A multi-Emmy award winner, this sophisticated sitcom starring Candice Bergen has consistently topped the ratings chart in the USA since it was first televised there in 1988. The primetime show is so influential that two years ago, when it was announced that Bergen's unmarried character was pregnant, the then vice president Dan Quayle accused it of being a symbol of the collapsing family values that were partly to blame for the Los Angeles riots.

Set in a newsroom in Washington DC, the series centres around the strong-willed, 40-ish star reporter of FYI, a successful news-magazine show. This episode, Respect, is the pilot and sees the highly-strung Murphy Brown returning to work after a brief stay at the Betty Ford Clinic.

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