The First Lady (British TV series)

The First Lady is a British television series produced by the BBC in 1968 and 1969.

The First Lady
GenreDrama
Created byPhilip Levene
Written byAlan Plater
Cyril Abraham
Robert Storey
Directed byDavid Sullivan Proudfoot
Brian Parker
StarringThora Hird
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series2
No. of episodes39 (38 missing)
Production
ProducerDavid Rose
Production locationsBarnsley, South Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom
Running time50 minutes
Original release
NetworkBBC1
Release7 April 1968 (1968-04-07) –
17 July 1969 (1969-07-17)

The series starred Thora Hird as crusading local councillor Sarah Danby and was set around the fictional borough of Furness in Lancashire.[1] Capitalising on the popularity of its lead actress, The First Lady was a down-to-earth series exploring the inner workings of local government.[2]

Due to the BBC's wiping policy of the era, the series mostly no longer exists in the BBC archives, with only one complete episode that is known to exist.[3]

Cast edit

  • Thora Hird as Sarah Danby (39 episodes, 1968–1969)
  • Henry Knowles as Tom Danby (38 episodes, 1968–1969)
  • Robert Keegan as Will Tarrant (38 episodes, 1968–1969)
  • James Grout as George Kingston (38 episodes, 1968–1969)
  • Margaret John as Margaret Kingston (8 episodes, 1968–1969)
  • Donald Layne-Smith as Alderman Bowland (4 episodes, 1968–1969)
  • Pamela Craig as Betty (3 episodes, 1968–1969)
  • George A. Cooper as Fred Glossop (3 episodes, 1968–1969)

References edit

  1. ^ "A Time of Fear (1968)". BFI. Archived from the original on 25 November 2020.
  2. ^ "The First Lady: Worked Out". 18 July 1968. p. 42 – via BBC Genome.
  3. ^ "LostShows.com".

External links edit