A Family At War - Series 1 [DVD]

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This unique collection contains every episode ever made of this popular, moving and poignant series which portrays life, through the Ashtons, as it was during the war years. Although sometimes repetitive in parts, this book is a particularly poignant and timely read for Remembrance Day. Coral Atkins, who played Sheila (terrified of her kids being evacuated in the series) was an unhappy evacuee herself in the war. But as its title suggests, A Family at War pays equal attention to private and domestic politics as it does to the public political sphere and its female characters are at least as complex and intriguing as its men, from the matriarchal Jean, to her eldest daughter Margaret (Leslie Nunnerley) who endures a fraught relationship with her jealous mother-in-law Celia Porter (Margery Mason), to David’s long-suffering wife Sheila (Coral Atkins), through to the skittish youngest Ashton daughter Freda (Barbara Flynn).

It is important to remember that this was a completely original piece of writing, not based on an existing book which would have provided the outline of what was to come. I believe the first 13 episodes were scheduled in consecutive weeks but, because each episode took at least two weeks to make, we had to have more than half of them in the can before transmission could begin.As the Ashton family sat down in their living room in the evening, behind the blackout curtains you could sense the presence of a city and country at war. Meanwhile, brother Charlie, who took over the family business, was in a reserved occupation, but his wild activities and photographic records bring a new perspective of wartime Lerwick, the town's key part in the war, and the lives of these remarkable young men and women. This was primary work for the medium, the first of the television novels and one on a Dickensian scale. The series follows the lives of the various members of a single family, the Ashtons, of approximately lower-middle-class status (although their class position is actually more complex and piebald than this label might suggest), mostly based in their Liverpool home but with narrative excursions to other locations as various family members were drafted into the armed forces, mobilised or evacuated.

At that time we recorded on videotape the whole piece from opening titles to closing captions, playing in the film inserts and stopping only for the advertising breaks. Critics at the time sometimes complained of ‘women’s magazine atmospherics’ (Daily Mail, 21 January 1971), or that the show’s appeal replicated that of ‘the women’s magazines my mother used to read’ (Daily Express, 12 November 1970) or even that its narrative catalysts were nothing more than ‘the puny domestic bombshells that trigger off all soap opera, in fact.So much of the literature of Shetland focuses on crofting communities and the traditional way of life of rural communities. The lower middle class Ashton family of the city of Liverpool deal with life on the home front during the Second World War. Made in a nearly continuous two-year production period, each episode begins on a specific date from August 1938 to December 1945, with the drama unfolding over the course of the entire war.

The episode looks at the terrible conditions for German kids and defeated civilians, most unusual from a 1970 viewpoint. Margaret Stuart's compilation of her extraordinary family's experience of the First World War is based on copious contemporary articles, letters and photographs. Apparently not … each had a two week production slot, but as the schedule got heavier, they overlapped between two episodes … hence the location switches. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. It focused a lot on the family members of the Ashtons who coped with fighting in the war or staying at home whilst the war went on.This is a terrific series of 52 episodes, following the Ashton family of Liverpool through the war years, 1938-1945. This is the story of the Ashton family from Liverpool and their experiences just before, during and just after WW2. Although this item comes in Dutch packaging the subtitles are easily removed by using the subtitle button. Others that are significantly better include “Wish Me Luck”, “Enemy at the Door”, “Manhunt” and “Colditz”.

Its aesthetic was frugal, quickly-produced studio-bound drama in the main with some location shooting when necessary, but again that seemed to work with the grain of the show rather than against it. It goes on in Series 4 past VE Day … but my dad always said, as far as he was concerned, the war ended in 1946, not 1945. It’s the realistic touch, or the brilliant acting, or the interesting story, though probably all of them together. Nor does the programme pull its punches: several central characters die during the course of the series and those left behind have to struggle on imperfectly, while the skilful writing makes plain the emotional damage they suffer as they do so. I was intrigued to find out what would happen to these two since their happy marriage was threatened by the declaration of war.People generally waited until their old set gave up the ghost before switching, and in those days sets could last a long time. Margaret, another sister, also took a holiday there in 1921 to see where all the action had occurred.