# No Commitments

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***No Commitments*** is a radio drama written by [Simon Brett](/source/Simon_Brett), originally broadcast on [BBC Radio 4](/source/BBC_Radio_4) and now on [BBC Radio 4 Extra](/source/BBC_Radio_4_Extra). It ran for 13 series, from 1992 to 2007. The sitcom portrays the day-to-day lives of three very different sisters. All 13 series are now available as audiobooks.

## Main characters

- **Anna** is the eldest and most level-headed of the three sisters. Having cared for her father for some years, on his death she inherited the [family home](/source/Home). Generally happy and contented with life, she suddenly finds herself free to put herself first for once, now she genuinely has *No Commitments*, despite her sisters' belief that she requires their assistance in managing her personal life. She works as receptionist to **Eddie**, a misogynistic [dentist](/source/Dentist).
- **Victoria** lives out her rôle as the [middle class](/source/Middle_class) [housewife](/source/Housewife) in [Beckenham](/source/Beckenham), a [London](/source/London) [suburb](/source/Suburb). With her dull long-suffering [financial director](/source/Finance_director) husband **Roger**, and their three children, **Emily**, **Harriet** and **Benjy**, she tries to maintain the family's social reputation, at all costs. Emily (who over time grows from a child to a new mother) finds her aunt Anna a more sympathetic confidante than her mother. Of the other children, Harriet features once and Benjy is not heard from at all in the series.
- **Charlotte** is the youngest sister, and longs to be a famous [actress](/source/Actress). Lacking somewhat in both talent and self-awareness, she stumbles from one small acting rôle to the next, finally finding a small amount of success in a little-known [television](/source/Television) [soap opera](/source/Soap_opera). She seems to progress through serial lovers at about the same rate, often with the expectation that the [casting couch](/source/Casting_couch) will lead to the bed, or vice versa. She has one daughter, **Gisele**, the result of a brief marriage to an Australian actor, who has more success in her parents' profession after a period working for charities in Africa. Like Benjy, Gisele is never heard from directly.

## Cast and crew

### Regular cast

- Anna – [Rosemary Leach](/source/Rosemary_Leach)
- Victoria

- [Nicola Pagett](/source/Nicola_Pagett) (series 1–5)
- [Angela Thorne](/source/Angela_Thorne) (series 6–13)

- Charlotte

- [Celia Imrie](/source/Celia_Imrie) (series 1, 3–8, 10, 12)
- [Josie Lawrence](/source/Josie_Lawrence) (series 2)
- [Felicity Montagu](/source/Felicity_Montagu) (series 9, 11, 13)

- Roger

- [Stephen Moore](/source/Stephen_Moore_(actor)) (series 1)
- [Roger Lloyd-Pack](/source/Roger_Lloyd-Pack) (series 2)
- [Jonathan Coy](/source/Jonathan_Coy) (series 3, 4, 12, 13)
- [Bill Nighy](/source/Bill_Nighy) (series 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)

- Eddie – [James Greene](/source/James_Greene_(Northern_Irish_actor))
- Delia (series 1) – [Maxine Audley](/source/Maxine_Audley)
- Emily

- [Lisa Coleman](/source/Lisa_Coleman_(actress)) (series 2–4, 6–13)
- [Natalie Walter](/source/Natalie_Walter) (series 5)

- Nick – [Kieran Hill](/source/Kieran_Hill) (series 10–13)

### Production

- Music – [Elizabeth Parker](/source/Elizabeth_Parker_(composer)) of the [BBC Radiophonic Workshop](/source/BBC_Radiophonic_Workshop)
- Producer

- [Paul Schlesinger](/source/Paul_Schlesinger) (series 1, 2)
- [Anne Jobson](/source/Anne_Jobson) (series 3, 4)
- [Maria Esposito](/source/Maria_Esposito) (series 5, 6)
- [Simon Brett](/source/Simon_Brett) (series 10–13)

