Connie

From the first swoosh of lace skirt and bare legs backed by a rocking theme tune - "I'm dressed in lace, and it's twelve below zero, I'm blue in the face but I'm out with my hero, so,I'm putting on the show" - this rag trade family drama had it all - sex, fashion, glamour, grit, double-dealing and style.

Connie comes back from several years of sunning herself in Greece, blags a ride from a flash businessman at the airport, uses him for a meal and some new clothes, then - with the handsome businessman still breathlessly in tow, his marriage crashing around his ears - she heads back north to take her business back from her less glamorous sister, her mother ("I always wear black - I hate the colour but people remember me as the bitch in black") and her stepfather. She steals her sister's sexy black fashion lecturer boyfriend ("He does a great horizontal samba"), learns how to work the town hall planning system, romances the local Mr Big and sends her father's bit on the side in her place when he asks her to pay in kind, and generally causes havoc. The only person who can out-think her is her stepfather Hector. A sub-plot concerns pyramid selling ("Good afternoon mugs - well you are, aren't you, or you'd already be out there making money for yourselves" - and still she sells them the franchise, aided by an off the shoulder white dress and lashings of sex appeal). The series ends with Connie getting back on the plane (with her own boyfriend) for Greece to rest and recuperate, with the promise of her returning without him, relaxed and dangerous again - but she never did. She went to be Sable Colby in the Dynasty series in America where she was just as glamorous but never remotely as dangerous as in the wilds of the Northern rag trade.

Why oh why is there no video or DVD so I can watch it again? It never even plays on cable and it was really excellent, an English Dynasty cum Sex-and-the-City. Please, somebody, make it available...http://www.simplystephaniebeacham.com/Connie/Connie.html has photos and details of the theme.

Eight years ago Connie (Stephanie Beacham) 'retired' to Greece to run a taverna with Greek Adonis Georgio. Connie arrives back in England with just a cotton dress, pashmena and very little money. After hijacking Jamieson's (Richard Morant)car at the airport the two are inseparable throughout the series. Connies return to the East Midlands and the industry that she loves sends shock waves through all her knew her, why is she back? they ask.. Connie wants a slice of the action even if England is "brick red, brick grey and brick yellow."

With the help of her father Hector (Paul Rogers), Connie is given another chance in the knitwear industry, however, will her step mother Bea (Brenda Bruce)and step sister Nesta (Pam Ferris) approve of Connie being back in the 'family' business again? and can Connie manage to get planning permission for the expansion of the House of Bea after a fateful fire?

From 2012 Connie was available to buy on DVD.

Eeee! This 'ere were a grand series set op north.

Connie, played by Stephanie Beacham, returns from Spain suntanned and penniless at an airport in the Midlands. From there, she manages to blag herself a lift into town with a passing businessman. She intends to stake her claim in a clothing factory which her sister Nesta, and Nesta's philandering husband 'Hot Pants' Hector, have taken control in her absence. The episodes featured some very intricate twists, turns, and chicanery. And the dialogue, was a joy to listen to, and made August of 1985 a bit more bearable for me. Here's an example of a Connie quote: "I'll have my snout in that trough...I'll fight tooth and nail for what's rightfully mine..." This refers to her supposed stake in the factory, which she later discovers is heamorraghing money due to Hector's incompetence.

It was Truly Brilliant. And of course, it was underrated when first transmitted.