Bouquet of Barbed Wire

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Bouquet of Barbed Wire is a novel by Andrea Newman first published in 1969. It sold modestly and despite its subtly controversial subject matter, barely raised a murmur until 1976, when it was turned into a British television mini-series made by LWT for ITV.

The story follows, with suffocating intensity, the middle-class Manson family over one hot summer as it is torn apart by the manipulative daughter, Prue (Susan Penhaligon), who, having just begun University, has fallen pregnant and married an American, Gavin Sorensen (James Aubrey). Prue's father, Peter (Frank Finlay), cannot contain his jealousy and obsessive love for his daughter which may or may not be more than just parental.

Barely moving out of the confines of a handful of studio sets (Peter's office, a restaurant, the Manson house and Prue's flat, and with only a handful of characters who circle each other, the programme relies greatly on its beautifully literate dialogue and intense acting. Frank Finlay contributes a fascinatingly minimalist study of a man with an outward gentility and composure who under the surface is struggling with his delusions and desires. Susan Penhaligon as Prue veers between beguiling and creepy as the spoilt child who causes chaos all around her.^{[citation needed]}

The critic Clive James wrote of the first series "by the end, everybody had been to bed with everybody else except the baby."

Another Bouquet was actually written for television before being novelised, LWT Controller Cyril Bennett having asked Andrea Newman to come up with a sequel to what had been a staggering hit. Despite being considered a rather inferior sequel, it does in fact contain some of the finest moments in the series^{[citation needed]}, especially as Peter's world descends further and further into chaos and for other characters new hope starts to appear.

Genuinely risque for its time, both Bouquet of Barbed Wire and the sequel Another Bouquet (shown in 1977) are available on DVD.