Genres
Networks
Created By
Agony
Overview
Agony is a British sitcom that aired on ITV from 1979 to 1981. It starred Maureen Lipman as a successful agony aunt but whose own personal life and marriage is a disaster. It was written by Len Richmond, Anna Raeburn, Stan Hey and Andrew Nickolds. It was made for the ITV network by LWT. Although a comedy, Agony sometimes dealt with issues that were seen as taboo at the time 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.
Top Cast
Seasons
Season 1 (1979)
No overview available.
6 episodes
Episodes
Episode 1: Help
1979-03-11Jane 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.
Runtime: 30 minEpisode 2: An Unmarried Couple
1979-03-18Jane tries to get use to being alone and to deal with the reactions from an avid press and an overwrought mother.
Runtime: 30 minEpisode 3: Conjugal Wrongs
1979-03-25Laurence returns when Jane agrees to try some mechanical assistance for their lovemaking.
Runtime: 30 minEpisode 4: Wedlock, Deadlock
1979-04-08Laurence's interest in another woman at the hospital where he works prompts him to suggest that he and Jane have an open marriage agreement.
Runtime: 30 minEpisode 5: Forever and Never
1979-04-15Jane tries to balance Laurence's demands for attention with Michael and Rob's need for her to mediate a quarrel.
Runtime: 30 minEpisode 6: Too Much Agony, Too Little Ecstasy
1979-04-29Jane celebrates her birthday by taking the advice she's been giving to another woman; she leaves Laurence.
Runtime: 30 minSeason 2 (1980)
No overview available.
7 episodes
Episodes
Episode 1: Back to Reality
1980-04-13Jane 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.
Runtime: 30 minEpisode 2: Working Girls
1980-04-20Val threatens to moonlight in one of Vincent Fish's erotic films when Diana refuses to give her a raise.
Runtime: 30 minEpisode 3: Coming Out... and Going In Again?
1980-04-27Michael appears anonymously on Jane's radio show to answer questions about the homosexual lifestyle, but Junior's blunder exposes his identity with devastating consequences.
Runtime: 30 minEpisode 4: Television Can Damage Your Health
1980-05-04Jane tries another medium when she makes a television pilot that goes completely off course.
Runtime: 30 minEpisode 5: Problem Parents
1980-05-11Jane helps Rob explain his homosexuality to his parents and advises her mother about a smitten Junior Truscombe.
Runtime: 30 minEpisode 6: Second Time Around
1980-05-18A religiously reformed Andy Evol returns and both he and Jane return to Happening Radio when Junior falls ill.
Runtime: 30 minEpisode 7: A Woman Alone
1980-05-25Jane is taken hostage during her radio show by a reader unhappy with her advice.
Runtime: 30 minSeason 3 (1981)
No overview available.
7 episodes
Episodes
Episode 1: From Here to Maternity
1981-01-18Jane encounters a broad range of opposition when she decides to stop working and be a full time wife and mother.
Runtime: 30 minEpisode 2: Arrivals and Departures
1981-01-25Jane 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.
Runtime: 30 minEpisode 3: Hospital Romances
1981-02-01Jane continues helping people from her hospital bed as a black nurse faces the anger of her superior and Val runs off with Andy Evol.
Runtime: 30 minEpisode 4: Communications Breakdown
1981-02-08Jane's investigation into group therapy uncovers a problem in her marriage and in that of Val and Andy.
Runtime: 30 minEpisode 5: Holy Wars
1981-02-15Jane and Laurence's quarrel over having young Michael circumcised uncovers hidden prejudices.
Runtime: 30 minEpisode 6: Lucas v Lucas
1981-02-22Jane and Laurence grow farther apart when their baby is kidnapped by a disturbed man.
Runtime: 30 minEpisode 7: Rings Off Their Fingers
1981-03-01Laurence tries to win Jane back and she throws a New Year's Eve party that promises to change many people's lives.
Runtime: 30 min
