Prodigal Daughter, The (ITV 1975, Alastair Sim, Jeremy Brett)

In The Prodigal Daughter a household of three clerics are struggling to cope with their household duties, all three, led by the elderly Father Perfect are keen to hire a new housekeeper, the last having walked out some weeks before. When young Christine walks into their lives she very quickly makes an impression on all their lives and in the shape of the increasingly bitter Father Vernon not in a good way. Father Daley is faced with a crisis of faith when he begins to realise that the world outside the church has its attractions.

Fabulously cast this very poignant drama is a great treat, Alastair Sim, in one of his last roles, is just gorgeous here, with a real twinkle in his eye. There is also a small role for a young Karl Howman as a teenager deciding if the church is really for him.

production details
UK / ITV – Anglia / 1×60 minute episode / Broadcast 5 January 1975 @ 8.30pm

Writer: David Turner / Script Editor: John Rosenberg / Production Design: Barry Learoyd / Producer: John Jacobs / Director: Alastair Reid

cast
ALASTAIR SIM as Father Perfect
JEREMY BRETT as Father Daley
CAROLYN SEYMOUR as Christine
CHARLES KAY as Father Vernon
JAMES BERWICK as Paul Ryan
TIFFANY KINNEY as Mary
KARL HOWMAN as Patrick

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• Three Comedies of Marriage: Bobby Bluesocks (S1EP1 ITV Thurs 3 Jul 1975, David Warner, Sheila White)

• Artemis ’81 (BBC-1 1981, Sting, Hywel Bennett)

• File On Jill Hatch, The (BBC-2 1983, Frances Tomelty, Tim Woodward)

• Secret Servant, The (BBC-1 1984, Charles Dance, Jill Meager)

• Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde (BBC-2 1980, David Hemmings, Lisa Harrow)

• Play For Today: The Bankrupt (BBC 1972, Joss Ackland)

• Hamlet at Elsinore (BBC 1964, Christopher Plummer, Robert Shaw)

• A Handful of Thieves (BBC One 1969, Helen Worth, Martin Ratcliffe)

• Hands Across the Sea (BBC, 1938, Nadine March, Nicholas Phipps)

• My Son Reuben (Thames 1975, Bernard Spear, Lila Kaye,)

• The Franchise Affair (BBC 1962, Rosalie Crutchley, Michael Aldridge)

• The Galactic Garden