What happens
Mrs. Vic Cook spends a sweltering July afternoon on the telephone with her friend Ruthie Stembot, who has quarreled with the grocer Mr. Croucher. Her husband Vic returns from the office muddled and sheepish, searching for a missing document after a clash with his boss, Mr. Rubish. Meanwhile Uncle Fletcher, Vic's cousin Sadie and the family's friends trade grievances about the heat, their tempers and small insults. Mrs. Cook calls the mood midsummer madness, and the household's tensions drift from one person to the next through the long afternoon.
A small house halfway up the next block, on a hot July afternoon in the living room and kitchen
Characters: Mrs. Vic Cook, Vic Cook, Sadie, Ruthie Stembot, Uncle Fletcher, Mr. Croucher, Mr. Rubish, Orville
Listen for: The running joke about midsummer madness and the sudden shifts of mood as the family's quarrels pass from one person to another
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.