Throughout the 1970s, Granada earned a reputation for doom-laden dramas like Samand The Stars Look Down, but it all began with John Finch’s A Family At War – a saga which suggested that happiness was something to be swept under the carpet (if you were lucky enough to have a carpet).
A Family At War was a dour series centred around the working-class Ashton family of Liverpool, starting in 1938 and following the clan through the harsh realities of World War II.
The Ashton’s wallowed in worrying, revelled in rationing, and if there wasn’t any hardship one week, they’d go down to the corner shop and buy some.
They had no place for namby-pamby emotions like jollity. The Ashton’s were born into misery – and that’s where they intended to stay.
Closet socialist Edwin Ashton (Colin Douglas, best remembered from Bonehead) was the stolid, dependable head of the family.
The self-taught son of a miner, Edwin was the poorly-paid assistant manager of a small printing works owned by his wife’s family. He was beholden at work to his hard-nosed widowed brother-in-law, Sefton Briggs (John McKelvey), who inherited the business with his sister, Edwin’s petit-bourgeois wife Jean (Shelagh Fraser).
The cast also included Barbara Flynn as the marginally less morose Freda Ashton, who swapped her hotel receptionist position out of boredom for a job in a munitions factory; Colin Campbell as eldest child David Ashton, who was in the RAF; and Coral Atkins as Sheila Ashton, David’s sad, deserted wife always trying to do her best for her two children, Peter and Janet.
Schoolteacher Margaret (Lesley Nunnerley) married John Porter (Ian Thompson), who went missing in action, while 21-year-old Oxford graduate Phillip (Keith Drinkel) fought in the Spanish Civil War.
The youngest Ashton child, Robert (David Dixon), was an apprentice in the Merchant Navy.
The budget for each episode was only £12,500, but the series was saved from looking cheap because the 1970s decor resembled that of the 1940s. Granada also appealed to the public to send in their old gas masks, ration books and identity cards.
Rushed filming often led to fluffed lines and the accidental intrusion of the boom mic, and some episodes looked like they’d been edited with a chainsaw.
For added authenticity, the cast had to have their hair cut to the short back and sides of the period. For that reason, many actors refused parts in A Family At War, and some extras walked off the set rather than have the snip.
Keith Barron bravely took the plunge but confessed: “I can feel people’s eyes on the back of my head. They must think I’ve been inside”.
The second series suffered from the ITV Colour Strike (November 1970 to February 1971) when technicians walked out demanding a 5% pay rise for handling new equipment. As a result, eight episodes had to be shot in black and white.
The third series coincided with the miner’s strike, and power cuts led to some regions of Britain missing the final episode, which had to be repeated.
Despite these setbacks, A Family at War regularly attracted 20 – 22 million viewers in Britain. At its peak, the show pulled in 26.1 million and knocked Coronation Streetand The Morecambe and Wise Showoff the #1 spot.
The series was so popular in Denmark it brought traffic to a standstill. The Ashton’s would have loved traffic jams – they make people so miserable.
Coral Atkins witnessed the distress of a young child in foster care while appearing at a charity event one day.
Despite furious battles with authorities and while pursuing her hectic career in A Family At War, Atkins went on to revolutionise the fostering system.
Her determination to help children whom the system had failed led her to buy a rambling country house, which she transformed into a home where many children experienced genuine affection for the first time.
Edwin Ashton
Colin Douglas
Jean Ashton
Shelagh Fraser
David Ashton
Colin Campbell
Sheila Ashton
Coral Atkins
Margaret Ashton/Porter
Lesley Nunnerley
Philip Ashton
Keith Drinkel
Freda Ashton
Barbara Flynn
Robert Ashton
David Dixon
Sefton Briggs
John McKelvey Tony Briggs
Trevor Bowen
John Porter
Ian Thompson
Celia Porter
Margery Mason
Harry Porter
Patrick Troughton
Ian McKenzie
John Nettles
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The Ashton’s wallowed in worrying, revelled in rationing, and if there wasn’t any hardship one week, they’d go down to the corner shop and buy some.
The youngest Ashton child, Robert (David Dixon), was an apprentice in the Merchant Navy.
The third series coincided with the miner’s strike, and power cuts led to some regions of Britain missing the final episode, which had to be repeated.
