A former Liberal Studies lecturer at a local Technical college, Brand finds the demands placed on him by Labour Party whips and bureaucrats, and their links with employer boards and bankers, to be completely at odds with his left-wing socialist convictions.
Produced as one series of eleven episodes, Bill Brand stars Jack Shepherd in the title role.
Alan Badel played a left-wing Cabinet minister, David Last (a character based on Michael Foot), connected with The Journal, a thinly disguised Tribune newspaper.
The decline of the textile industry, a major employer in Brand's constituency, is a secondary theme of the series.
Geoffrey Palmer and Nigel Hawthorne were cast as moderate Trade ministers on the Labour right; the latter meets a delegation including Brand because his superior is engaged at a "City junket".