The Tea Ladies, 1979
In talking to Tessa Le Bars she told us about a sitcom that we hadn’t heard of, naturally we wanted to know more. Very little information exists on this show and regretably Tessa couldn’t remember anything much about it.
In 1976 Beryl Vertue, who as part of the Robert Stigwood Organisation had been an agent and manager to amongst others Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, moved on to pastures new. Tessa Le Bars took over.
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About this time Alan Simpson decided to take a sabatical. When his long term writing partner Ray Galton still wanted to write Tessa put him together with Johnny Speight. Between them they wrote two projects together, Tea Ladies being one.
The idea had all the right ingredients, top writers, a new setting (Houses Of Parliament), superb cast.
A pilot was produced in 1979. Whilst the pilot made it to TV, sadly a full series was never commissioned.
Summary
Mollie Sugden leads the cast in this sitcom about a group of Tea Ladies working in The House Of Commons.
Clips
Sorry the video was deleted. We’ll keep an eye open and put it back up if it reappears.
Cast
Mollie Sugden
Dandy Nichols
Patricia Hayes
John Quayle
Details
Written By: Ray Galton and Alan Simpson
Channel: BBC1
Produced By: Dennis Main Wilson
Original Transmission Date: 4th January 1979
Where To Watch
This was a one off and to our knowledge has never been repeated or appeared on DVD or streaming services. The episode exists in the archives and did briefly appear on You Tube.