The Piglet Files

infobox television
show_name = The Piglet Files
format = Comedy, Sitcom
runtime = 23 Minutes
starring = Nicholas Lyndhurst
Clive Francis
country = UK
network = ITV
first_aired = 7 September, 1990
last_aired = 10 May, 1992
num_episodes = 21
imdb_id = 0098895

"The Piglet Files" is a British sitcom produced by LWT (now part of Granada TV).The show consisted of three series totaling twenty-one episodes that ran between 1990 and 1992.

The programme follows the life of reluctant MI5 agent Peter “Piglet” Chapman as he tries to instruct his fellow agents on the finer points of spy gadgetry while keeping his wife Sarah in the dark about his new career.

Plot

In the early 1990s during the intervening period between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, MI5 combats the Soviet spies within the United Kingdom while facing the ineptitude of their own agents, the ridicule of the sheer fact that the Soviet Union is no longer a threat and not to mention the French. But MI5 knows better, and indeed, the Soviets are intent on making trouble.

In an effort to alleviate the incompetence of their agents, MI5 convinces and hires local university teacher Peter Chapman. Well, technically, they get him sacked from the university and leave him no other choice. His new bosses Maurice Drummond and Andrew Maxwell assign Peter to the technology division but there’s one thing. Peter now insists on having a codename, to further his identity in the world of spying. And so, they pick the only remaining name up for grabs: Piglet. "Piglet" routinely joins the other field agents on missions, but this is mainly to ensure that MI5 gets its equipment back.

And now, Peter “Piglet” Chapman must now face down Soviet assassins and double agents while keeping his identity as an MI5 technician secret from everyone else, including his wife Sarah.

Characters

*Peter "Piglet" Chapman - Nicholas Lyndhurst
*Major Maurice Drummond - Clive Francis
*Major Andrew Maxwell - John Ringham
*Dexter - Michael Percival
*Sarah Chapman - Serena Evans
*Flint - Louise Catt
*Lewis - Steven Law

Episodes

*First Series (1990)
**A Question of Intelligence (7 September)
**Fair Exchange (14 September)
**A Room with a View (21 September)
**The Ice-Man Cometh (28 September)
**The Beagle Has Landed (5 October)
**Now You See It (12 October)
**A Private Member's Bill (19 October)

*Second Series (1991)
**The Wright Stuff (3 May)
**Red Spy at Night (10 May)
**Piglet in a Trough (17 May)
**The Wrong Combination (24 May)
**Trouble with Reception (31 May)
**The Hunt for Red Decoder (7 June)
**Undercover Activity (14 June)

*Third Series (1992)
**Guerillas in the Mist (29 March)
**Sweet and Sour Piglet (5 April)
**Sex, Spies and Videotape (12 April)
**In Which We Serve (19 April)
**The Plane Truth (26 April)
**Under New Management (3 May)
**With Friends Like Thesse (10 May)

External links

*imdb title|id=0098895|title=The Piglet Files
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/p/pigletfilesthe_1299002527.shtml The Piglet Files at the BBC Comedy Guide]