Mr Digby Darling

Mr Digby, Darling reunited Peter Jones and Sheila Hancock, two of the most popular characters from the hit sitcom The Rag Trade as well as bringing together again Jones with writers Ken Hoare and Mike Sharland, who had scripted Beggar My Neighbour. 

Hancock (wife of actor John Thaw) plays Thelma Teesdale, Personal Assistant to Roland Digby, the PR manager for pesticide manufacturers Rid-O-Rat. She is totally devoted to him. From the time he arrives in the office in the morning until the time he leaves in the evening she caters for his every need; providing a cooked breakfast for him (in a stove hidden in his office filing cabinet), darning his socks and providing him with slippers so he can work in comfort. 

Thelma pulls out all the stops in the vain, and ultimately doomed hope, that he will respond to her advances but alas, he remains totally oblivious. For Digby, the office becomes home-from-home and is a welcome escape from a domineering wife (the unseen Eleanor) and his three children whose names he can never remember (they are in fact Dominic, Robin and Gwendolyn). But it is only due to Thelma's heroic efforts that the incompetant Digby manages to survive in the cut-throat business world. 

Impressionist Janet Brown and Michael Bates (It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Last Of The Summer Wine) appeared in later episodes and the series ran for 3 seasons, switching to colour from episode 4 of series 2.

Published on January 8th, 2019. Written by Laurence Marcus for Television Heaven.