A Family at War

I was 7 when this started, this was a time when there were only three channels in the UK, but, there was always something worth watching and this series was definitely one I remember the best. I fell in love with the theme music, it still remains one of my favourite pieces. I have vague memories of the storyline, but, I probably didn't understand all that went on. However, I have been able to watch it all over again on the channel 'Talking Pictures', which by the way is one of the best channels in the UK at the moment. I have been gripped from the very start. I hardly watch any modern dramas, even classic stories are being 'sexed up' or having very PC casting, most recently BBCs Howard's End having a black Mrs Bast, seriously? An acceptable interracial marriage in Edwardian Britain, almost as unrealistic as Jack having dinner with Rose's family in 'Titanic'. Anyway, I digress. I cannot recommend this and Talking Pictures as a channel highly enough. Happy memories of sitting around the TV as a family, no mobile phones or other distractions, just family time.

I saw these 50+ episodes re-run nightly in New York during the summer of 1975 or 1976. They were completely transporting, fabulous, deeply memorable. I've not seen them anywhere since - yet they are apparently not for sale.

In somewhat soap-operatic fashion, the story of two neighboring families in Liverpool during 1939-1945 brought home vividly the impact of the Second World War on an area of Britain.

This series was far more powerful and moving than Sopranos - because it better captures the details of daily life - and thus makes us believe its reality - and terrible tragedies. If you ever get the chance to entwine your life with this series, do it.

It makes one very much think about larger themes such as the impact of historical events on private lives. It's simply wonderful.

Starts of OK(apart from "Oxford" Phillips fanciful goings on in Spain). Thereafter thinks move at a pace.The most interesting battle in the series is between business-owner Sefton Briggs and his "donkey"brother-in-law, Edwin Ashton.Keeps the show alive actually.One or two appearances are rather "guesty"(eg Robert)And that little chap John George hardly ever gets fed,is never seen(one for the social welfare folk?) Moving to the second half-series 3 in particular.The whole yarn becomes rather "Mills & Boonish".Afraid I cannot tolerate the acting of passive-aggressive Sheila Ashton and her inadequate soiciopathic husband! I rather hoped a doodle-bug would get them....

...can be tricky, but having watched this for the first time in nearly 50 years I'm impressed at how dramatic and yet realistic it is. Do I want to know what happens to the various characters to whom I've been introduced? Are the suggested plot lines enough to keep me interested? The answer is definitely YES in both cases. (Worth mentioning in passing that I've just bought the Netherlands version of the box set in a charity shop, so I get the omitted scenes as well!)

It was titled Familien Ashton in Denmark, where I watched on Sunday nights while I was living there. It was a charming picture of war's effect on those who, as John Milton said, "also serve who only stand and wait." The native Danes appreciated it as well and kept a strict appointment on Sunday nights to tune in. At a distance of lo, these 35 years, it's difficult to remember specifics. I do, however, remember the series with a smile. Combined with WWII-related places and structures that I'd been seeing in Europe, it really brought home to this young (at that time) American the reality of war, which to that point had been rather an abstract concept to me. Similarly, in the early 1990s, there was a short-lived American TV series, Homefront, which did a very fine job of portraying America at home during World War II.