According to Moran, in his Guide to Australian TV Series, The Private World of Miss Prim arose from the successful NLT production Here's Dawn, which, he argues,
lay somewhere between extended sketches and a full narrative. After two seasons, NLT decided to star Dawn Lake in a fully narrativised comedy. The unfortunate vehicle concerned a kind of Walter Mitty situation revolving around a shy, mousy secretary who dreams of romance with a handsome, famous writer.
Set in a children's court, the program was low budget and designed for a daytime audience: as such, it was located inside the courts and adjoining rooms, and emphasised, as Moran notes, 'dialogue and discussion' not 'physical movement and action'.
