This BBC 2 miniseries was based on the autobiographical novels of Antonia White.
The series begins in 1908, as 9-year-old Fernanda Grey – called ‘Nanda’ (Imogen Boorman) – is taken by her recently converted father, Claude (John Carson) to the Catholic convent at Lippington, on the outskirts of London.
Nanda is absorbed into the closed and claustrophobic world of its old-fashioned and repressive regime and from her first day, she is overwhelmed by the subtly powerful atmosphere of the convent.
But as the years pass (and Imogen Boorman morphs into the teenage Patsy Kensit), a spirit of quiet and stubborn resistance grows within her.
During World War I, the series follows the grown-up Nanda, who now prefers to be called Clara (Janet Maw), as she takes a job as a tutor to a spoiled child and faces the first tragedy of her adult life, and finds that neither her family nor her faith can help her.
When an accident befalls Clara’s charge, Nanny goes into battle with a hairbrush and Clara is well and truly laid low. Meanwhile, back home, Clara’s mother (Elizabeth Shepherd) is busy being vamped by a seductive red-haired Irishman with hooded eyes, and her father starts groping Clara’s friend Betsy as the next best thing to Clara herself.
With all that in the background, Clara’s innocent little dalliance with a dim young playboy suffers several body blows as a result.
She ends up an actress with a touring repertory company and becomes infatuated with a rather affected actor, Stephen Tye (Rupert Frazer). She is also trying to write and has had some stories published.
At a party, Clara reads of Stephen’s engagement to the actress-manager of his company.
On the rebound, she marries Archie Hughes-Follett (Daniel Day-Lewis) – against her mother’s wishes. Her father, as always, is impressed by the wealth and position of Archie’s old Catholic family.
The couple moves into a tiny house in Chelsea, but their lives are shattered in an unexpected way.
When Clara eventually escapes the marriage, through the painful and arduous process of annulment, she falls into a passionate love affair with Richard Crayshaw (Tim Woodward), and their intense happiness erodes her fragile sense of identity. The glass shatters and she plunges into madness.
Her fight back to sanity is complicated by her father’s typically misguided attempt to help her and she has to find the courage to battle on alone.
Claude Batchelord
John Carson Isabel Batchelor
Elizabeth Shepherd Clara (Nanda)
Janet Maw Archie Hughes-Follett
Daniel Day-Lewis Aunt Leah
Sheila Keith Clive Heron
Shaughan Seymour Aunt Sophy
Annie Leon Mother Radcliffe
Elizabeth Spriggs Fernanda ‘Nanda’ Grey
Patsy Kensit Young Nanda
Imogen Boorman Richard Crayshaw
Tim Woodward Reynaud Callaghan
Charles Dance Marcus Gundry
James Laurenson Nell Crayshaw
Meg Wynn Owen Mother Francis
Eleanor David Stephen Tye
Rupert Frazer Mother Poitier
Sheila Burrell Horace
Robert McBain Merton Mordish
John Southworth Mr Ramsden
Richard Denning Mother Percival
Sheila Grant Maidie
Caroline Villiers Mrs Batchelor
Peggy Ann Wood Mrs Greaves
Elizabeth Stewart Mother Pascoe
Pamela Stirling Lister
Anthony Jackson Father Robertson
Robert James Uncle John Hoadley
Martin Carroll Gerald Moreton
Michael Spice Blaze Hoadley
Stephen Oxley Rambler
David Bradley Madeleine
Sophie Ward Patsy Cohen
Amanda Kirby Ruth Phillips
Juliet Waley Marjorie
Jennifer Darnell Raymond Harrison
Richard Austin Dr Bennett
Toby Salaman Louise
Jane Goldman Mildred
Anna Campbell Charles Cressett
Marcus Scott-Barrett Monica
Antonia Clanchy Hilary
Chloe Franks Lady Cressett
Penelope Lee Older Monica
Lysette Anthony Nan
Barbara Bolton Mrs Hughes-Follett
Helen Lindsay Leonie
Blaise Mills Rosario
Begonia Garcia Clare
Saskia Abbott Lisa
Lisa Stimac
Episodes
Frost in May | The Lost Traveller | The Sugar House | Beyond the Glass
Nanda is absorbed into the closed and claustrophobic world of its old-fashioned and repressive regime and from her first day, she is overwhelmed by the subtly powerful atmosphere of the convent.
With all that in the background, Clara’s innocent little dalliance with a dim young playboy suffers several body blows as a result.
