A gritty Northern drama set in the South Shields area after WWI, following the trials of ex-Sergeant Jack Ford and the Seaton family as they struggled with the problems of the day: The aftermath of the war, the great depression of the 1920s, trade union activists and an uncaring society.
The characters also seemed to spend a lot of time drinking in and out of pubs.
Viewers south of the Tyne learned about ‘bonnie lads’ and took O-level colloquial Geordie (so useful later for understanding the jokes in Auf Wiedersehen Pet). They also enjoyed good solid stories with vintage cars and cobbled streets, and the relationship between the roguish Ford and Jessie Seaton, the passionate but upright (till Ford had his way) heroine played by Susan Jameson (Bolam’s partner off-camera also).
James Bolam was convincing as the cunning Jack Ford, a man who has seen ignorance and stupidity in the trenches and finds himself fighting against it in his role of Union boss during peacetime.
At the end of the third season, Ford left for the USA, to return (on the run from the FBI) for redemption via participation in the Jarrow March and the Spanish Civil War.
The stick-in-the-memory theme tune was a reworking, by David Fanshawe, of a traditional northeast nursery rhyme:
Come here me little Jacky now ah’ve smoked me baccy let’s hev a bit of cracky till the boat comes in
Dance to thee Daddy, sing to thee Mammy dance to thee Daddy, to thee Mammy sing Thou shalt hev a fishy on a little dishy thou shalt hev a fishy when the boat comes in
Here’s thy mother humming like a canny woman Yonder comes thy fatha drunk – he cannat stand
Dance to thee Daddy, sing to thee Mammy dance to thee Daddy, to thee Mammy sing Thou shalt hev a fishy on a little dishy thou shalt hev a haddock when the boat comes in
Our Tommy’s always fuddling he’s so fond of ale but he’s kind to me I hope he’ll never fail
Dance to thee Daddy, sing to thee Mammy dance to thee Daddy, to thee Mammy sing Thou shalt hev a fishy on a little dishy thou shalt hev a Bloater when the boat comes in
I like a drop mesel’, when I can get it sly and thou, my bonny bairn will like’t as well as I
Dance to thee Daddy, sing to thee Mammy dance to thee Daddy, to thee Mammy sing Thou shalt hev a fishy on a little dishy thou shalt hev a Mackerel when the boat comes in
May we get a drop oft as we stand in need and weel may the keel row that brings the bairns tha breed
Dance to thee Daddy, sing to thee Mammy dance to thee Daddy, to thee Mammy sing Thou shalt hev a fishy on a little dishy thou shalt hev a Salmon when the boat comes in
Jack Ford
James Bolam
Bill Seaton
James Garbutt
Jessie Seaton
Susan Jameson
Billy Seaton
Edward Wilson
Bella Seaton
Jean Heywood
Tom Seaton
John Nightingale
Sarah Lytton
Rosalind Bailey
Lady Caroline
Lois Baxter (1)
Isla Blair (2)
Channing
Christopher Benjamin
Geordie Watson
Ian Cullen
Duke of Bedlington
William Fox
Sir Horatio Manners
Basil Henson
Dolly
Madelaine Newton
Ashton
Geoffrey Rose
Matt
Malcolm Terris
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James Bolam was convincing as the cunning Jack Ford, a man who has seen ignorance and stupidity in the trenches and finds himself fighting against it in his role of Union boss during peacetime.
