The Rag Trade

Life in the Fenner Fashions workshop is constantly disrupted by wildcat industrial action as firebrand shop steward Paddy (Miriam Karlin) takes on penny-pinching proprietor Harold Fenner (Peter Jones) over anything and everything! It seems like every day Paddy's blowing her whistle and yelling "everybody out!". Poor foreman Reg (Reg Varney) is stuck in the middle of the battle, just trying to keep everyone happy - and failing miserably! Sheila Hancock as Carole and Esma Cannon as Little Lil are amongst the workforce - as is a young Barbara Windsor.

Created and written by Ronald Wolfe and Ronald Chesney (who later went on to have another hit series On The Buses with Reg Varney), THE RAG TRADE is a true classic which attracted enormous audiences when it was first broadcast between October and december 1961. It was also widely admired not just for its hilarious scripts and energetic performances, but for its groundbreaking strong female characters and the catchphrase 'Everybody Out!' has entered comedy history!