Tipping the Velvet is a novel written by Sarah Waters and published by Virago. It tells the story of Nancy Astley, an oyster girl from the English town of Whitstable, who falls in love with a stage performer named Kitty Butler. The book, like the rest of Waters' novels, has a strong lesbian theme, though Tipping the Velvet in particular deals very candidly with the topic of lesbian sex and desire along with the role that economic class can play in oppression. The peculiar title derives from a Victorian era euphemism for cunnilingus. Sarah Waters (born in Wales, 1966) is a British novelist. ... Queen Victoria (shown here on the morning of her Accession to the Throne, 20 June 1837) gave her name to the historic era The Victorian era of Great Britain is considered the height of the British industrial revolution and the apex of the British Empire. ... Oral sex consists of all the sexual activities that involve the use of the mouth, tongue, etc. ...

Television adaptation

Tipping the Velvet was made into a British television drama serial, originally screened in three episodes on the BBC Two network in the autumn of 2002. It was produced for the BBC by the independent production company Sally Head Productions, and starred Rachael Stirling as Nancy Astley, coming of age and coming to terms with her sexuality in the 1890s. Also starring was actress Keeley Hawes as Kitty Butler, well-known for her role in the BBC thriller series Spooks, and Jodhi May as Florence, who has since played Anne Boleyn in the BBC dramatisation of Philippa Gregory's historical novel The Other Boleyn Girl. Serial is a term, originating in literature, for a format by which a story is told in contiguous installments in sequential issues of a single periodical publication. ... BBC Two (or BBC2 as it was formerly styled) was the second UK television station to be aired by the BBC and Europes first television channel to broadcast regularly in colour (from 1967), envisaged as a home for less mainstream and more ambitious programming. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... Stirling as the vicars wife in the 2004 TV adaptation of Agatha Christies The Murder at the Vicarage Rachael Atalanta Stirling (born May 30, 1977 in London) is a British actress best known for her performance as Nancy Astley in the BBC drama Tipping the Velvet and also... The 1890s were sometimes referred to as the Mauve Decade, because William Henry Perkins aniline dye allowed the widespread use of that colour in fashion, and also as the Gay Nineties, under the then-current usage of the word gay which referred simply to merriment and frivolity, with no... Keeley Hawes Keeley Hawes (born January 1, 1977 in London, England) is an English actress best known for her role as Zoe Reynolds in the BBC One drama series Spooks (2002-2004). ... Spooks is a British television drama series, produced by the independent production company Kudos for the BBC One network. ... Jodhi May (born 1st May 1975) is a British actress best known for her work on controversial costume dramas. ... A portrait of Anne Boleyn painted some years after her death. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world. ... Philippa Gregory (born 9 January 1954) is a British novelist, mainly associated with the historical romance genre. ... The Other Boleyn Girl is a historical novel by British author, Philippa Gregory, which is based on the life of 16th-century aristocrat, Mary Boleyn. ...

Directed by Geoffrey Sax, Tipping the Velvet was adapted by acclaimed screenwriter Andrew Davies. The production was made available on DVD by BBC Worldwide soon after broadcast. Geoffrey Sax (sometimes credited as Geoff Sax) is a British film and television director, who has worked on a variety of critically-acclaimed and popular drama productions in both the UK and the United States. ... Andrew Davies (born 1936 in Cardiff, Wales) is a British screenwriter. ... DVD-R writing/reading side DVD (also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ... BBC Worldwide Limited is the wholly-owned commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in 1995. ...

Cast

• Rachael Stirling as Nan(cy)
• Keeley Hawes as Kitty
• Jodhi May as Florence
• Anna Chancellor as Diana Lethaby

Stirling as the vicars wife in the 2004 TV adaptation of Agatha Christies The Murder at the Vicarage Rachael Atalanta Stirling (born May 30, 1977 in London) is a British actress best known for her performance as Nancy Astley in the BBC drama Tipping the Velvet and also... Keeley Hawes Keeley Hawes (born January 1, 1977 in London, England) is an English actress best known for her role as Zoe Reynolds in the BBC One drama series Spooks (2002-2004). ... Jodhi May (born 1st May 1975) is a British actress best known for her work on controversial costume dramas. ... Anna Chancellor (b. ...

External links

• Tipping the Velvet at bbc.co.uk
• Tipping the Velvet at the Internet Movie Database