A rare BBC excursion into feminist drama. focusing on a women-only minicab firm in Dalston, London.
Head of the firm was disillusioned, fortysomething, ex-army officer, Patrice Jenner (Jill Baker) who was trying to juggle the demands of her rebellious teenager, her lover and setting the business up.
Her human-flotsam crew included an ex-teacher (Louise Jameson from Doctor Who); pushy Australian freelance journalist Dale (Erica Grant) who was driving in her spare time; Raquel (Suzan Sylvester) who was Turkish and fighting family pressure to conform and get married; and Aileen (Lynda Steadman), an Irish hard-nut who suspected her boyfriend of abusing her daughter and got involved in giving a ride to a child abductor.
Meanwhile, the ladies were facing harassment from a rival (male) minicab business down the road in Hackney.
Underneath the heavy-handed pushes of the viewers’ nose into women’s troubles and society’s difficulties, was an appealing Carla Lane-esque humour and warmth.
The series was dreamed up by actress/writer/director Carole Hayman. A real North London all-woman minicab firm called Ladycabs acted as series consultant on the production.
Patrice Jenner
Jill Baker Janet
Louise Jameson Sue-Lyn
Katharine Schlesinger Dale Daley
Erica Grant Aileen
Lynda Steadman Hal Goldie
Trevor Byfield Aggie
Nimmy March Beki Jenner
Lucy Speed Scarlett
Caroline Blakiston Sacha
Charlotte Avery George
Nicola Cowper Raquel
Suzan Sylvester Yvonne
Maureen Flynn
