This BBC2 miniseries related the history of the women’s suffrage movement in England and their fight for the right of British women to vote. It covered the period from the 1890s to 1919 and followed the influence of Richard, Emmeline, Christabel and Sylvia Pankhurst, and Northern mill worker Annie Kenney.
The series – directed by Waris Hussein and Moira Armstrong – grew out of discussions between editor Midge Mackenzie and the actress and singer Georgia Brown, who was dissatisfied at the lack of decent roles for women in TV drama.
Brown enlisted producer Verity Lambert and the three women presented the idea to the BBC, which gave approval for the series.
Originally they had hoped to use only female scriptwriters but this proved impractical. Male writers were used and the three female originators of the project later said they needed to remove from their scripts a number of ‘innuendoes, misconceptions and untruths’ indicative of what Georgia Brown termed “the male point of view”.
Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst
Siân Phillips Christabel Pankhurst
Patricia Quinn Sylvia Pankhurst
Angela Down Annie Kenney
Georgia Brown Flora Drummond
Sally Miles Mrs Pethick-Lawrence
Sheila Allen Dr Ethel Smyth
Maureen Pryor Keir Hardie
Fulton Mackay Zelie Emerson
Lans Traverse Dr Richard Pankhurst
Michael Gough Jessie Kenney
Suzan Cameron Melvina Walker
Andonia Katsaros Lloyd George
Peter Geddis Teresa Billington
Sheila Grant Mr Pethick-Lawrence
Ronald Hines Asquith
Robert Hardy Nurse Pine
Claire Davenport
Episodes
The Pankhursts | Annie Kenney | Lady Constance Lytton | Christabel Pankhurst | Outrage | Sylvia Pankhurst
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The series – directed by Waris Hussein and Moira Armstrong – grew out of discussions between editor Midge Mackenzie and the actress and singer Georgia Brown, who was dissatisfied at the lack of decent roles for women in TV drama.
