A Family at War

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....

I was a small boy watching this series now and then in the seventies. But I have always remembered it to be a fine series. I have seen it again the last month. I did remember some of the characters, Peter and Sheila especially, and Mr and Mrs Ashton, off course, and it was fun to see John Nettles as a very young man. But what really hit me, right in the stomach, so to say, was the quality. After all these years there is almost no TV- production that can compete with this astonishing - amazing superb quality. The actors, the producers, everything. What is sad, is that TV in general becomes some poor compared to such high-quality as "A family at war". There are exceptions, like "Brideshead revisited", but I feel, after being a member of the Ashton family for a month, that I need a long break from TV. It just isn't worth it.

This is a terrific series of 52 episodes, following the Ashton family of Liverpool through the war years, 1938-1945. Writing and acting are superb, and you will be hooked from the first episode until the end. The entire series of "A Family at War" is now available on DVD. However, be sure your DVD player supports Region 2 (PAL) discs, as Region 1 (NTSC) machines will not be able to play them. You may wish to visit A Family at War (Fan Site) at www.baylor.edu/afamilyatwar. This site includes a complete episode guide, cast photos, a slide show with theme music, links to related sites, and information on how to join a discussion group (of which series creator and principal writer John Finch is a member).

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.

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.