Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy are evacuated from London in 1940 because of World War II. They go and live with Professor Digory Kirke at his large house in the countryside. The professor lives with his housekeeper Mrs. Macready as well as three other servants whose names are not mentioned in the programme, though in the book they are Ivy, Margaret and Betty. When Lucy returns to her siblings, they don't believe her story about the country in the wardrobe and Edmund is especially nasty to her about it. comes into sight, with a dwarf driving it and a woman sitting on the back seat.