Within These Walls: K Block (ITV 2 Oct 1976, with Tony Steedman)

In K Block Helen Forrester takes a special interest in the case of young mother Lorna Rogers, she has been allowed to look after her baby in Stone Park but now the little girl, Charlie, is 18 months old and must be fostered. Lorna takes the separation very hard but Helen comes up with a solution to help her cope – letting her help in the children’s block. Everything is going perfectly and Lorna is blossoming with the new responsibility – until her interfering cell mate Effie starts telling her that now that her baby has been fostered she will never get her back. It’s enough to tip Lorna over the edge and she barricades herself in the nursery with all the babies. It’s Helen who brings the ‘siege’ to an end by talking Lorna round.

Meanwhile the strongest part of the episode is given over to a dinner party held by the Radley’s with Helen Forrester (and Dr Tom Lindsay with whom she has made contact again thanks to his meeting with Dr Mayes in the previous episode), it’s all part of Charles’s plan to get to know Helen better but it’s a very tense dinner to say the least until Helen takes Beth Radley aside in the kitchen and has something of a heart to heart with her.

Molly Weir is brilliant as the none too nice Effie Dunbar and Elizabeth Estensen gets the meat of the episode as the troubled Lorna.

Probably the strongest episode of the season so far (and written by series creator David Butler) especially for our understanding of what makes Helen tick. Her alcoholic army doctor husband killed himself and they left it too late to have children. Something that has had a major impact on her.

UK / ITV – London Weekend Television / 1×50 minute episode / Broadcast Saturday 2 October 1976 at 9.00pm

Writer: David Butler / Production Design: Rodney Cammish / Director: Bryan Izzard

Series: Within These Walls Season 4 Episode 5

cast
Katharine Blake as Helen Forrester
Jerome Willis as Charles Radley
Mona Bruce as Mrs Armitage
Denys Hawthorne as Dr Mayes
Beth Harris as Liz Clarke
Miranda Forbes as Officer Parsons
Elaine Wells as Officer Spencer
Tony Steedman as Tom Lindsey
Barbara Bolton as Mrs Wylie
Elizabeth Estensen as Lorna Rogers
Kathy Eu as Sister Wong
Molly Weir as Effie Dunbar
Gil Brailey as Christine Jones
Hazel Clyne as Marian Collins
Patricia Maynard as Beth Radley
Mady More as Patsy Danvers
Alison Groves as Officer Poole