Talking Scarlet

“Love Is All Around” is the name of a feminist publishing house where Harriet Copeland is running a competition to find new romantic fiction written by women only. Leonard Loftus is trying to get his books published, but Harriet keeps sending his manuscripts back because they are the work of a man.

When Leonard finally sends a manuscript based on his experience as a single parent, and uses the female pseudonym “Myrtle Banbury”, Harriet is impressed. She finds the writing superb and insists on meeting Myrtle so she can hand over the prize money and get Myrtle’s signature on a contract. In order to collect the money, Leonard is forced to carry on the pretence that “Myrtle” exists, by dressing up as a woman and pretending that he is his own fictitious aunt. Leonard’s teenaged daughter, Dee Dee, and his father, Gus, play along with the deception with the inevitable hilarious consequences.