The Inheritors: The Peeling of Sweet D. Dors

In 1968 London Weekend Television had just taken over the weekend franchise for the London area and one of their first big crime shows was to have been The Inquisitors, three episodes were completed but the series was then canned and never shown.

One of the three episodes to have been finished was The Peeling of Sweet P. Lawrence which gave a prominent guest role to Diana Dors who was going through something of a fallow patch in her career. Appearing on the show would turn out to be very significant for series star Alan Lake and Diana. They quickly fell in love and married soon after on November 23, 1968.

This article from the Sunday Mirror of 27 October 1968 shows that the series was, at this stage, still intended to be shown. A guest appearance by Diana as a stripper offering up some welcome publicity. The headlines puns both the episode title and the fact that Dors played a stripper.

They call Diana Dors the last of the big blondes, and tend to write her off like an era of twenty stormy show-business years. It’s true you don’t see much of her on TV these days. And she has hit really big headlines lately only during her bankruptcy hearing which produced some sensational items of evidence. But big. busty, luscious great trouper that she is, Diana bounces back like a rubber ball on to our screens in January. London Weekend have given her a star role in an episode of their new series, The Inquisitors. It has a quaint title: The Peeling of Sweet P. Lawrence. Miss Dors plays Sweet P. She is no modest flower, but a night-club stripper involved in sinister Mafia goings-on in London.

She sees a man killed during her act, but keeps quiet until the scene is investigated by the joint heroes, played by Tony Selby and Alan Lake. In the interests of authenticity, Miss Dors will peel her clothes from much of her generous self in the strip club sequence, giving us a chance to appreciate her splendid durability. As a TV executive tells me: “Diana always bounces back—it’s Fluck’s luck you see.” Diana Mary Fluck is the rightful christened name given to Miss Dors thirty-seven years ago, back in Swindon. Wilts. before she entered show business. Well—hip, hip, hooray for the last of the jolly big blondes. – James Pettigrew.