Executive Stress

Executive Stress
Genre	Sitcom
Starring	Penelope Keith Geoffrey Palmer Peter Bowles Harry Ditson Elizabeth Counsell
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	19
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	20 October 1986 – 27 December 1988

Executive Stress is a British sitcom that aired on ITV from 1986 to 1988. It stars Penelope Keith, Geoffrey Palmer and Keith's To the Manor Born co-star Peter Bowles and was written by George Layton. It was made for the ITV network by Thames Television.

Cast

• Penelope Keith — Caroline Fairchild (née Fielding)
• Geoffrey Palmer — Donald Fairchild (series 1)
• Peter Bowles — Donald Fairchild (from series 2)
• Harry Ditson — Edgar Frankland Jr
• Elizabeth Counsell — Anthea Duxbury
• Mark Caven — Anthony
• Hilary Gish - Nicky
• Timothy Carlton - Peter Stuart (series 1)
• David Neville - Peter Stuart (series 2)
• Lorraine Doyle - Jackie (series 1 and 2)
• Ben Robertson - Stephen Cass (series 1 and 2)
• Wanda Ventham - Sylvia (series 2)
• Donald Pickering - Gordon (series 2)
• Vincent Brimble - Tim Jackson (series 3)
• Geoffrey Whitehead - Peter Davenport (series 3)

Plot

Caroline Fairchild, after 25 years of marriage and five children, decides to go back to work. Instead of finding work in Amersham where they live, which her husband Donald would prefer, she gets a job in London with an American company called Oasis Publishing and she is reunited with her old secretary Anthea Duxbury, who is now sales export director. Oasis Publishing is owned by the Frankland Corporation, which is run by Edgar Frankland Jr, the son of the boss. The same day Caroline starts work, Frankland takes over Ginsberg, the company that Donald works for and they find themselves working with each other. However, it is an unwritten rule at Frankand that married couples can't work together, so they have to pretend not to know each other and Caroline uses her maiden name of Fielding. Later in Series Two, Edgar finds out, but instead of sacking them he makes them joint managing directors of Oasis Publishing.

Episodes

Series One (1986)

1. Episode One (20 Oct 86)
2. Episode Two (27 Oct 86)
3. Episode Three (3 Nov 86)
4. Episode Four (10 Nov 86)
5. Episode Five (17 Nov 86)
6. Episode Six (24 Nov 86)
7. Episode Seven (1 Dec 86)

Series Two (1987)

1. Episode One (21 Sep 87)
2. Episode Two (28 Sep 87)
3. Episode Three (5 Oct 87)
4. Episode Four (12 Oct 87)
5. Episode Five (19 Oct 87)
6. Episode Six (26 Oct 87)

Series Three (1988)

1. Episode One (22 Nov 88)
2. Episode Two (29 Nov 88)
3. Episode Three (6 Dec 88)
4. Episode Four (13 Dec 88)
5. Episode Five (20 Dec 88)
6. Episode Six (27 Dec 88)

References

• Mark Lewisohn, "Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy", BBC Worldwide Ltd, 2003
• Executive Stress at British TV Comedy