Agony (1979)
Agony is a British sitcom produced by LWT for ITV, broadcast from 1979 to 1981. It stars Maureen Lipman as successful agony aunt Jane Lucas, whose own personal life and marriage is a disaster. It was written by Len Richmond, Anna Raeburn, Stan Hey and Andrew Nickolds. Although a comedy, Agony sometimes dealt with taboo issues such as drug use, racism, abortion, interracial relationships, and swinging, and was the first British sitcom to portray a gay couple as non-camp, witty, intelligent and happy people. It also openly mocked the government, the ruling classes, and religion, and occasionally contained dark and dramatic storylines.
📺 Seasons & Episodes
Series 16 episodes
1. Help
⏱ 30 minJane Lucas, overworked advice columnist for Person magazine, tries to cope with her usual hectic schedule as she advises a shy transvestite and takes a phone call from her husband informing her he's leaving her.
2. An Unmarried Couple
⏱ 30 minJane tries to get use to being alone and to deal with the reactions from an avid press and an overwrought mother.
3. Conjugal Wrongs
⏱ 30 minLaurence returns when Jane agrees to try some mechanical assistance for their lovemaking.
4. Wedlock, Deadlock
⏱ 30 minLaurence's interest in another woman at the hospital where he works prompts him to suggest that he and Jane have an open marriage agreement.
5. Forever and Never
⏱ 30 minJane tries to balance Laurence's demands for attention with Michael and Rob's need for her to mediate a quarrel.
6. Too Much Agony, Too Little Ecstasy
⏱ 30 minJane celebrates her birthday by taking the advice she's been giving to another woman; she leaves Laurence.
Series 27 episodes
1. Back to Reality
⏱ 30 minJane returns from vacation and decides to start dating again, but sees Laurence on a tape at a video-dating service talking about how much he loves his wife.
2. Working Girls
⏱ 30 minVal threatens to moonlight in one of Vincent Fish's erotic films when Diana refuses to give her a raise.
3. Coming Out... and Going In Again?
⏱ 30 minMichael appears anonymously on Jane's radio show to answer questions about the homosexual lifestyle, but Junior's blunder exposes his identity with devastating consequences.
4. Television Can Damage Your Health
⏱ 30 minJane tries another medium when she makes a television pilot that goes completely off course.
5. Problem Parents
⏱ 30 minJane helps Rob explain his homosexuality to his parents and advises her mother about a smitten Junior Truscombe.
6. Second Time Around
⏱ 30 minA religiously reformed Andy Evol returns and both he and Jane return to Happening Radio when Junior falls ill.
7. A Woman Alone
⏱ 30 minJane is taken hostage during her radio show by a reader unhappy with her advice.
Series 37 episodes
1. From Here to Maternity
⏱ 30 minJane encounters a broad range of opposition when she decides to stop working and be a full time wife and mother.
2. Arrivals and Departures
⏱ 30 minJane and Laurence wait for their baby while attending a baby care class run by a strange woman and trying to help Michael deal with a fight with Rob.
3. Hospital Romances
⏱ 30 minJane continues helping people from her hospital bed as a black nurse faces the anger of her superior and Val runs off with Andy Evol.
4. Communications Breakdown
⏱ 30 minJane's investigation into group therapy uncovers a problem in her marriage and in that of Val and Andy.
5. Holy Wars
⏱ 30 minJane and Laurence's quarrel over having young Michael circumcised uncovers hidden prejudices.
6. Lucas v Lucas
⏱ 30 minJane and Laurence grow farther apart when their baby is kidnapped by a disturbed man.
7. Rings Off Their Fingers
⏱ 30 minLaurence tries to win Jane back and she throws a New Year's Eve party that promises to change many people's lives.
