''The Bed-Sit Girl'' is a British television

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

that aired on

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

from 1965 to 1966. Created by

Chesney and Wolfe Ronald Chesney (born René Lucien Cadier; 4 May 1920 – 12 April 2018) and Ronald Wolfe (born Harvey Ronald Wolfe-Luberoff; 8 August 1922 – 18 December 2011) were British television comedy scriptwriters, best known for their 1960s and 1970s si ...

for

Sheila Hancock Dame Sheila Cameron Hancock (born 22 February 1933) is an English actress, singer, and author. Hancock trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art before starting her career in repertory theatre. Hancock went on to perform in plays and musica ...

, ''The Bed-Sit Girl'' aired for two series. Hancock played Sheila Ross, a typist who lives in a

bedsit A bedsit, bedsitter, or bed-sitting room is a form of accommodation common in some parts of the United Kingdom which consists of a single room per occupant with all occupants typically sharing a bathroom. Bedsits are included in a legal category ...

and wishes for more in life. In the first series,

Dilys Laye Dilys Laye (born Dilys Lay; 11 March 1934 – 13 February 2009) was an English actress and screenwriter, best known for her comedy roles. Early life Laye was born in Muswell Hill, London, the daughter of Edward Lay and his wife Margare ...

played her air hostess neighbour Dilys, and in the second

Hy Hazell Hyacinth Hazel O'Higgins (4 October 1919 – 10 May 1970), stage name Hy Hazell, was a British actress of theatre, musicals and revue as well as a contralto singer and film actress. AllMusic described her as "an exuberant comic actor and lively ...

played Sheila's friend Liz.

Derek Nimmo Derek Robert Nimmo (19 September 193024 February 1999) was an English character actor, producer and author. He is best remembered for his comedic upper class "silly ass" and clerical roles including Revd Mervyn Noote in the BBC1 sitcom ''All G ...

also appeared as her neighbour and boyfriend David in Series Two. All twelve episodes are believed

lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

Production

''The Bed-Sit Girl'' was created by writing duo Ronald Chesney and Ronald Wolfe for

, who had starred in their 1961–1963 sitcom ''

The Rag Trade ''The Rag Trade'' is a British television sitcom broadcast by the BBC between 1961 and 1963 and by LWT between 1977 and 1978. Although a comedy, it shed light on gender, politics and the "class war" on the factory floor. The scripts were writ ...

''. The producer for the first series was

Duncan Wood Wilfred Duncan Wood (24 March 1925 – 11 January 1997) was a British comedy producer, director and writer, who has been described as "the founding father of the British TV sitcom". His best-known achievements were to produce all of Tony Ha ...

while for the second series it was Graeme Muir. ''The Bed-Sit Girl'' was made in

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

Cast

- Sheila Ross *

- Dilys ''(series 1)'' *

- Liz ''(series 2)'' *

- David ''(series 2)''

Plot

Sheila Ross is a young

typist Typist is a person who types, a clerical worker who writes documents, using a typewriter. Skills and occupations Typist may also refer to: *Data entry clerk, someone who types data into a database via a computer or terminal. * Audio typist, someone ...

who lives in a

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Not entirely happy with her life, Sheila dreams of more and would like a more glamorous job like her neighbour, Dilys, who is an

air hostess A flight attendant, also known as steward/stewardess or air host/air hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are primar ...

. In the second series, Dilys has moved on, and Sheila's friend Liz appears. The second series also features David, who lives in the bedsit next to Sheila's and becomes her boyfriend.

Episodes

The first series, of six 25-minute episodes, aired from 13 April to 18 May 1965 on Tuesday evenings at 8.00pm. The second series, of six 30-minute episodes, aired from 18 April to 23 May 1966 on Monday evenings at 7.30pm. All twelve episodes are missing and are believed

Series One (1965)

#"The Italian Pilot" (13 April 1965) #"The Dress" (20 April 1965) #"The Medical Stud" (27 April 1965) #"The Last Half Inch" (4 May 1965) #"The Air Hostess" (11 May 1965) #"The Breakfast" (18 May 1965)

Series Two (1966)

#"The List" (18 April 1966) #Episode Two (25 April 1966) #Episode Three (2 May 1966) #Episode Four (9 May 1966) #Episode Five (16 May 1966) #Episode Six (23 May 1966)

''Sorry I'm Single''

Derek Nimmo's character David was revived by Chesney and Wolfe in their later sitcom ''Sorry I'm Single'' (1967). In ''Sorry I'm Single'' Nimmo played David, a mature student who shares digs in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

with three women. This series is also thought lost, and no episodes have survived.

References

;General * ;Specific

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bed-Sit Girl, The 1965 British television series debuts 1966 British television series endings 1960s British sitcoms BBC television sitcoms Lost BBC episodes Television shows set in London Black-and-white British television shows English-language television shows