FAILED actor shows his royal shyness how to stamp out stutter… you can just imagine such a headline had today’s irreverent tabloid press been around in the 1930s.

Of course, David Seidler’s much-celebrated work is set in an age of unquestioning deference, long before the great leviathans of Fleet Street had started to rock the regal boat.

And that’s why Lionel Logue, former disappointed thespian turned speech therapist, must have been such an absolute one-off.

Once, he would have lost his head on Tower Hill for daring to call the king of England ‘Bertie’… now he’s just placed upon the rack of high society disdain.

Ex-teen scream Jason Donovan turns in an entirely plausible performance as Logue, refusing to kow-tow to court protocol and perfectly happy to be regarded as a bit of a bounder by a royal family whose oppressive ways have undoubtedly produced a man who can barely get a word out.

Martin Turner is convincingly conniving as Archbishop Cosmo Lang, the very personification of the Establishment at prayer. He is only slightly less oily than the playboy prince Edward VIII, who so famously ditched his duty all for the love of an American strumpet.

Jamie Hinde is perfectly cast as the man who seems almost as keen to jump into bed with Hitler as with the wily Wallis Simpson, played with shameless shallowness by Felicity Houlbrooke.

Meanwhile, waiting and watching is Winston Churchill (Nicholas Blane), growling his warnings as the country stands on the brink of Armageddon.

However, the night rightly belongs to Raymond Coulthard as George VI, whose transition from stuttering inadequate to a wartime monarch of great stature is quite remarkable.

The King’s Speech is truly inspirational and magnificent to behold. It runs until Saturday, May 2.