If You're So Clever, Why Aren't You Rich?

Summary

Richard E Grant, Peter Capaldi and Amanda Root are among the stars of this BBC radio sitcom about three promising graduates still underachieving in their 30s

Flatmates Judith, Giles and David once had it all: youth, optimism, ambition, and degrees from one of the country's best universities. In their 20s, they were full of potential, but ten years later, they're simply might-have-beens. Stuck in Streatham and strapped for cash, they're forced to mooch off their more successful mates just to get by...

Wannabe actress Judith is searching for her big break, but all she finds are unsuitable men (and one equally unsuitable woman...) Could a baby be the answer to her unfulfilled yearnings - or maybe marriage to ex-lover Giles? Nerdy David is also hopelessly in love with Judith, but knows he doesn't have a chance. Will he ever meet a potential girlfriend who isn't in his cycling club? And for dissolute ex-public-schoolboy Giles, recently returned from 'finding himself' in Kathmandu, anything's preferable to going back to Norfolk and becoming a solicitor...

As they battle with life, love, themselves and each other, can the not-so-young hopefuls finally find their focus and get to grips with adulthood?

First broadcast in 1995, this fresh, funny series still feels real and relevant today, and features a stellar cast including Richard E Grant, Douglas Hodge and Tony Slattery as Giles, Peter Capaldi and Paul Bigley as David and Amanda Root as Judith.

Production credits
Written by Paul Shearer and Richard Turner
Produced by Paul Schlesinger and Claire Jones
Music by Pete Baikie

Cast
Giles - Richard E Grant/Douglas Hodge/Tony Slattery
Judith - Amanda Root
David - Peter Capaldi/Paul Bigley
Mr Horrocks - Geoffrey Whitehead
Mrs Horrocks - Tina Gray/Jillie Meers

With Christopher Rozycki, Amerjit Deu, Kay Stoneham, Alexander Armstrong, Richard Turner, Eva Stuart, Peter Yapp, Simon Greenall, Annabel Mullion, Alex Lowe, Phil Nice, Siriol Jenkins, Paul Shearer, Abigail Cruttenden, Jane Slavin, Alice Arnold, Christian Rodska, Dominic Letts, Felicity Montagu, Gavin Muir, Colleen Prendergast, Stephen Critchlow, Abigail McKern, Nick Holder, Colin McFarlane, Hugh Bonneville, Margaret Robertson, Philip Glenister, Jonathan Kydd, Jane Whittenshaw, Sam Dastor, Peter Wingfield, Caroline Strong, Caroline Langrishe, Jacqueline Beatty, Pip Torrens, Patience Tomlinson, David Timpson, Kerry Shale, Debra Stephenson, Fiona Allen, Janet Ellis, Nina Wadia, Sue Elliot Nichols, Barbara Murray

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 10 January-14 February 1995 (Series 1), 6 June-11 July 1996 (Series 2), 28 May-18 June 1998 (Series 3)