''Petticoat Line'' was an all-woman

panel show A panel show or panel game is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participates. Celebrity panelists may compete with each other, such as on ''The News Quiz''; facilitate play by non-celebrity contestants, such as on ' ...

on the

BBC Home Service The BBC Home Service was a national and regional radio station that broadcast from 1939 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 4. History 1922–1939: Interwar period Between the early 1920s and the outbreak of World War II, the BBC ...

(from 1967 this became

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

) chaired by Anona Winn which discussed listeners' letters and problems. It started on 6 January 1965 and ran for 11 years. It was devised by Anona Winn and Ian C. Messiter. The panellists always included

Renée Houston Renée Houston (born Katherina Rita Murphy Gribbin; 24 July 1902 – 9 February 1980) was a Scottish comedy actress and revue artist who appeared in television and film roles. Biography Born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, into a theatrical family ...

(who was rationed to saying "bloody" no more than three times per show);

Sheila van Damm Sheila van Damm (17 January 1922 – 23 August 1987) was a British woman competitor in motor rallying in the 1950s, and also the former owner of the Windmill Theatre in London. She began her competitive driving career in 1950, and won the Coupe d ...

and

Katharine Whitehorn Katharine Elizabeth Whitehorn (2 March 1928 – 8 January 2021) was a British journalist, columnist, author and radio presenter. She was the first woman to have a column in ''The Observer'', which ran from 1963 to 1996 and from 2011 to 2017. Sh ...

also appeared quite often. Winn originally proposed a more serious show called ''The Ombudswomen'' but this lighter and funnier show came into existence instead.

Signature tune

The music which introduced and ended each edition was "Fluter's Holiday", by

Bert Kaempfert Bert Kaempfert (born Berthold Heinrich Kämpfert; 16 October 1923 – 21 June 1980) was a German orchestra leader, multi-instrumentalist, music producer, arranger, and composer. He made easy listening and jazz-oriented records and wrote the musi ...

and his orchestra.BBC Gramophone Record Library

References

{{Reflist 1965 radio programme debuts British_panel_games