Nurse Gladys Emmanuel

Gladys Emmanuel is the district nurse on Arkwright's street, brisk in her uniform and utterly unbothered by his miserliness or his stutter. She cycles in on her rounds, sharp-tongued and capable, the object of his flustered, penny-pinching courtship. She wants respect and a bit of romance, on her own terms, not his.

Baron plays her as the one person immune to Arkwright's shopkeeper tricks, which makes every scene between them a contest he can't win. The comedy lives in her patience curdling into exasperation and her refusal to be bought cheap. She's warmth with a spine, never a pushover.