Crew Of '76

S1977 E01 • Saturday, Mar 12, 1977 • Mar 12

Prisoners' Wives - Eileen

S1977 E02 • Friday, Apr 15, 1977 • Apr 15 • 1h

Eileen is at the beginning. Her husband, John, is on remand inside Pentonville awaiting trial at the Old Bailey for robbery, possession of a firearm, and resisting arrest. If he pleads guilty, he could get seven years. If he fights the case and is convicted, he could go down for 15. In the days up to and during the trial, when she herself is called to give evidence, Eileen talks of her hopes and fears for herself, for her survival, and her children's survival. There is little doubt that John will pay his debt to society. But as an addendum to his sentence, will go the unspoken sentence on his innocent wife and three children - years of severance from a breadwinner, a father and a husband.

Prisoners' Wives - Lorraine

S1977 E03 • Friday, Apr 22, 1977 • Apr 22 • 1h

Lorraine 's waiting has begun. Her husband, Steve, is serving two-and-a-half years in Leeds Prison for rape. Four months after he left the dock, Lorraine's baby arrived. All her courage is now summoned to face the physical and emotional demands on a body and mind already drained by the ordeal of childbirth. From the maternity hospital where she bore the son his father could not see, the bungalow for which she has worked and must work to retain, and through the bleak misery of prison visits with her baby son and two teenage daughters, Lorraine pieces together her thoughts and priorities, her feelings of self-reproach and determination to stand by a husband who is already corroded by jealousy, self-pity and remorse.

Prisoners' Wives - Kathy

S1977 E04 • Friday, Apr 29, 1977 • Apr 29 • 1h

Kathy is at the end. In 24 hours her husband Steve will be released. He has served 18 months in Wandsworth Prison for robbery. She has served 18 months on the 12th floor of a high-rise council block coping with all the problems of a one-parent family for being the wife of a convict. Kathy has had to bear the stigma of 'guilt by association' that attaches to all prisoners' wives, and she has watched with mounting horror the erosion of her four children's emotional stability. The joy of her husband's release is underscored with the anxiety of living with a man again, and the knowledge that their future will depend on Steve getting a job and curbing his drinking. Unless that occurs, she will slide into the nightmare world of the battered wife.

A Run For Your Money

S1977 E05 • Friday, May 6, 1977 • May 6

The Mystery Of The Stolen Milk Bottle

S1977 E06 • Friday, May 20, 1977 • May 20

The Informer

S1977 E07 • Friday, May 27, 1977 • May 27

The Orlov Defence

S1977 E08 • Saturday, Nov 12, 1977 • Nov 12