## Episode list

Series Episode Title First broadcast Additional cast 1 1 Sisters Of Mercy 9 January 1992 2 Empty Vessels 16 January 1992 Patrick – Andrew Wincott 3 A Nice Civilized Evening 23 January 1992 Dr Fenton – Benjamin Whitrow, Melvyn – Ronald Herdman, The Two Hilarys – Mark Straker, Theresa Streatfeild 4 Cracks In The Varnish 30 January 1992 Malcolm – Robert Bathurst, Dr Radford – Peter Penry-Jones, Georgio – Nicholas Murchie 5 Old Embers 6 February 1992 Guy – David Swift, Wilson – Neil Roberts 6 A Complete Break 13 February 1992 Patrick – Nicholas Murchie, Mrs Motson – Alison Reid 2 1 Frail Memorials 29 July 1993 Judy – Theresa Gallagher, John Lassiter – Dominic Letts, Jeremy – Ronald Herdman 2 Bright Lights 5 August 1993 Jeremy – Ronald Herdman, Georgio – Dominic Letts 3 The Big Break 12 August 1993 Dan – Andrew Wincott, Terry – Theresa Gallagher 4 Bed And Breakfast 19 August 1993 Lady Dunn – Jilly Mears, Gareth – William Osborne, Sir James – Philip Anthony 5 Affair Exchange 26 August 1993 Tim – Simon Treves, Georgio – David Thorpe 6 Twice Bitten 2 September 1993 Gordon – John Baddeley 3 1 Time Shift 24 November 1994 Will – David Antrobus, Georgio – Michael Tudor-Barnes 2 Material Values 1 December 1994 3 Talking Shop 8 December 1994 Lallie – Rachel Atkins 4 An Ill Wind 15 December 1994 5 Seasonal Adjustment 22 December 1994 Tibor – Jonathan Keeble 6 A Man Who Cares 29 December 1994 Pete – Derek Waring, Derek – Ian Masters 4 1 A Nip In The Air 24 July 1996 Burton – Kim Wall 2 Educated Guesswork 31 July 1996 3 Faith, Hope And Very Little Charity 7 August 1996 4 One Gets Better 14 August 1996 Harriet – Kelda Holmes 5 Not A Leg To Stand On 21 August 1996 6 Two At A Time 28 August 1996 Martin – Geoffrey Whitehead, Jason – Joshua Towb 5 1 Family Business 9 July 1998 2 Who You Know 16 July 1998 3 Charity Begins At Home 23 July 1998 Imelda – Buffy Davis, Des Kitchin – Dave Lamb 4 Surprise Surprise 30 July 1998 5 Running In The Family 6 August 1998 Nigel – Jon Glover 6 Rallying Round 13 August 1998 Stuart – Edward de Souza 6 1 Make My Day 14 July 1999 Stuart – Edward de Souza, Rupert – Christian Rodska 2 Excess Baggage 21 July 1999 Stuart – Edward de Souza, Claudia – Joanna Monro 3 Making It Better 28 July 1999 Mark – Will Ing 4 Retiring Types 4 August 1999 5 Spreading Wings 11 August 1999 the secretary – Jane Gibson, the waiter – Alan Cowan 6 Growing Away 18 August 1999 7 1 Supporting Parts 31 January 2001 2 A Family Lunch 7 February 2001 3 Soft Soap 14 February 2001 4 Reflected Glory 21 February 2001 5 The Wedding Party 28 February 2001 6 Soap Bubbles 7 March 2001 8 1 Fresh Starts 2 January 2002 2 New Age Differences 9 January 2002 3 My Turn Now 16 January 2002 4 Wanderlust 23 January 2002 5 Impossibly High Standards 30 January 2002 6 All Roads Lead To Rome 6 February 2002 9 1 Ill Of The Dead 1 January 2003 Vincent - Bruce Alexander 2 Changing Lives 8 January 2003 Peter - Colin Starkey 3 Imaginary Friends 15 January 2003 Richard - Jason Done, Paula - Natalie Casey 4 Meeting The Family 22 January 2003 Paula - Natalie Casey, Jonathan - Michael Jayston 5 Houseroom 29 January 2003 Jonathan - Michael Jayston, Eddie - James Greene 6 Coming Clean 5 February 2003 10 1 The Real World 28 January 2004 2 Rules Of Engagement 4 February 2004 Mrs Pinchbeck – Sheila Mitchell, the vicar – Richard Syms 3 Time With The Family 11 February 2004 Brian – James Vaughan, Kathryn – Bridget McConnel 4 A Bride Too Far 18 February 2004 5 A Marriage Of Inconvenience 25 February 2004 6 The Ring Cycle 3 March 2004 11 1 Accentuate The Positive 19 January 2005 2 Foreign Affairs 26 January 2005 3 A Life More Ordinary 2 February 2005 Derek – Roland Davies 4 Hard Times 9 February 2005 Lydia Grucock – Richenda Carey, George – Bruce Alexander 5 Taking Chances 16 February 2005 Melissa – Judy Flynn 6 Ill Winds 23 February 2005 Melissa – Judy Flynn 12 1 Settling Down 26 April 2006 French voice – Marianne Borgo 2 Darling Daughters 3 May 2006 Jeff – Stephen Thorne 3 Misalliances 10 May 2006 Paddy – Bill Wallace 4 Upstaging 17 May 2006 Brian – James Vaughan, Kathryn – Bridget McConnel 5 Soft Soap 24 May 2006 Jeff – Stephen Thorne, Mr Darnley – Colin Starkey, George – Bruce Alexander, Felicity Titterill – Susan Jameson 6 Game, Set And Match 31 May 2006 French voice – Marianne Borgo 13 1 Age Differences 11 April 2007 Max – Jon Glover 2 Old School 18 April 2007 George – Bruce Alexander, Stranks, PW – Chris Emmett 3 Model Behaviour 25 April 2007 George – Bruce Alexander, Felicity – Susan Jameson, Moira – Joanna Monro 4 A Voice from the Past 2 May 2007 Brian – James Vaughan, Kathryn – Bridget McConnell, Patrick – Michael Simkins 5 Blue Rabbits 9 May 2007 Patrick – Michael Simkins 6 New Beginnings 16 May 2007 George – Bruce Alexander

## External links

- [BBC Radio 4 website](https://web.archive.org/web/20030210121027/http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/comedy/commitments.shtml)
- [britishcomedy.org.uk](http://www.britishcomedy.org.uk/comedy/nocommit.html)
- [radiolistings.co.uk](http://www.radiolistings.co.uk/programmes/n/no/no_commitments.html)
- [epguides.com](http://epguides.com/NoCommitments/)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [No Commitments](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Commitments) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Commitments?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.