma Jones - Lisbeth Miles

Megan - Rebecca Front

Owen - Matthew Morgan

Mr Bootle - Michael Fenton Stevens

Mr Jenkins - Nickolas Grace

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 11 August-15 September 2000

Reviews

"A boldly ambitious debut."

—— SFX Magazine

"An audacious con job, scintillating future technology, and meditations on the nature of fractured humanity."

—— Yoon Ha Lee

"Künsken has a wonderfully ingenious imagination."

—— Adam Roberts, Locus

"Technology changes us-even our bodies-in fundamental ways, and Kunsken handles this wonderfully."

—— Cixin Liu

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—— Brad K. Horner

"This brainy sci-fi heist novel uses mathematics like magic to pull you through a caper worthy of Jean-Pierre Melville."

—— The B&N SciFi and Fantasy Blog

"The Quantum Magician is the type of book you go back to the beginning and read again once you know how everything pans out and have those 'why didn't I see that the first time?' moments."

—— Strange Alliances

"A delightfully engaging heist story."

—— Caroline Mersey, Science Fiction Book Club

"The Quantum Magician is a space adventure built on the scaffolding of a classic con job movie (think The Italian Job or Ocean's Eleven). It hits all the right beats at the right time, and part of the fun in reading it is wondering: what will go wrong? Who will betray who? What will be the reversals? When done well, as in the case of The Quantum Magician, it's a delight to read."

—— The Ottawa Review of Books

"The Quantum Magician feels like what would happen if Locke Lamora landed in Bank's Culture, and if Locke had a lot to say about depraved humans. And I do love me a con artist story! Also? The writing is brilliant, the pacing is damn near perfect, the dialog is fun and snarky, the characters are great, I couldn't put this book down!"

—— The Little Red Reviewer

"Con games and heists are always hard to write - one like this, which comes out pitch perfect, wrapped in a nuanced and striking sci-fi narrative is, to say the least, a rarity."

—— SF and F Reviews

"The Quantum Magician is a fabulous debut, it would make the most fantastic movie. It has everything and more, it seriously needs to be read by way more people. Highly, highly recommended."

—— The Curious SFF Reader

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