Agony (TV series)
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- This article is about the British sitcom. For other uses, see Agony (disambiguation).
Agony | |
---|---|
Genre | Sitcom |
Created by | Len Richmond Anna Raeburn |
Starring | Maureen Lipman Simon Williams Maria Charles Peter Blake |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
No. of episodes | 20 |
Production | |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Broadcast | |
Original channel | ITV |
Original run | 11 March 1979 – 1 March 1981 |
External links | |
IMDb profile |
Agony is a British sitcom that aired on ITV from 1979 to 1981. Starring Maureen Lipman, it was written by Len Richmond, Anna Raeburn, Stan Hey and Andrew Nickolds. It was made for the ITV network by LWT. In 2004, it came 92nd in Britain's Best Sitcom.
Agony was the first British sitcom to portray a gay couple as non-camp, witty, intelligent and happy people.
Contents |
[edit] Cast
- Maureen Lipman - Jane Lucas
- Simon Williams - Laurence Lucas
- Maria Charles - Bea Fisher
- Peter Blake - Andy Evol
- Jeremy Bulloch - Rob
- Peter Denyer - Michael
- Diana Weston - Val Dunn
- Jan Holden - Diana
- Robert Austin - Junior Truscombe (series 2 and 3)
- Bill Nighy - Vincent Fish (series 2)
[edit] Plot
Jane Lucas is an agony aunt, who is highly successful in her career working at radio call-in show (for Happening Radio 242) in London and for magazine Person, but whose personal life is a shambles. Her Jewish mother, Bea, interferes in all aspects of her life and her psychiatrist Christian husband Laurence is unreliable, all the people she works with are tireless self-promoters including the libidinous journalist Vincent Fish. Other characters included the editor of Person magazine Diana, secretary Val Dunn, radio colleague Andy and her gay neighbours Rob and Michael.
[edit] Episodes
[edit] Series One (1979)
- "Help" (11 March 1979)
- "An Unmarried Couple" (18 March 1979)
- "Conjugal Wrongs" (25 March 1979)
- "Wedlock, Deadlock" (8 April 1979)
- "Forever and Never" (15 April 1979)
- "Too Much Agony, Too Little Ecstasy" (29 April 1979)
[edit] Series Two (1980)
- "Back to Reality" (13 April 1980)
- "Working Girls" (20 April 1980)
- "Coming Out... and Going In Again?" (27 April 1980)
- "Television Can Damage Your Health" (4 May 1980)
- "Problem Parents" (11 May 1980)
- "Second Time Around" (18 May 1980)
- "A Woman Alone" (25 May 1980)
[edit] Series Three (1981)
- "From Here to Maternity" (18 January 1981)
- "Arrivals and Departures" (25 January 1981)
- "Hospital Romances" (1 February 1981)
- "Communications Breakdown" (8 February 1981)
- "Holy Wars" (15 February 1981)
- "Lucas v Lucas" (22 February 1981)
- "Rings Off Their Fingers" (1 March 1981)
[edit] Agony Again
Agony was revived in 1995, this time on the BBC as Agony Again. In addition, Agony was remade for American television under the name The Lucie Arnaz Show, with Len Richmond as the writer. This ran for six episodes on CBS in 1985 and starred Lucie Arnaz.
[edit] DVD releases
The first series of Agony was released on DVD in the UK (Region 2) on 5 November 2007. The second series was released on 25 April 2008.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- Mark Lewisohn, "Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy", BBC Worldwide Ltd, 2003
- Agony at British TV Comedy