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Clip description
Sonia (Lynn Rainbow) discovers why she will always be ‘the other woman’ to Gordon (Joe James), a married man; his wife (Shirley Cameron) won’t divorce him because of her Catholicism.
Curator’s notes
Before being transformed into the much more plot-friendly location of Norma’s Bar, next door to the ground floor delicatessen was a chemist. Sonia pretends to be the sister of married pharmacist Gordon Vansard so that the series could flirt with an (innocent) incest plot. But in actual fact Sonia is his young lover who gets a visit from Gordon’s condescending wife Sylvia. Sonia discovers the real reason why Gordon will not cut ties with his wife: Sylvia is claiming her Catholicism prevents them from divorcing. There is also discussion of Gordon’s chequered past as he has been convicted of performing illegal abortions.
Sonia flirts with (and kisses) African-American Chad Farrell (Ronne Arnold), who encounters racial discrimination before being accepted. This scene, more so than any nudity, was said to have ruined any chance of the show being screened in the US after Time magazine ran a one-page article about its success. Gordon dies in a car crash during the 1972 Christmas cliffhanger and Sonia leaves after a mental breakdown. She does, however, return for more madness in the 1974 movie version.
