Original version

BBC Radio 4 LW

Incredible Women

Comedy: Spoof

Rebecca and Jeremy Front explore the lives and achievements of some incredible women.

BBC Radio 4 FM

Woman's Hour Drama: Incredible Women

Incredible Women: Series 1: Episode 3

Drama

Comedy

Incredible Women - Series 8

Episode 3

Series 1

BBC Radio 4 - Incredible Women, Series 1, Episode 3

Jeremy takes a look at actress Peggy Saville. He speaks to 'close friend' Honor Blackman.

Rebecca Front and brother Jeremy Front enlist the help of Honor Blackman to find out how actress Peggy Saville created her saucy yet innocent screen image in her 1960s heyday.

Rebecca Front (The Thick of It, Nighty Night, The Day Today) stars in this series about five extraordinary and unforgettable characters in Incredible Women. 

In each programme less-than-intrepid interviewer Jeremy spends one night in the home of each of his interviewees. On their territory, he asks about their personal histories, plus we discover some very odd things about the way they live their daily lives. These 'actuality' interviews are interspersed with interviews Jeremy has done with famous voices who have been 'affected' in one way or another by the central character of each episode. 

In today's episode, Jeremy takes a look at Peggy Saville. He speaks to 'close friend' Honor Blackman about what made Peggy such a special and loved star.

Now in her seventies, Peggy was very big in the 'Round the Back' series of saucy British comedy films: Round the Back of the Barracks, Round the Back of The Costa Brava, etc. Peggy was always cast as the young, busty innocent in a fearsomely pointy bra. Her father, Sheridan Saville was at The Rada with Olivier and warned his daughter that, due to her piggy eyes, she would never make it in pictures, but her beautiful voice would keep her in work. Sheridan has remained the only significant man in her life - she has never married, though ironically she became the bigger star. 

During the course of the programme, Peggy talks about her film roles in all innocence. She genuinely doesn't seem to realise how chock full of innuendo they were. Now an elderly woman but still a daddy's girl, she still has the same beautiful voice and it still makes her money, as Jeremy discovers when he accidentally answers Peggy's phone.

Incredible Women: Series 1

BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Comic interviews with five extraordinary and unforgettable characters.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Incredible Women

Series 1

Episode 3

Genres

Brand

Series

BBC Radio 4 LW

About BBC Radio 4