Girls About Town TV series

Girls About Town

1970 - United Kingdom

Two married women, one with her head in the clouds and the other with her feet on the ground, decide it's time their husbands took more notice of them. 

This series of comedies, very relevant to the period where women were paying more awareness to gender inequality and campaigning against cultural and political bias of their sex, took the subject of two females who were tired of slaving over kitchen sinks in the domestic tedium of their suburban homes and decide to strike out for their sex. As one of the characters points out "...there aren't really any women sitting in in cornfields in kinky boots being seduced by cigar-smoking, sports-car driving fellers, who all look like James Bond." 

This was no man's eye view of the Women's Lib movement which probably would have ended up poking fun at crazy suffragettes burning their bras for cheap laughs. The writer, Adele Rose was a prolific writer on Coronation Street, UK television's longest running soap opera, penning around 500 scripts between 1961 and 1998. In fact, there was a big Corrie connection to the series. The pilot had starred Anna Quayle and Barbara Mullaney who, under the name Barbara Knox, went on to star in the soap as Rita Littlewood (later Fairclough), and Peter Baldwin (Corrie character Derek Wilton) starred in both the pilot and the series as Harold Liversedge, one of the beleaguered husbands. Helen Worth (Gail Tilsley) appeared in the second episode. 

Girls About Town

A cast change was made for the two female leads between 1969 pilot and 1970 series with two stalwarts of children's television taking the spotlight at adult prime time; Denise Coffey (Brenda Liversedge) had starred in Do Not Adjust Your Set while Julie Stevens (Rosemary Pilgrim) had been performing for even younger audiences in Playschool. Three series were made between 1970 and 1971 and all but the pilot were in colour.

Published on December 19th, 2018. Written by Laurence Marcus for Television Heaven.

Read Next...

A J Wentworth

The final starring vehicle for the masterful comedic talents of the incomparable, Arthur Lowe.

Also tagged Sitcom

Faces of Jim

Jimmy Edwards series of one-off sitcoms that introduced a minor supporting character actor who would go on to become 'the guv'nor' of British comedy...Ronnie Barker.

Also tagged Situation Comedy

Carry On Cleo

In this hilarious and defining Carry On film, two enslaved Britons are taken to Rome. One of them is mistaken for a fighter, and gets drafted into the Royal Guard to protect Caesar. "Infamy! Infamy! They've all got in-for-me!"

Also starring Julie Stevens

The Adventures of Brigadier Wllington Bull

Sitcom following the adventures of a retired Army Brigadier, Garnet Wellington-Bull, a widowed career soldier who, now retired, is trying to come to terms with life on civvy street but not finding it very easy.

Also tagged Britcom

Spate of Speight

60-minute one-off sketch show from one of Britain's most controversial comedy scriptwriters

Also starring Anna Quayle

Mapp and Lucia

In the quaint town of Tilling, Mapp and Lucia engage in a fierce battle for social supremacy. Their secret weapon? Cucumber sandwiches! As they nibble away, alliances form, and the fate of afternoon tea hangs in the balance

Also starring Anna Quayle

The Dustbinmen

The Dustbinmen were led by their foreman, the foul-mouthed, beret-wearing Cheese and Egg, and accompanying him on the Corporation Cleansing Department dust cart were an equally obnoxious crew of work-shy, housewife-lusting individuals.

Also tagged Situation Comedy

The Bulldog Breed

A single series of seven comedies about Tom, the perennial optimist, as he wanders through life leaving chaos in his wake totally oblivious to the problems he causes for everyone.

Also tagged Britcom

Ask Aspel

Hard to believe it in this day and age but in 1970, long before the video revolution, the only way to see your favourite clips from the previous week's television was to write in to Michael Aspel.

Also released in 1970