14. Nice Work

An A to Z of UK Television Drama

In today’s episode we explore Nice Work, David Lodge’s award-winning 1989 drama serial for BBC2 with Warren Clarke and Haydn Gwynne. It’s the tale of two people who are suddenly exposed to new and previously alien worlds, an English Literature lecturer, Dr Robyn Penrose and factory manager, Vic Wilcox. It also speaks to the broader canvas of the late Eighties commercialisation of Universities and the collapse of old-fashioned industrial firms. Nice Work also deliberately parodies the very Victorian novels that Penrose herself teaches her largely middle-class students about. But will our romantic leads have a happy ending? Will there be any proposals, sudden bequests, or deaths? All this and a Jennifer Rush soundtrack, a trip to Dusseldorf, and a pleasing equality of bare bottoms. Next Time: Our Friends in the North