Bouquet of Barbed Wire / Another Bouquet

In 1976, British television audiences were both scandalised and captivated when a heady mix of infidelity, lust, and incest exploded onto their screens. This came courtesy of Bouquet of Barbed Wire, Andrea Newman's own adaptation of her provocative 1969 novel. The ITV drama starred Frank Finlay in the central role of Peter Manson, a wealthy, middle-class London publisher whose affection for his daughter teeters uncomfortably into obsession. Susan Penhaligon played the object of this dangerous devotion, Prue Manson — beautiful, manipulative, and all too aware of her power.

The Manson household initially presents a picture of upper-middle-class domestic stability. Peter lives with his elegant and emotionally repressed wife Cassie (Sheila Allen) and their daughter Prue in apparent harmony. But this fragile balance is shattered one sweltering summer when Prue returns home from university — married, pregnant, and accompanied by her new husband, an American named Gavin Sorensen (James Aubrey).

Peter is visibly shaken by the arrival of Gavin, whose presence fuels his barely concealed jealousy. His obsessive, possessive love for Prue begins to unravel the fabric of the family, laying bare tensions that had long been suppressed. Gavin, meanwhile, is not shy about pursuing his own desires. He turns his attention to his new mother-in-law, Cassie, who finds herself flattered and easily drawn into the affair, desperate for any emotional escape from her husband's cold and controlling nature.

British viewers had never witnessed anything quite like it on mainstream television. The drama’s audacious themes and steamy undercurrents gripped the nation, prompting both outrage and fascination. The tabloid press had a field day, breathlessly reporting on every sultry development and forbidden relationship with glee. Cultural critic Clive James famously quipped of the first series, “By the end, everybody had been to bed with everybody else except the baby.”

Despite the tragic climax of the first series — Prue's death during childbirth — the controversial saga did not end there. Bouquet of Barbed Wire had been a phenomenal ratings success for ITV, prompting LWT (London Weekend Television) Controller Cyril Bennett to commission a sequel. Andrea Newman obliged with Another Bouquet, a follow-up series conceived for television before later being adapted into a novel.

In Another Bouquet, the surviving characters continue their tangled emotional journeys, apparently none the wiser for their previous turmoil. Peter, now a widower, has entered into a long-term affair with his secretary, Sarah (Deborah Grant), while Cassie, still emotionally wounded, wrestles with unresolved feelings for her former son-in-law, Gavin. The toxic web of love, jealousy and betrayal only deepens, proving that the sins of the past were far from buried.

Dark, daring, and at times deeply unsettling, Bouquet of Barbed Wire and its sequel carved out a unique place in the history of British television. With its taboo-breaking storyline and emotionally raw performances, it challenged the boundaries of what could be depicted on screen — and left an indelible mark on viewers of the 1970s.