The
lowdown: 'Nanny' is an historical drama starring Wendy
Craig as Barbara Gray, a former nurse who decides
on a career change after
the failure of her first marriage. Gray loves being around children,
and opts to become a
nanny. She graduates from
the Hogarth Nursery Training College in 1932 and starts her new career
by going to work
for the aristocratic Fitzpaine-Cheddon
family. Nanny Gray works for a number of families during the first series,
and
her jobs often do not last
very long. The third series saw some major changes to the show, with Nanny
Gray getting
married for a second time,
to Sam Tavener (David Burke), and the outbreak of the second world war.
The series ends
with Nanny Gray realising
her dream of opening a children's home, with the help of her father. The
series was created
by Craig herself, and ran
for three seasons (of 10 episodes each) on BBC1 between 10 January 1981
and 12 March
1983. It featured many British
actors and actresses who were well-known at the time, such as Patricia
Hodge, Joan
Hickson, Geoffrey Chater
and Niall Buggy.
The
episode: 'A Pinch of Dragon's Blood' was the ninth episode
of the first series, and broadcast on 7 March 1981.
Barbara Gray has gone to
work for the wealthy Mr Rudd, a successful inventor. Rudd and his wife
have two children
of their own and have also
taken in a number of relatives and their children. Nanny is kept busy looking
after all of the
children, which include
a very young baby. The Rudds also have a number of servants, including
Mr Jessop (Patrick
Troughton), who does a range
of jobs around the house and is a relative of the Rudds. Nanny Gray soon
becomes
exhausted due to the strain
of caring for so many children, and tires very easily. Gray takes a trip
to Ipswich on her
day off, where she is surprised
to meet her ex-husband, Archie Harris (Donald Burton). Archie has remarried
and has
two children of his own,
but his second wife has left him, and Archie tells Barbara that he still
has feelings for her. The
episode ends with an exhausted
Nanny falling ill and being unable to get out of bed. The following episode
sees Nanny
Gray go to stay with her
father for a few days to recuperate, and she turns down Archie's marriage
proposal in favour
of staying with the Rudds,
who are forced to move to a smaller house after the family business falls
on difficult times.
Who
connections: Apart from Patrick Troughton (who was in
five episodes), the series featured several Doctor Who
actors. These included Valentine
Dyall (the Black Guardian), Peter Tuddenham (the voice of the brain in
Time and the
Rani, as well as the voices
of Orac and Zen on Blake's 7), Richard Hurndall (The Five Doctors) and
Morris Barry, who
directed a number of episodes
during the Troughton era, including The Tomb of the Cybermen.
Video
clips: Mr Jessop
2.6mb
Nanny and Jessop
3.9mb |
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