1 9 7 1 (UK)
7 x 30 minute episodes
Samantha, Virginia, Clover and Gillian (known as ‘Pudding’ because of her love of food) were four posh girls sharing a flat (and each other’s underwear) in London in a kind of upmarket version of The Liver Birds.
Each week, the girls encountered problems such as a lack of money for rent, boyfriends, nosey parents, and internal conflict.
Jeremy Lloyd – then married to star Joanna Lumley – appeared in several episodes as the toffee-nosed swinger Bobby Dutton.
Anna Palk played the role of Virginia Watter in the pilot episode but was then replaced by Jennifer Croxton.
It’s Awfully Bad for Your Eyes, Darling – written by Christopher Bond and Jilly Cooper – was another series that began life as a one-off episode of Comedy Playhouse.
Critics were not kind to the show, comparing it unfavourably to The Liver Birds and Take Three Girls.
Samantha Ryder-Ross
Joanna Lumley
Gillian ‘Pudding’ Page-Wood
Jane Carr
Clover Mason
Elizabeth Knight
Virginia Watter
Anna Palk (1)
Jennifer Croxton (2)
Bobby Dutton
Jeremy Lloyd
Episodes
Pilot | A New Lease | Sweet Sunday | The Flat to Ourselves | The Man Who Came to Dinner | Forsaking All Others | The Making of Pudding