Miss Franklin

Miss Franklin was the efficient Scottish secretary for Personnel Manager Mr. Wentworth at Amalgamated Steel where Ken Barlow was employed as his assistant in October 1961. Ken's first week in the job had been without the supervision of Mr. Wentworth who had been on a course and Ken voiced his nerves to Miss Franklin about what it would be like when he returned to the office. She replied that she thought that he was the best of superiors after her experience of working with him for many years. After several run-ins with Wentworth, Ken confided his worries to her that he was upsetting his boss and she counselled him that Wentworth’s decisions were based on a lot of sound knowledge and experience and that their manager was a kind and understanding man. After seeing how Wentworth bullied his way through any matters which crossed his desk, Ken failed to reach the same conclusion as his colleague and resigned soon afterwards.


 * Miss Franklin was one of the final guest characters to appear in the programme just before the Equity actors' strike began in November 1961 which precluded the employment of any actors in similar roles for some six months.