Nanny - Episode Guide

Spring 1932. After a broken marriage Nurse Gray has completed her college training and is ready to embark on her first job.

With her first job having come to an abrupt end, Barbara goes to work for a penniless Anglo-Irish couple in London. Despite this she finds herself among the more snobbish ranks of 1930s London nannydom, receiving the ultimate accolade of an invitation to tea with the acknowledged ' Queen of the London Nannies'.

For her third job, Barbara is hired on the recommendation of a Nanny Agency. Her employer, Mrs Sackville , who lives in Bath, is a ' modern woman' with a career, much too busy to come to London to interview Barbara. And, as Barbara discovers, Mr Sackville does not approve of his wife having a career.

Rain ... all day, every day. The children trapped indoors become quarrelsome. Barbara's solution is simple, if eccentric. But dealing with Miss Sullivan, the old-fashioned governess, is not so easy.

Barbara accepts a job in isolated Thorpeness with two children who have just returned from India without their parents. Their mother was once a famous music-hall star. But what has happened to her since? It seems that no one is very keen for Barbara to know.

Barbara goes for an interview in a house where it appears there are no children. The mystery is explained when she learns that her prospective employers have decided to adopt two slum children as ' an experiment ', Deeply suspicious, Barbara nevertheless feels this is a challenge she cannot let pass.

The two little adopted boys are settling down under Barbara's care. But her relationship with the now pregnant Adela remains uneasy.

Barbara has gone to work for a highly-successful self-educated inventor and his family of hangers-on in a remote part of Suffolk. Fond as she is of them, she is driven to the point of exhaustion by the helplessness of the household. Then, on her day off in Ipswich, she meets someone...

Archie offers to drive Barbara over to stay with her father for a rest. The two men nurse her back to strength. Archie is tender and solicitous towards her and the pull between his demands and those of her own life force her to come to a difficult decision.

May 1935: Barbara has now been with the Rudds for over a year. After their financial collapse, they have moved to an ultra-modern house near Ipswich, and the ebullient Mr Rudd is working on an invention which he is convinced will restore their fortunes. But May, their daughter, has fallen dramatically in love with the son of a very grand neighbour and Barbara is put into a difficult position.

William is not well and when Barbara's father Donald writes to say that he's staying not far up the coast at a boarding-house run by Dolly Partridge , an old friend from India, Barbara decides that a few days by the sea would do them all good.

Still in a state of some shock Barbara has decided to explore Mr Phipps's offer of a job with his cousins in Yorkshire. All she knows about them when she sets out is their name ...

With the Boxing Day meet coming up Sophia makes a dramatic discovery and Henry announces that he doesn't like hunting ...

January 1936. Barbara and Twomey go to a party where she meets an old friend. At home, the King's sudden illness and death throw the household into turmoil. But it leads to an important discovery about Henry.

Sophia returns from boarding school in a rebellious frame of mind. The Duke's inability to accept that tennis in a heatwave is not wise at his age is causing some concern. Barbara's friendships with Lillian and Twomey are of great comfort to her. But her relationship with Twomey develops an unforeseen complication.

The Duke is recovered now, but clearly an old man. Lord Somerville seems incapable of facing up to his impending responsibilities. Meanwhile Barbara has problems with her father of quite a different kind.

Barbara has unwelcome time on her hands. But things change drastically when the internationally-famous Austrian film star Maria Lang comes for the weekend - with her notorious love-child, Walter.

Barbara goes to London for a few weeks ' on loan' to Maria. Walter's self-proclaimed father, Eddie, now emerges as a real threat, and Maria's refusal to acknowledge the truth poses an increasing problem. Sam's friendship becomes all the more important to Barbara.

Walter and Maria have gone to America. Sam takes a dangerous Job as an undercover agent in Palestine. Barbara confronts the prospect of a lonely return to Chattisham.

Barbara and Sam have been happily married for 18 months, but memories of the past still occasionally disrupt their life together and events in the world around them are about to take a drastic turn.

Barbara is back in harness. She has a brand new baby in her care. But it is the mother and not the baby who gives her most cause for concern. And the apathy of others eventually leaves her no choice but to go into action alone.

The first batch of evacuees arrives in the village and Barbara offers her services. But the billeting officer greets her with something less than enthusiasm. And when Barbara champions the cause of a particular child-open hostilities are not far off.

The Duke goes missing on a flying mission and the repercussions have a surprisingly dramatic effect on Barbara's position with the Somerville family.

Barbara persuades the Duchess that the time has come to do more for the war effort than merely digging for victory and collecting old clothes. She has it in mind to billet some evacuees at Wymans. But even Barbara's enthusiasm is strained when she is confronted with the reality.

Barbara sets out to spend a few days with her father in Kent, but the journey has repercussions ...

Still helping out in the children's ward, Barbara becomes deeply involved with the fate of one of her young charges. And this forces her to reconsider her role at the hospital. For she has to face the fact that the child needs her help-badly.

Romance, greatly intensified by the war, seems everywhere to be in the air. Barbara, isolated at first by thoughts of Sam, can only be an observer. But when the chief opponent to her latest plans for the future suddenly becomes an ally, she finds to her surprise that not even she is entirely immune.

Barbara and her father have completed their purchase of a new house and their plans for a children's home are under way. But the Council's support is not yet definite and the problems to be overcome prove to be more numerous and more distressing than Barbara could have guessed.