Nanny (1981–1983) User Reviews

Nanny cares for displaced children in WWII England.

[gailanne83-1 · 8/10 · 26 July 2006]

My husband and I lived in England when this drama series began... We found we far preferred British Drama and the BritComs (non-slapstick) to American television. We looked forward to "Nanny" each week. When we were transferred back to the States, we found it was also on PBS. And then it disappeared! I've watched for it in every successive move, and never seen it listed again. (There is an American program of the same name.)

This was a poignant war-time story sharing with us the experiences of living so close to war, and what the British people had to deal with.

I would very much like to see this series again, and keep hoping PBS will run the entire series in the near future.

Or that PBS or Acorn would sell it on DVD.

Prewar episodes very entertaining

[k.m.bunting · 8/10 · 27 January 2015]

Personally I preferred the first series, in which Barbara had a number of temporary posts looking after the children of different families in the 1930s. Because she had trained as a nanny in later life, she had modern ideas but a more mature outlook than her young fellow-students. There were some entertaining vignettes of middle-class life at the time.

I remember one episode where, because the family could not afford an elaborate birthday party for their child, Nanny took a group for an outing on the bus. The children from wealthy families, who had never travelled by bus before, thought this was great fun.

The later episodes, where she had a permanent post with a ducal family during World War 2, were also good but rather more earnest.

A wonderful series!

[bellmil · 28 February 2007]

I completely agree with the comment posted above. I also keep looking for it on DVD. If I remember correctly, it begins between the Wars & goes up through the beginning of WW II. The nanny character is depicted working for four different families over a period of twelve or so years. There is good romantic content & excellent backgrounds. One family was of a Duke---that was the one filmed at Kedleston Hall. David Burke (Sherlock Holmes' Dr. Watson) plays her husband who begins working for Military Intel at the outbreak of the war.

The British series was called "Nanny"; the 1990's Amer. comedy was called "The Nanny"---so don't be confused if you see the latter listed somewhere. Perhaps enough request to Acorn Media will result in this series being made available to American audiences.

The first of 3 seasons is now available in Region 2

[fraserpatty · 10/10 · 3 April 2008]

This was indeed an excellent series, and I see no reason why we in the States are not able to have region one dvds available to us, since we were allowed to fall in love with it on TV here. I saw it years ago, not on PBS, but on A&E, back when reality shows weren't all they did.

Get yourself an inexpensive Phillips (or other) DVD player from Amazon.com, and search either on the site (in their message board for that player) or on-line for the hack code. All you'll have to do when the player arrives is open the DVD tray and press whatever numbers the hack requires on your remote control, and you'll have a region 2 player. Buy "Nanny" region 2 from Amazon.co.uk and enjoy. This series deserves a wide audience of Brit TV lovers, and it's not as if you were pirating it. Enjoy. Hopefully series 2 will be out, soon.

Wonderfully Marvelous! However, BBC Terrible!

[c-c-coughlin · 10/10 · 9 May 2011]

I had missed the first several episodes when it was played on our local PBS Station in 1984 and did not miss an episode afterward. Years later having searched high and low for the series on VHS Tape or DVD I located three copies on Amazon.com believing they were the complete Series! Having ordered the DVD imagine my surprise to find that I had ordered 3 copies of the same 3 DVD Set! After watching all 3 in an all night "Nannython" I contacted the BBC concerning the Second and Third Series and was informed by their representative that "The BBC" had no intention of releasing the remaining episodes of the Series nor, since I was living in the U.S., should I order through The BBC U.K. Web Site! I am very disappointed in the BBC and found them incredibly arrogant when replying to simple and polite request.