This is Pellyland, a deeply satisfying comic world with its own style conjured up for Glyndebourne by one of the most assured opera directors at work today...The LPO rise magnificently to the challenge of Berlioz's vibrant orchestration and daring harmonies...d'Oustac is a perfect Béatrice, a comic actress with impeccable timing who relishes every word...Appleby's Bénédict is much more than the bluff soldier.

Oustrac…has a distinctive, rich voice and holds the stage compellingly…Appleby…sings stylishly with a clean, pleasing voice.

I loved everything about Laurent Pelly’s elegantly monochrome production of Berlioz’s rom-com treatment of Much Ado About Nothing when I saw it in the cinema broadcast from Glyndebourne last summer, and it works just as beautifully on the small screen. Stephanie d’Oustrac’s chic, gamine Béatrice and Paul Appleby’s golden-toned Bénédict exude charm, and the drunken revels which open Act Two are a slapstick delight.