The Brothers

I was 12 when the first series of The Brothers hit the screens in 1972, and 17 when it reached an untimely end in December 1976, at the end of Series 7, and thus didn't understand half of the 'business-y' things that went on, but that didn't stop it from establishing itself as the best thing I'd ever seen on TV. 40+ years later, I've just finished watching it all again on DVD, and my opinion is unchanged : pure magic. We must thank our lucky stars that this is NOT one of the shows that the BBC threw away after transmission (the majority of things from that era no longer exist) : all episodes surviving on their original 2" videotapes long enough to be digitally transferred by said organisation. Most people now have no idea what this show was : but at the time it was regularly #1 in the 'Most Watched' weekly chart. 41 years later, I'm still waiting for Series 8, but I'm starting to think that I may be disappointed ...

'The Brothers' was a cut-price British precursor to 'Dallas' and 'Dynasty' set in the glamorous, cut-throat world of...truck haulage. This family saga was a BBC Sunday night fixture in the 1970's and acquired cult status, in amongst other countries, the Netherlands and Israel (as confirmed by another contributor). In each run the Hammond brothers faced domestic crises and attempted takeovers from ruthless business rivals - in successive series an abrasive Aussie played by Mark 'Taggart' McManus; the slimey Paul Merrony played by Colin Baker and a bizarre aircraft hire outfit run by the sultry Kate O'Mara and the sozzled Mike Pratt. The Brothers survived losing its leading man, Glynn Owen , early on and the fact that his replacement in the role of Ted Hammond, Edward O'Connell was nothing like him in appearance or character. O'Connell subsequently tried to quit the show to become a painter but was lured back. The beautiful Gabrielle Drake, wife of one of the brothers, quit between series and was promptly bumped off in an off-screen car crash. The show was held together by the redoubtable matriarch Mary Hammond, played by Jean Anderson (later in 'Tenko'), who was an excellent actress and a close friend in real life of her arch-enemy on the show, Jennifer, formerly her late husband's mistress and now married to her eldest son. The show finished rather abruptly while it was still very popular and you got the impression that any other TV station would have flogged the concept for several more series. The BBC later made a sort of camped-up version for the 1980's called 'Howard's Way', set in a boatyard.

I've been watching The Brothers every Thursday evening on Talking Pictures and, whilst getting thoroughly engrossed in it, snippets of it were very familiar.

So it was with a "hah!" of excitement that i stumbled across my old diaries for 1974 and 1975 recently which didn't just inform me that, as a teenager, I never missed this show on a Sunday evening but that the character I most associated with was Brian (yes, I eventually became an accountant, like him).

Watching it now I expect it's easier to see the warning signs (especially with Paul Merroney) but at the age of 14 one lacks the experience of life to immediately spot a baddie.

The diary also tells me that the sitcom that followed The Brothers on a Sunday evening (at least it did in my region) was "Sadie, It's Cold Outside" which I watched but have zero recollection of! Well, it was half a century ago now.

Has The Brothers aged well? I'd say yes, very much so. The business and personal issues it highlights are still issues in many families and companies 50 years later. I spent 35 years of my working life in family-run businesses and the portrayal in this series is very true-to-life....all the way down to how non-family members address those on the board.

One minor point - the wallpaper in Brian & Ann's house is of a design which would induce a hallucinogenic trip just by looking at it. No wonder they had difficulty communicating - they were probably in a trance.

The series is currently being shown on Talking Pictures - Sky 328 - and is still watchable all these years later. Unfortunately the viewing quality isn't as good on today's televisions, which are much larger than they were in the 1970's, but if you can see through that what you have is a very enjoyable series with lots of twists, turns and, of course, backstabbing.

In some ways this was a forerunner to such series such as Dallas and Dynasty, but they did take things to a higher level and The Brothers was set in the U. K. which hasn't got quite the same ring to it. Notwithstanding that, good characters, good acting and a good series.

This was a great if guilty Sunday night drama on the BBC, often alternating with The Onedin Line. The earlier series were particularly noted for the portrayal of bitchy and sexy Ann Hammond by Hilary Tindall, and the stormy relationship with her husband Brian became one of the main story lines in the 3rd and 4th series. Tindall made a brief return in the final series. Later series suffered slightly by taking the focus away from the Hammond family, with too much emphasis on Paul Merroney. Sadly it looks like only series 1 is available on DVD. Other notable performances include Jean Anderson as the matriarch Mary Hammond and Richard Easton's portrayal of Brian Hammond. The series had a great signature tune. If it were around nowadays a great deal more would be made of it.