samkydd

I saw this series (and read the books) in around 1979/80 about a London family and it starred Peter Vaughn playing the 70 year old father, and the sons were Larry Lamb, Ray Winstone (playing a boxer), Bernard Hill, and Derrick O'Connor I think was the lefty one with a social conscience.

Bill Nighy, Mark Wingett (DC Carver of the bill) and the excellent Maggie Steed were also in it.

Very enjoyable and I've not seen it repeated at all but it is available on DVD so I would recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it.

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

Marky B

I don't really remember much of it myself,which surprises me,as anything with the excellent Peter Vaughn in it should always be memorable.
Ta Ta
Marky B

I am special. The heavens always open for me.

samkydd

He plays the cantankerous old father with old world Cockerney values which don't mean much to his offspring who have gone in all sorts of directions.

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

aaron

I don't recall the show either, though it sounds like a gem..
But surely Peter Vaughan is due a knighthood? A consistently excellent character actor, who lifts any production.
Much like Denholm Elliot, he'll be missed when he's gone....

'He who is not one up...Is one down'

samkydd

A great character actor, I remember him in all manner of 1960s stuff, plus the memorable Harry Grout in Porridge, Fox, Our Friends in the North, plus wasn't he Wolfie Smith's girlfriend's father in Citizen Smith? The man never looks a day older in 40 years of film and TV!

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

mysteriesofedgarwallace

Quality stuff this, from the pen of Trevor Preston. I can also very highly reccommend 'Out' also by Trevor Preston.

The one man army that is Trevor Preston has created some of the finest television of the last 30 odd years.
He contributed more scripts to 'The Sweeney' than any other writer.

Harbottle

Peter Vaughan is one of my favourite actors, terrific performance in that excellent BBC ghost story A Warning To The Curious A Warning to the Curious (1972) (TV)

Aenima

I can't recall Fox but if it's got Peter Vaughan in then it's got to be worth checking out. This man has such a fine body of work to his name. He stole the show as the angry Tom Hedden in Straw Dogs.

Harry Grout was a fantastic character. What many people forget is he only appeared in few of the episodes, but such was Peter Vaughan's performance that he is remembered as one of the main characters.

I agree withg you H, A Warning To The Curious is a Vaughan classic.

cheers,
A

I'll 'av 'arf

Hell_driver

Eamon Boland played Phil the left wing mature student, Derrick O'Connor played Ray the one with the night club. I agree with Sam though this is truly excellent and I purchased the dvd recently and it's still brilliant.

Trudi Godwin (June Ackland of the Bill) also turns up in a couple of episodes as Ray's "bird" & Karl Howman as Larry Lamb's mate appears in most episodes.

samkydd

You're right I can visualise Derrick O'Connor now he used to be in a lot of things back then.

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

celestial.toym

I don't suppose you know anymore about Trevor, i.e. what he's doing now, anything he's worked on recently or how I could write to him do you?