Executive Stress (1986)

Name: Executive Stress
Genre: Comedy
Rating: 7.3
Cast: Geoffrey Palmer, Peter Bowles, Penelope Keith, Wanda Ventham, Timothy Carlton

Comedy

Executive Stress is a British sitcom that aired on ITV from 1986 to 1988. Produced by Thames Television, it first aired on 20 October 1986. After three series, the last episode aired on 27 December 1988. Written by George Layton, Executive Stress stars Penelope Keith as Caroline Fairchild, a middle-aged woman who decides to go back to work. Her husband, Donald, is played by Geoffrey Palmer in the first series. However, Palmer was unable to return for the second series, so Peter Bowles played Donald in the last two series. Keith and Bowles had previously appeared in together in To the Manor Born.

IMDb rating: 7.3 (194 votes)
Episode average: 7.1 -0.2 vs IMDb
Seasons: 3
Language: EN
Type: TV series

Rating trend: this show's seasons do not settle into one shape. 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.

Browse shows by rating shape → Open in Rising Shows app → View on IMDb

Ratings refreshed Oct 3, 2026 · 3 seasons indexed

Cast

Seasons

Season 1 (1986)

7.20 avg 7 episodes 6.7 → 7.2

Season 1 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Episode #1.1	6.7	22
2	Episode #1.2	7.4	17
3	Episode #1.3	7.4	17
4	Episode #1.4	6.8	15
5	Episode #1.5	7.3	13
6	Episode #1.6	7.6	14
7	Episode #1.7	7.2	14

Season 2 (1987)

7.25 avg 6 episodes 7.5 → 7.2

Season 2 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Episode #2.1	7.5	13
2	Episode #2.2	7.4	12
3	Episode #2.3	7.0	11
4	Episode #2.4	7.3	11
5	Episode #2.5	7.1	11
6	Episode #2.6	7.2	11

Season 3 (1988)

6.83 avg 6 episodes 6.9 → 6.7

Season 3 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Episode #3.1	6.9	9
2	Episode #3.2	6.9	9
3	Episode #3.3	6.7	8
4	Episode #3.4	6.7	7
5	Episode #3.5	7.1	9
6	Episode #3.6	6.7	7