The Brothers

An interesting and intelligent 'soap opera' from the '70s. The dialogue and acting are first-rate and constructive while the very ''70s' bourgeois props and costumes are evocative: I saw a framed print of Vermeer's ''Girl With A Pearl Earing'' in one domestic scene showing good taste. The young graceful English actor - the Chaucerian Malcolm Stoddard was in the brilliant scientifically fascinating documentary series, ''The Voyage of Charles Darwin'' (1978). Prim and proper actress, Jean Anderson was born in the remote year of 1907! The series was a big hit in Holland. The first episode was aired in 1972 - that greyest of hippy years although the early-'70s were pioneering years.

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.

I had heard of The Brothers for years before I actually saw it. Luckily, Talking Pictures TV began their repeats of it on Thursday nights paired with the original Van Der Valk, which is top class scheduling.

The Brothers is the story of three brothers (the clue is in the title) who inherit a haulage business when their Dad dies, but they have to run it alongside his mistress, which causes tensions with the Mum. The characterisations are brilliant, particularly Alpha Male eldest brother Edward who wants things his way or not at all. His two younger brothers bring their own talents to the boardroom table too, and the prim, manipulative Mother orchestrates things from afar, gently influencing their professional and personal lives.

I love the wives in this - model Jill and vamp Ann Hammond. Ann is a forgotten gay icon, always with a cigarette, an arched eyebrow, and a waspish comment (and always in the midst of an affair). The old school Mother is well worth it too with her curiously dated diction and delicate accent. She's a piece of work on the quiet.

The boardroom scenes remind me of the "BUSINESS, MARJORIE!" sketches from A Bit Of Fry and Laurie, but they are good studies of class at the time. The Hammonds are working class done good, and Bill Riley is the uneasy working class guy who somehow found himself on the board. Above all of them are the bankers (notably Colin Baker), and you can really sense the Thatcher years on the horizon.

It really sucks you in, and it would be interesting to see it done nowadays.

I remember vividly how "The brothers" were an integral part of my family's life in the late 70's - Our town's public library held 50 copies of the book which followed the series, yet it was always out of copies! Jean Anderson was very good as the mother, cultivating her children's guilt feelings for "not paying enough attention to her". Patrick Occonnel is Edward, the oldest son which always tries to please her, Robin Chadwick is her youngest who handles the problem by running away from it, and Richard Easton is the sandwich kid trying desperately to remain calm. Naturally, in the midst of all these family bickering, the company, which is the reason they supposedly stick together despite it all, falls into the hands of others, led by the unforgettable Paul Merrony (Colin Baker). I wish there was more stuff about this show available on the web - Unfortunately I was unable to find any. It seems as though this show was undeservingly set aside and forgotten.

THUMBS UP!!!

It's great to see this show has been picked up for a re-run from Series 1 by Talking Pictures TV.

The children of a highly successful businessman fight to carry on the business, each with their own idea of how it should be run and ultimately seeking overall control. Various outsiders including rival entrepreneurs and financial whizzkids want a slice of the action. Add in the spice of a long-hidden illicit relationship, ongoing conflicts between hurt and betrayed parties, and you have a storyline which could easily find its place on mainstream TV today. No, it's not "Succession", but could easily be seen as a 1970's "ancestor" to that phenomenon.