A Family At War - Series 1 [DVD]

Product Information

Clearly made on a shoestring budget using corner-cutting methods, the program still packs amazing punch. Most of them were character study episodes on one character like Keith Drinkel’s Philip when he was out there in the war zone. Schoolteacher Margaret (Lesley Nunnerley) married John Porter (Ian Thompson), who went missing in action, while 21-year-old Oxford-graduate Phillip (Keith Drinkel) fought in the Spanish Civil War. This was to do with the direction that the series went for involving the family and character dramas, especially in the period setting of the Second World War.

If you're new to books, and want to learn more about where to start, check the sidebar or wiki tab on the menu! We’d been wondering where Philip had gone … there are many reasons why characters get written out of long term series, and plot is only one of them. The Ashtons have two daughters, Margaret (Mags) a schoolteacher, and Freda who is the chirpy independent one, and three sons. This was a landmark series and dealt with the emotions and impact of war on ordinary families of ww2 not just the fighting. Fifty two episodes, of which eight were black and white due to an ITV technicians’ strike when they refused to operate colour equipment.The character is supposed to be unpleasant and admires both General Franco and the German Afrika Korps. Wonderful John Finch story about a believable family living as the title suggests through the World War. The 52 episodes of the series were broadcast on the ITV network between April 1970 and February 1972. This method of telling a story on location with a film unit shooting every day for twelve or more days is now the accepted pattern – it offers high quality pictures, flexibility and a wide-ranging style. We should never forget that the title of the series has a double meaning and Edwin’s battles with his brother-in-law, played by John McKelvey, were at the heart of the story.

When I read about the young Margaret Stout offering lectures on food economy, I wondered how well this would have gone down outside the bright lights of the well-heeled Lerwegians who made up the town’s middle and upper classes. The Ashton family struggles to deal with the harsh realities of the Second World War as their sons are sent away to fight. Many of the cast of Coronation Street made early appearances in Family: Julie Goodyear, Bryan Mosley, Bill Waddington, Geoffrey Hinsliff and Barbara Knox among them. The producer, the series planner and the designer needed all this knowledge in advance to organise their work.Despite furious battles with authorities, and while pursuing her hectic career in Family At War, Atkins went on to revolutionise the fostering system. I’ve seen Colin Douglas in ‘Doctor Who’ stories like ‘The Enemy of the World’ and ‘Horror of Fang Rock’. People generally waited until their old set gave up the ghost before switching, and in those days sets could last a long time.

So we are now looking at 1969 – the year before transmission began – a crucial year for the planning of the series. There's dark, brooding Colin Campbell to begin with, and the beautiful Barbara Flynn, plus remarkable acting from Margery Mason as the neurotic mother of a soldier who goes missing during the retreat to Dunkirk - and Patrick Troughton as her long-suffering spouse. A lot of the time though, each episode of the series ended on a depressing note involving a sudden character drama moment. As an observer, this seems strange over one hundred years later, but to those who had lived through the war years, it likely provided closure of sorts. Interesting to note too that this was a series which enjoyed spectacular popularity overseas, especially in Scandinavia where it became one of the top-rated programmes of all time – an interesting reversal of the current British media enthusiasm for all things Nordic.

The real surprise, though, is seeing a young David Bradley as 'Colin' (stuck in a reserved occupation in Preston), many years before his star turn as 'Eddie Wells' in 'Our Friends In The North' and Richard Beckinsale in a blink-and-you'll miss him role as a young soldier eating egg and chips in 1940 Belgium. There were fifty major raids in the next three months, Between 20 and 22 December 1940, 365 died when there were direct hits on air raid shelters. The basic setting of the Ashton family home in Liverpool is a large private house, but it is a studio interior and the colour balance reminds me of Granada’s mainstay, Coronation Street. By August that same year, one of Granada’s press releases was able to boast that A Family at War was now ‘top of the national TV ratings.