22/09/2025 Latest News
A collection of scripts from a ‘lost’ television series starring Carry On star Barabara Windsor have been discovered and are headed to auction with us later this month, as part of the Ronald Wolfe collection.
‘Wild, Wild Women’ was a sitcom penned by writers Ronald Wolfe and Ronald Chesney in 1969, and was set in an Edwardian milliner's shop. Windsor played Millie, a cockney woman, who led the other workers. The storylines focused around the conflict between the female workers and the management, Mr Harcourt and his apprentice Albert. After a successful pilot episode, a single series of six episodes was commissioned and made. But, like many programmes of the period, nearly all episodes were wiped after broadcast. Only one episode remains in the archives.
Now, scripts for the missing episodes have been unearthed and are headed to auction, and are expected to sell for thousands of pounds later this month.
‘This is a remarkable find,’ says Auctioneer Andrew Stowe. ‘These are scripts that haven’t been seen since the series was made. They’re not just pieces of paper; they are important pieces of British comedy history.’
The scripts were found in the archives of series co-writer Ronald Wolfe which are going up for auction in on September 30th.
‘We think they’re probably the only surviving material from production,’ adds Andrew. ‘This series was largely a period re-working of Wolfe and Chesney’s other show ‘The Rag Trade,’ but with Barbara Windsor in much more of a starring role. It’s fascinating to read these early lines for the young actress, who went on to become a national treasure.’
The collection of scripts which includes some of Wolfe’s master scripts, typed on his home typewriter, as well as rehearsal scripts used by the cast before filming, are expected to fetch over three thousand pounds in the auction.
‘The Ronald Wolfe Collection – On The Buses & Beyond’ takes place on Tuesday September 30th at Auctioneum Ltd in Bristol. The online catalogue can be viewed HERE.