Love on a Branch Line

1 9 9 4 (UK)
4 x 50 minute episodes

In 1957, naive and hapless civil servant Jasper Pye (Michael Maloney) lives at home with his mum and is thoroughly bored with his lot until he is sent to report on a long-forgotten Ministry research unit that was set up during World War II at a stately home called Arcady Hall in Suffolk.

The eccentric owner of the Hall, Lord Flamborough (Leslie Phillips) lives in a train on his own branch line, while letting the government pay for the upkeep of his ancestral home. The three-person research unit enjoys running the stately home and everyone is content with the status quo.

Jasper quickly meets Lord Flamborough’s three daughters – one nymphomaniac, one of the Gothic-romantic tendency, and one married to a drunken traction engine enthusiast – who, in one way or another, contrive to make Jasper feel very much at home.

And so his life is turned upside down.

This four-part BBC comedy-drama series was based on a 1959 novel by John Hadfield. The scenes of Arcady Hall were filmed at Oxburgh Hall, in Kings Lynn, Norfolk.

Jasper Pye
Michael Maloney
Lord Flamborough
Leslie Phillips
Lady Flamborough
Maria Aitken
Professor Pollux
Graham Crowden
Quirk
Stephen Moore
Miss Mounsey
Amanda Root
Lionel Virley
David Haig
Chloe
Cathryn Harrison
Belinda
Abigail Cruttenden
Matilda
Charlotte Williams
Miss Tidy
Gillian Raine
Mr Jones
Joe Melia
Dimple Potts
Maggie Wells
Charley Aspall
Ken Sharrock
Chitty Buckthorn
Walter Sparrow

Episodes

Yes Sir, That’s My Baby | I Wonder Where My Baby Is Tonight | I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Baby | Ain’t She Sweet