(Dominic Cavendish’s article appeared in the Telegraph, 1/4.)
Money, of course, can’t buy you kudos, and one reason for Rattigan’s fall from grace was undoubtedly his box-office acumen. He made a particular rod for his own credibility by being so open about the audience he felt he needed to serve with his immaculately well-crafted entertainments, which he memorably encapsulated in the conservative figure of “Aunt Edna”, a “respectable, middle-class, middle-aged, maiden lady”.