George and Mildred by Brian Cooke and Johnnie Mortimer. Like many British sitcoms of the time, "George and Mildred" was also made into a film, which was dedicated to actress Yootha Joyce who died suddenly in August 1980, just as the cast were about to film a sixth series. George and Mildred Roper have left their old house after receiving a compulsory purchase order from the council, and move to 46 Peacock Crescent in upmarket Hampton Wick. While Mildred enjoys the chance to better herself in her new surroundings, she is always being thwarted - usually by the lazy, inept and generally unemployed
Theatre Workshop planned to transform the centre of Stratford. Audiences mounted a campaign to save the theatre and for many years it remained open in the centre of a building site. In 1975 Gerry Raffles died of diabetes and in 1979 Littlewood moved to France, and ceased to direct. Many well-regarded television and stage actors began their professional careers at Theatre Workshop under Littlewood's tutelage. They included Yootha Joyce, Glynn Edwards, Harry H. Corbett, George A. Cooper, Richard Harris, Stephen Lewis, Howard Goorney, Brian Murphy, Murray Melvin, Nigel Hawthorne and Barbara Windsor. The last three were cast by the director Ken Russell