This seven-part Granada adaptation of a Howard Spring novel told the tale of Nick Faunt (John Nolan) a Manchester millionaire’s son who leaves home at the height of the Depression to be an artist.
When he meets Irish serving girl Anna Fitzgerald (Prunella Gee) in the Cheshire countryside, a strange love story begins as they embrace a life of bohemian freedom but also of poverty and hardship.
Sharon Maughan makes her TV debut as the other woman in Nick’s life, the glamorous and ambitious Rachel Rosing.
Coronation Street contributors Geoffrey Lancashire and Adele Rose wrote the screenplays and the brilliantly authentic 1930s street scenes were achieved with the construction of replicas of Manchester’s landmarks at the National Tramway Museum at Crich, Derbyshire.
A Lancashire artist called Malcolm Young played the “part” of Nick Faunt’s hands – providing the actual sketching and painting required of the character.
Anna Fitzgerald
Prunella Gee Rachel Rosing
Sharon Maughan Nick Faunt
John Nolan Jacob ‘Mo’ Rosing
Howard Southern Brian
Alexander Edgar Piggy White
John Sharp Anton Brune
Rowland Davies Sir George Faunt
Patrick Holt Joe Kepple
Ray Mort Olga Kepple
Christine Hargreaves
Episodes
A Wife in Water Colours | A Jealous Mistress | Beggars at a Banquet | To Escape from Ourselves | Strawberries and Champagne | The Mirror of Reason | The Final Gamble
Anna Fitzgerald
