The Key was a three part drama set during three eras in the 20th century showing different generations of a Glasgow family. Mary (Dawn Steele) is a mill worker during and after the first world war and becomes involved in the labour movement; in the 1980s, the story centres on the time of the minor’s strike and Mary’s grandchildren, Donna a bright schoolgirl, and Jessie (Frances Grey) her sister with aspirations of being a writer;, and in 1997 Donna is a Labour party election candidate, and Mary (now 99) is in a carehome recovering after a stroke.
Cast: Dawn Steele as Mary; Frances Grey as Jessie; Ronni Ancona as Maggie; June Watson as Older Mary; Stephen McCole as Danny; John Sessions as Spencer; Katy Murphy as Katherine; Ann Louise Ross as Helen; Ewan Stewart as Joe; David Westhead as Neath; Ron Donachie as Mackaveny; Heather Ann Foster as Young Irene; Pauline Turner as Dorothy; Ann Scott Jones as Older Irene; Jaclyn Tse as Sam; Glenna Morrison as Janet; Roshan Rohatgi as Shivaji
Writer: Donna Franceschild / Executive Producers: Barbara McKissack, Pippa Harris, Jonathan Cavendish, Donna Franceschild / Producer: Sue Austen / Director: David Blair
UK / BBC Two / 3×60 minute episodes / 16 – 30 September 2003
