Petticoat Line

Petticoat Line was an all-woman panel show on the BBC Home Service (from 1967 this became BBC Radio 4) chaired by Anona Winn which discussed listeners' letters and problems.^[1] It started on 6 January 1965^[2] and ran for 11 years.^[3] It was devised by Anona Winn and Ian Messiter. The panellists always included Renée Houston (who was rationed to saying "bloody" no more than three times per show); Sheila van Damm and Katharine Whitehorn also appeared quite often. Winn originally proposed a more serious show called The Ombudswomen but this lighter and funnier show came into existence instead.^[4]

Signature tune

The music which introduced and ended each edition was "Fluter's Holiday", by Bert Kaempfert and his orchestra.^[5]