Written by Ron Hutchinson as a dry commentary on Thatcherite values in the 1980s, the series was set in the East Midlands textile industry and tells the story of a woman returning to the United Kingdom from Greece after eight years in self-imposed exile. She is determined to claw back control of her chain of high street clothes shops that are now controlled by her stepsister, and also get her foot back into the "House Of Bea", a family-owned garment factory run by her father and stepmother, which is now losing money. The series is chiefly memorable for the high-octane performance of Stephanie Beacham as the eponymous Connie, chewing the scenery and snarling her way through such camp, metaphorical 80s big business dialogue as "My spoon is going into the gravy, my snout is going into the trough. I'm having some of that."