For Maddie with Love is a 1980 British television drama serial dealing with Maddie’s discovery that she has a brain tumour and only a few months to live.

This 48-part (30 minute) daytime serial, written by Douglas Watkinson was made by ATV

Associated TeleVision

Associated Television, often referred to as ATV, was a British television company, holder of various licences to broadcast on the ITV network from 24 September 1955 until 00:34 on 1 January 1982...

 and shown on British television beginning in May 1980. Maddie was played by Nyree Dawn Porter  and her husband (Malcolm) by Ian Hendry

Ian Hendry

Ian Hendry was an English film and television actor. He is best known for his work on several British TV series of the early 1960s such as The Avengers, and for his roles in 1970s films such as Get Carter .-Career:Hendry was born in Ipswich, Suffolk and educated at Culford School...

 . The series ran over two years from 1980 to 1981 and was published as a novel in 1980 by NEL books. (ATV lost their licence to broadcast in 1981.) It has never been repeated or remade.

Unusually the setting for the drama looked more like that of a theatre piece. Partial sets were used with only the furniture and background items strictly needed for each scene. (Typical was the conservatory which consisted of a few cane chairs, plants, some dividers and Malcolm’s painting of Maddie.) This gave the look a slightly surreal feel but one that drew the viewer in. It was given a daytime afternoon slot, one for which it was expected to get a mainly female based following. The quality of the writing and the acting soon meant that its viewing audience widened. However as it was never shown during peak viewing times it did not become as well known as it might.

Synopsis

Maddie starts to realise that her body is not functioning normally. Although she tries to hide it, eventually her son sees her fall and insists she sees a doctor. She is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour. This is the start of the family’s journey with Maddie until she eventually dies. The story centres on the interplay between Maddie and her husband Malcolm, examining the illusive and sometimes surreal nature of their relationship. At the same time family problems keep putting demands on Maddie’s time and energy. Her daughter Gilly is pregnant after having had a miscarriage. Her two sons have the normal but pressing mix of young men’s problems. Gordon is the cool solicitor and Neil her youngest at university. We see the family first descend into chaos and then learn to pull together for Maddie’s sake. Malcolm cannot accept Maddie’s death until one day his children are once again gathered around the dining table and she is not there.

Cast

• Nyree Dawn Porter
• Ian Hendry
  Ian Hendry
  Ian Hendry was an English film and television actor. He is best known for his work on several British TV series of the early 1960s such as The Avengers, and for his roles in 1970s films such as Get Carter .-Career:Hendry was born in Ipswich, Suffolk and educated at Culford School...
  
  
• Colin Baker
  Colin Baker
  Colin Baker is a British actor who is known for playing Paul Merroney in The Brothers from 1974 to 1976 and as the sixth incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who, from 1984 to 1986.- Background:Colin Baker was born in London, but moved north to...
  
  
• Tony Boncza
  Tony Boncza
  Tony Boncza is an English actor. Born in Fulham, educated in Sevenoaks and Kingston Upon Thames. Originally trained as a journalist.-Career:...
  
  
• John Breslin
• Robert Duncan
  Robert Duncan (actor)
  Robert Duncan is an English actor. He is best known for his television role as Gus, the jargon-speaking manager, from Drop the Dead Donkey. He also appeared in Casualty as Peter Hayes between 1995 and 1996.-Biography:...
  
  
• Robert Lang
  Robert Lang (actor)
  Robert Lang was an English actor of stage and television. Laurence Olivier invited him to join the new National Theatre Company, at the Old Vic, Robert Lang was already earning high praise as an actor. From 1971 until his death he was married to Ann Bell, best known for her portrayal of Marion...
  
  
• Bruce Montague
  Bruce Montague
  Bruce Montague is a British actor, best known for his role as Leonard Dunn in the television sitcom Butterflies. In 2000, he guest-starred in the Doctor Who audio adventure The Genocide Machine and, in the following year, he starred alongside Paul McGann in the Doctor Who story Sword of...
  
  
• Paul Whitworth

Overview

This drama and the eventual book allowed viewers and readers to confront issues that until that point had hardly been covered in the popular media. Here the dynamics of a family in crisis, driven by the coming death of a wife and mother are dealt with. Few other dramas in T.V. or Movie format have handled this subject so well. The effect was both moving and cathartic. It was also highly life affirming and positive in its outlook.

Book

Published in April 1980 my NEL Books and New English Library. The book was adapted from the television screenplays by Sheila Yegar. The book covers the whole story from when Maddie first suspects that she is ill, through telling her family to her final death. (232 Pages)