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San Francisco, 1976. Mary Ann arrives from Cleveland hoping for adventure. But she needs a home and a job first. Stars Lydia Wilson. From January 2013.

It's 1976 - San Francisco . Mary Ann Singleton arrives from Cleveland for a vacation . She'shoping for adventure. Decising to stay she needs to find a home and a job .

Directed by Susan Roberts

Set in 1976 in San Francisco, Tales of the City is the first of a sequence of novels about the denizens of the mythic apartment house at 28 Barbary Lane; Tales is both a sparkling comedy of manners and a portrait of a free and easy era with the drug and sex counter-culture in full swing.

Mary Ann Singleton, a naive young woman from Cleveland, Ohio arrives in San Francisco, finding an apartment at 28 Barbary Lane, the domain of the eccentric marijuana growing landlady Anna Madrigal. Mary Ann becomes friends with other tenants of the building: the hippyish bisexual Mona Ramsey; the strange Norman Neal Williams; and Michael Tolliver, a sweet and personable gay man known to friends as Mouse.

Beyond the house, lovers and friends guide Mary Ann through her San Franciscan adventures. Edgar Halcyon, Mary Ann's and Mona's boss, Edgar's socialite daughter DeDe Halcyon-Day, and her scheming husband Beauchamp Day all provide a glimpse into a more affluent Californian class. Mona's ex-lover D'orothea Wilson, returns from a modelling assignment in New York, while Michael's lover and DeDe's gynaecologist, Jon Fielding, become part of the group.

15 minutes

Last on

Tue 2 Jan 2018 02:30

Credits

Role Contributor
Anna Madrigal Kate Harper
Mary Ann Lydia Wilson
DeDe Nancy Crane
Mona Buffy Davis
Edgar Lou Hirsch
Frannie Bernice Stegers
Beauchamp John Guerrasio
Director Susan Roberts
Writer Bryony Lavery

Broadcasts

  • Mon 28 Jan 2013 10:45
  • Mon 28 Jan 2013 19:45
  • New Year's Day 2018 14:30
  • Tue 2 Jan 2018 02:30

An interview with Armistead Maupin

Armistead Maupin on the influences of Tales of the City and San Francisco in the 1970s.

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