Lynn Redgrave left the series in 1981 in a very public dispute with Universal Television. The studio claimed that the dispute related to her salary, while Redgrave claimed that the studio refused to allow her to breast feed her newborn daughter in between takes on the set. Redgrave sued the studio, but lost when the litigation was dismissed thirteen years later.
When Lynn Redgrave left the show, her absence was explained by having Ann return to England and remarry her ex-husband.