The series focuses on Dolly Rawlins (Ann Mitchell), a recently made widow. After her husband, Harry, died along with two others in a bank job gone horribly wrong, she discovers her late husband's plans for one last heist. Armed with this information, she gathers the other two widows, Linda Perelli (Maureen O'Farrell) and Shirley Miller (Fiona Hendley), along with new recruit Bella O'Reilly (Eva Mottley in Series 1, Debby Bishop in Series 2), to pull off her husband's heist. But fate has other plans....
The series was a major hit, and was followed by a second series in 1985, and the follow up series She's Out in 1995. La Plante also wrote novelizations of all three series.
Steve McQueen adapted the first series as the film of the same name in 2018.
This series contains examples of:
- Action Girl: All four women. She's Out also includes the formerly incarcerated women that recruit Dolly.
- Bank Robbery
- British Brevity: Six episodes in each series.
- The Caper
- Couch Potato: Linda after her assault in Rio in Widow's Revenge.
- Everybody Smokes: As it's the 80's, both the criminals and the police frequently light up.
- Faking the Dead: Harry Rawlins. Turns out the mysterious 'fourth man' who supposedly escaped the accident was one of the ones who died and Harry was the one who got away.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble:
- Dolly is melancholic.
- Bella is choleric.
- Shirley is phlegmatic.
- Linda is sanguine to begin with, but becomes more of a Broken Bird.
- Gayngster: Arnie Fisher
- Hollywood Drowning: Harry attacks Linda at the hideout in Rio and attempts to drown her. He fails.
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Bella is one.
- Killed Off for Real: Linda, Shirley, and Harry in Widow's Revenge, and Dolly herself in the last episode of She's Out
- Lipstick Lesbian: Ester and Julia
- Post-Robbery Trauma: Shirley goes through this in spades.
- Shoot the Dog: Dolly's poor dog Heidi (Wolf in the novel) dies during the scuffle with Shirley and Harry, when the latter accidentally steps on it.
- Spell My Name With An S: Ester Freeman (not Esther)
- Video Arcade: Linda works at one of these.
