Another excellent play from the Play for Today series. Stunning performance from Jack Shepherd as the embittered Marxist son of Edward Waite (Bill Fraser), former miner, Trade Union leader and about to be ennobled Labour MP. Frances de La Tour also impresses as Edward's sensible sister while Ronald Pickup completes the quartet as the wily yet intrusive TV producer.
For those who savour intelligent political debate, the script could hardly be better. Did Edward Waite in particular, and the Labour Party in general, improve the lives of the British working class or were they neutered by and subsumed into the British establishment. The core of the play is a row between Edward and his son on this point. It is gripping stuff and the play allows the viewer the privilege of making up his or her own mind. Why can't the BBC make plays of this calibre today ?
