Office Party in many ways represents the typical studio bound one off plays of the 1970s.
This is what many dramas were like and it used to have the following features. Characters being condescending and characters rowing.
Set in a bank which is holding a retirement party in the evening for its long serving bank manager.
The main character is the secretary Julia who is pregnant by her boyfriend Paul who also works in the bank. At the party Julia wears a sexy and revealing white dress but Paul is more interested in another girl who works there.
As the party goes on and as more of them drink. Other men become interested in Julia including her immediate boss. Paul meanwhile is not happy that Julia is pregnant, he thought she was on the pill and this is a way to trap him into marriage.
Written by Fay Weldon, it has the fledgling feminist bent of the early 1970s. In fact feminism is used as a dirty word several times in this drama. One of the character's is an anarchist, he also works in the bank and is willing to take care of Julia.
This is an era where a young single woman could get sacked for being pregnant out of wedlock. A prospect all too real for Julia until her immediate boss stands up to the retiring manager and tells him she will not be sacked.
The workplace itself has a division where women are in the typing pool or secretaries and the men are managers or clerks. As for office romances, even the other ladies discover that they are there to be the playthings of the men in the bank.
Very much a drama of its time. It holds up its value as a sociological look at the workplace.
This is what many dramas were like and it used to have the following features. Characters being condescending and characters rowing.
Set in a bank which is holding a retirement party in the evening for its long serving bank manager.
The main character is the secretary Julia who is pregnant by her boyfriend Paul who also works in the bank. At the party Julia wears a sexy and revealing white dress but Paul is more interested in another girl who works there.
As the party goes on and as more of them drink. Other men become interested in Julia including her immediate boss. Paul meanwhile is not happy that Julia is pregnant, he thought she was on the pill and this is a way to trap him into marriage.
Written by Fay Weldon, it has the fledgling feminist bent of the early 1970s. In fact feminism is used as a dirty word several times in this drama. One of the character's is an anarchist, he also works in the bank and is willing to take care of Julia.
This is an era where a young single woman could get sacked for being pregnant out of wedlock. A prospect all too real for Julia until her immediate boss stands up to the retiring manager and tells him she will not be sacked.
The workplace itself has a division where women are in the typing pool or secretaries and the men are managers or clerks. As for office romances, even the other ladies discover that they are there to be the playthings of the men in the bank.
Very much a drama of its time. It holds up its value as a sociological look at the workplace.