Ladies In Charge (ITV Drama, Carol Royle, Julia Hills)

Period drama series Ladies In Charge was set just after the end of world war one when three young women, who had been working as ambulance drivers on the front, decide they can’t go back to their former, boring lives and instead set up their own agency specialising in helping people in need.

The three are Babs (Julia Hills), Diana (Carol Royle) and Vicky (Julia Swift), however in the pilot broadcast as part of the Storyboard anthology series there was a different girl called Polly (played by Amanda Root) in place of Vicky.

The series format is very loosely based on that of a real post war organisation called the Universal Aunts.

Cast: CAROL ROYLE as Diana Granville; JULIA HILLS as Babs Palmer; JULIA SWIFT as Vicky Barton

Creator: Kate Herbert Hunting / Producer: Peter Duguid / Executive Producer: Lloyd Shirley

UK / ITV – Thames / 6×60 minute episodes / Broadcast 6 May – 17 June 1985

THE EPISODES
1. Zoe’s Fever
The ‘Ladies in Charge’ trio are asked to solve the mystery behind the disappearance of a young mother. Is she dead or has she simply run away? Eager to please, the redoubtable trio begin their first investigation.

guest cast
Ernest …. Julian Glover
Zoe …. Natasha Matalon
Mrs Harris …. Heather Tobias

Writer: Fay Weldon
Director: Richard Bramalls

2. Dangerous Prelude
The girls take an interest in the affairs of Edward Cane, a successful novelist visiting London with his sister to employ a housekeeper. There are certain stipulations, however: she must be young, unmarried and of a high moral standard. Vicky discovers why.

guest cast
Edward Cane …. David Rintoul
Clara Cane …. Suzanne Bertish
Arthur James …. Michael Gough

Writer: Paula Milne
Director: John Wood

3. A Public Mischief
Diana and her friends took for evidence to explain the strange goings on surrounding Madame Morgan – a medium who reputedly hears voices from the grave. Is she for real – or just a fraud?

guest cast
Madame Morgan …. Eileen Kennalty
Maggie …. Cecily Hobbs

Writer: Anne Valery
Director: Jane Howell

4. The Shadow
When Florence Potter, obsessed with the idea that a mysterious ‘shadow’ is following her, seeks the girls’ help, Diana sets out to uncover the prowler’s identity.

guest cast
Florence Potter …. Lavinia Bertram
George Potter …. Andrew Wilde
Philip Courtauld …. Nigel Le Vaillant

Writer: Julia Jones
Director: Richard Bramall

5. Double Act
Babs, Diana and Vicky expected to receive some odd requests but none so strange as the one from music hall ventriloquist Cosmo Keble and his dummy. It appears that Cosmo has a very unusual predicament.

guest cast
Cosmo Keble …. Gavin Richards
Lord Brompton …. Richard Vernon
Edith …. Imelda Staunton

Writer: Julia Jones
Director: John Woods

6. All That Glitters
The reward for finding a set of Imperial family jewels and one aristocratic nephew, who is held responsible for their loss – is one sparkling diamond- Can the girls resist challenge and intrigue of a Czarisc family squabble.

guest cast
Countess Kutuzov … Irene Worth
Count Litvinoff …. Nigel Davenport
Henn …. Jonathan Kydd

Writer: Anne Valery
Director: Neville Green