Plunge Hill: A Case Study

Dear Maurice, I'm writing to you by candlelight again. Another power cut. I had to carry the papers back and forth in the dark, tiny flames flickering in the stairwells... They've got the petrol generators running in Ward 7 and the noise they make is like a swarm of bees has got into the place...

In 1972, during the chaotic days of miners' strikes and the three-day week, Bridget 'Brix' Shipley moves to Plunge Hill to start her new job as a medical secretary at the local hospital. As she writes to Maurice, her younger brother, sick at home (who never replies), it becomes clear that not all is well at Plunge Hill. There are frequent power cuts and she has to work by candlelight. While she'd hoped this might inspire some blitz spirit and solidarity between her, the other secretaries and the medical staff, she's increasingly isolated and seemingly ignored by her co-workers.