Compact

Compact is a British television soap opera shown by BBC Television from January 1962 to July 1965, created by Hazel Adair and Peter Ling. Production and release The idea came to Hazel Adair when she submitted a commissioned feature article for Woman's Own. Adair and Ling devised the long-running soap Crossroads while Compact was still running. In contrast to the kitchen sink realism of Coronation Street, Compact was a distinctly middle-class serial, set in the more "sophisticated" arena of magazine publishing. The show took viewers into the office, and aligned the professional lives of the characters with more personal storylines. The show was scheduled for broadcast on Tuesdays and Thursdays, thus avoiding a clash with ITV's Coronation Street on Mondays and Wednesdays. After the BBC decided to produce the project, she formed a working partnership with Peter Ling. When Compact began, the editor was female, Joanne Minster (Jean Harvey), she was replaced after the first six months by Ian Harmon (Ronald Allen), the son of the magazine's owner. Compact featured the first regular Black character in a British soap opera, photographer Jeff Armandez (Horace James), who appeared in 26 episodes from August to October 1964. Adair managed to persuade the BBC to retain an unmarried mother in the series (also a first), according to her granddaughter.