Personal Services (1987)

Julie Walters is great in this story of a woman who starts off life working in a café but ends up being arrested for living off the immoral earnings made running a brothel for the great and the good. It's loosely based on the rise and fall of the renowned madam Cynthia Payne (who consulted on the drama) and reaches inside the murky sex industry, laying bare peccadilloes galore as we discover a wide variety of kinks that keep all ranges of society entertained and/or employed. "Christine" is a shrewd business woman whom aided by her stalwart "Dolly" (Danny Schiller); "Shirley" (Shirley Stelfox) and the RAF veteran Wing Commander - in panties and a bra - "Morten" (Alec McCowen) is making quite a go of her elicit enterprise. The police pop up now and again, but for the most part Terry Jones left me with thinking that this is actually quite an empowering drama. Certainly some of the women taking part do so out of necessity - and perhaps that is rather underplayed here - but we are also presented with the inescapable fact that human beings are all different and that the Victorian-era proscription of sex, and of sexual practices between consenting adults is long outdated and certainly no business of the state or their agencies. David Leland has written a script that is peppered with realism, sarcasm and proves ideal for the on-form Walters and her well targeted delivery. It does meander around familial discord a bit, which I didn't need - but the last few scenes speak (or should that be spank) volumes about the hypocrisy and double-standards that prevail in a society that should enjoy sex and keep it's nose where it belongs... It's good fun and thought-provoking in equal measure, and well worth a watch.