Solo

1 9 8 1 – 1 9 8 2 (UK)
13 x 30 minute episodes

30-year-old Gemma Palmer (Felicity Kendal) – having discovered her live-in boyfriend, Danny (Stephen Moore) has betrayed her and hopped into bed with her busty friend, Gloria (Susan Bishop) – decides to throw him out of her flat and live by herself.

Confronted by Danny’s incomprehension as to her decision to end their relationship, Gemma says; “Danny – you’re like all other men. Do you know that? There’s nothing original about you. Every man who ever walked into my life brought the same credentials – hungry in the day, tired at night, and randy in the morning”.

Gemma is perpetually feuding with her widowed mother (Elspet Gray) who thinks she should not live alone, and with Danny – who thinks (selfishly) they should get back together. She relents near the end of the first season and lets Danny move back in – but just for a week before evicting him again after realising she really does want to be single again.

By the second series, Gemma is at last beginning to enjoy her freedom from emotional and domestic commitments and coming to grips with her new job as a social worker.

She also dates a number of new men – a young chap called Raif (Peter Howitt), the philandering Sebastian (Michael Howe) who lives in the flat above hers, and artist Rex (David Rintoul) – but is still flying “solo” by the end of the second series.

The BBC1 series was written by Carla Lane.

Gemma Palmer
Felicity Kendal
Mrs Palmer
Elspet Gray
Danny Tyrrell
Stephen Moore
Sebastian Bale
Michael Howe
Rex Collins
David Rintoul
Raif
Peter Howitt