In the late 1980s I invited Andrea Newman to take part in a studio debate for the BBC One series Network, chaired by Anna Ford. I must have seen almost everything Andrea had written and was a big fan of her work, especially the TV series Bouquet of Barbed Wire.
The debate was kicked off with a short film by an aspiring Conservative from Hartlepool, a married man with children. He argued that TV drama was undermining “family values” by presenting decadent behaviour as normal, even glamorous.
Andrea defended herself almost nonchalantly, displaying a kind of wry detachment throughout. She was neither bothered by criticism nor overly buoyed up by vigorous support from feminists and others who argued that TV drama had to be rooted in the reality of human behaviour, albeit in heightened form.
She came across as genuinely interested in people, unafraid to show their darker sides, without promoting any particular way of life. Even our friend from the north seemed at least partly persuaded.
