Babcock (Lauren Lane), in their ongoing game of one-upmanship. He does his best to undermine Maxwell's socialite business partner, C.
Niles quickly recognizes Fran's gift for bringing warmth into the family and becomes fast friends with her.
Proudly running the Sheffield household is the butler, Niles (Daniel Davis), who watches all events with a bemused eye and levels problems with his quick wit. It is a situation of blue collar meets blue blood, as Fran gives the prim-and-proper Maxwell and his children a dose of 'Queens logic', helping them to become a healthy, happy family. Fran, with her nontraditional nurturing style and no-nonsense honesty, soon becomes a favorite with the kids as well as Maxwell, as they come to respect her opinions and love her as a person. Fran has just been fired from her job as a bridal consultant by her ex-fiancé, Danny, and Maxwell mistakenly believes that she has been sent by a nanny agency and quickly hires her to be nanny to his three kids. Fran appears at the doorstep of a wealthy widowed Englishman, Broadway theatrical producer Maxwell Sheffield (Charles Shaughnessy), while selling cosmetics. The Nanny is primarily based upon the story of nasal-voiced Fran Fine (played by Fran Drescher) who is from Flushing, Queens.
