Debuting on 27 April 1979, LWT’s Kids provided 13 hour-long episodes with each episode concerning a different child being taken into care.
James Hazeldine starred as Chris Langley, the Superintendent of Kingston House Reception and Assessment Centre, with Caroline Mortimer as his GP wife Pat, Neil Nisbet as their son, Robert, and Sarah Neville as housemother Wendy Allen.
Shot largely on location, Kids took an uncompromising look at a series of case histories Involving children from a variety of backgrounds, facing – and posing – a wide range of personal problems.
The first episode featured Stephen (Andrew Brooks), nine years old, hungry and frightened – but no more hungry and frightened than his mother, Elizabeth (Pamela Moiseiwitsch), an errant depressive who left him sitting on a park bench before throwing herself under a lorry on the bypass.
The characters were real enough and John Frankau’s careful direction ensured that sense and sensibility were preserved and the ever-present danger of sentimentality averted.
Chris Langley James Hazeldine Pat Langley
Caroline Mortimer Robert Langley
Neil Nisbet Wendy Allen
Sarah Neville
Episodes
Stephen | Melanie | Lucille | Gavin | Michael and Liam | Diana | Laurie | Brenda | Sharon, Billy and Big Ted | Philip | Harry | Jodie and Sal | David
