NOT to be confused with The Nanny with Fran Drescher
Does anyone remember this lovely series Nanny?
It ran from 1981-1983 and followed the career of Nanny Barbara Gray in the late 1930’s and through WWII. It starred Wendy Craig, who had also appeared in a domestic comedy called Butterflies. I loved this series- and loved Nanny Gray. The episodes were well-written and sometimes deeply moving, especially the war episodes.
Yes, I remember this show too. I enjoyed it a lot. The one episode that I remember most clearly involved one of Wendy Craig’s charges - a young boy who was taking a long time to start talking and who she suspected was deaf.
Love this series! In the first episode when she graduated Nanny school, and the Dean said the school incorporated the latest ideas in psychology, I rolled my eyes. It was the 1930s - what did they know? Wrong again, Typo! Nanny Gray was brilliant! The time she punished the pamphleteer’s kids without laying a finger on them was brilliant. “Cook will watch your (beloved) dog (until you clean up the consequences of your tantrum). Imagine the joy when you see him again!” Better than beating them, and more effective!
I also loved when she and the rest of the staff drove the Duchess sane. And the WWII section was great also. Great series!
I’m so glad y’all remember this series! Nanny Gray was wonderful. The section where they evacuated the working class London children to the big estate was my favorite part. I remember one episode where the Duke was talking to one of the children and he said something the child didn’t understand. The child said, “I beg your pardon,” and the Duke corrected him, “Don’t say ‘I beg your pardon.’ Say ‘what?’”
Also there was one in London where a very small child- probably around 5- wanted to take this stray cat to bed with him. Nanny was so gentle and asked him why. The child said his cat had been “burned up” when a bomb fell on their house. God, I could cry just writing that… she was so good with the children, yet down-to-earth and loving, yet firm.
The one a previous poster mentioned about the hearing loss… I believe that child belonged to the Duke’s family. He felt self-conscious about wearing a hearing aid, because it was huge- big earphones and a box you carried around. So the Duke’s elderly father got a hearing aid, too, and wore his so the boy wouldn’t be uncomfortable. (I might not have the details of that one exactly right.)
I understand this series is available on DVD in the UK, but not in the USA.
Another ‘me too’. I remember when the grandfather got the hearing aid so the boy wouldn’t be alone in the experience.