Lytton's Diary

Name: Lytton's Diary
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Released: 1985-01-09
Rating: 7.3
Cast: Peter Bowles, Bernard Lloyd, Holly De Jong, Adam Norton, Harriet Keevil

7.3(3 votes)

2 Seasons

12 Episodes

January 9, 1985

ComedyDrama

Overview

Lytton's Diary is a 1985–86 British comedy-drama programme created and written by Peter Bowles and Philip Broadley. Produced by Thames Television for ITV, it originated as a single play on the anthology programme Storyboard before expanding into two popular series, known for their mix of glamour, intrigue, and social commentary. Bowles stars as Neville Lytton, a suave and successful Fleet Street gossip columnist for the Daily News. Lytton navigates the world of high-society scandals, political corruption, and personal challenges, balancing his professional life with his love life and his ambition to write a novel.

Status

Ended

Created By

Philip Broadley, Peter Bowles

Network

ITV1

Seasons & Episodes

Series 2

January 8, 1986

Episodes

Episode 1

The End and the Means

January 8, 198630m

Lytton returns to his desk at The Daily News after a brutal mugging. He is soon involved in investigating a suicide and a Whitehall scandal helps to get him back into the routine.

Episode 2

Rules of Engagement

January 15, 198630m

A new journalist at The Daily News is instantly unpopular when it's discovered that her job is owed to the editor's patronage. Lytton sends her in pursuit of a runaway tennis star.

Episode 3

The Ancient Regime

January 22, 198630m

A famous sex symbol has a change of heart about on-screen nudity and receives a rich and mysterious visitor. Lytton is on the story, but is waylaid by his paper's owner and a mysterious lunchtime appointment.

Episode 4

The Miracle Man

January 29, 198630m

Lytton investigates why the same well-known faces are always appearing at an American evangelist's healing ceremonies, and is also involved in a confused plan to publish his first novel. The behaviour of the young new editor of The Daily News horrifies him.

Episode 5

National Hero

February 5, 198630m

Duncan Anderson, a revered public figure and a friend of Lytton's, is regarded as just another old fogey by pop columnist Trevor Bates. Meanwhile, Henry is deeply concerned about midnight meetings in a gazebo.

Episode 6

What a Wonderful Life

February 12, 198630m

Lytton is a judge at an international beauty competition gone awry, and finds himself investigating an old friend's financial background. Meanwhile, the paper's owner is planning a technological revolution in Fleet Street.