Agony (1979)

Comedy

Agony is a British sitcom produced by LWT for ITV, broadcast from 1979 to 1981. It stars Maureen Lipman as successful agony aunt Jane Lucas, whose own personal life and marriage is a disaster. It was written by Len Richmond, Anna Raeburn, Stan Hey and Andrew Nickolds. Although a comedy, Agony sometimes dealt with taboo issues such as drug use, racism, abortion, interracial relationships, and swinging, and was the first British sitcom to portray a gay couple as non-camp, witty, intelligent and happy people. It also openly mocked the government, the ruling classes, and religion, and occasionally contained dark and dramatic storylines.

IMDb rating: 7.1 (187 votes)
Episode average: 6.8 -0.3 vs IMDb
Seasons: 3
Language: EN
Type: TV series

U-shaped trajectory: strong first and last seasons, a sag between. Rising Shows ranks whole shows by the shape of their rating trend rather than one average score, which is how you find a show that got better rather than a show that started well. See every U-shaped show in the explorer →

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Ratings refreshed Oct 3, 2026 · 3 seasons indexed

Cast

Seasons

Season 1 (1979)

7.08 avg 6 episodes 7.0 → 6.7

Season 1 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Help	7.0	20
2	An Unmarried Couple	7.1	17
3	Conjugal Wrongs	7.4	17
4	Wedlock, Deadlock	7.2	16
5	Forever and Never	7.1	17
6	Too Much Agony, Too Little Ecstasy	6.7	17

Season 2 (1980)

6.33 avg 6 episodes 5.8 → 5.5

Bad finale

Season 2 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Back to Reality	5.8	14
2	Working Girls	6.3	11
3	Coming Out... and Going in Again?	6.7	12
5	Problem Parents	6.7	12
6	Second Time Around	7.0	10
7	A Woman Alone	5.5	11

Season 3 (1981)

6.96 avg 7 episodes 7.1 → 7.3

Season 3 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	From Here to Maternity	7.1	17
2	Arrivals and Departures	8.0	11
3	Hospital Romances	7.0	11
4	Communications Breakdown	6.3	11
5	Holy Wars	6.4	10
6	Lucas v Lucas	6.6	10
7	Rings Off Their Fingers	7.3	12

Agony (1979)

Cast

Seasons

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