When the Bough Breaks

Gainsborough Pictures took a break from historical bodice-rippers to make a very contemporary problem picture, scripted - I kid you not! - by future 'Carry On' producer Peter Rogers.

It's well-known that postwar digs often carried signs reading "No Irish. No Blacks", but we learn from this remarkable film that "No Kids" was a common refrain at the time too.

Missing from the usual literature (including Rogers' autobiography), 'When the Bough Breaks' manages to pack the doubtless pressing postwar issues of unwed motherhood (in this case dealt with by making the single parent the victim of a bigamist) and adoption into just 81 minutes before it's rather abrupt but nevertheless satisfying resolution.