Customer Reviews
when the boat comes in - By: j e badman, 19 Dec 2005 
I never got to watch this series when it was on as I was to young to remember much about it, but I must say I was so glad that I rented it, I can highly recomend it for a good few weeks veiwing, I am reallly sad that I have come to the end of the series, james bolem plays an outstanding character, i was not keen on him before but now think what a great actor he is,
A great family series with laughter, sadness, & hope.
I thought it would be very dated to watch as it is an old series, but it was A1 from start to finish.
HIGHLY RECOMENDED.
Sagging in the middle. - By: D. Wright, 22 Jan 2005 
This fourth & final series of this excellent drama seemed like something of an afterthought, appearing as it did four years after the third series, whereas the previous three series had alll been broadcast within less than two years. Furthermore, the first two series had consisted of thirteen episodes each & the third series fifteen, whilst this series comprised only ten. However, as there are the same number of discs it costs the same. One episode per disc on a couple of occasions isn't particulalry good value.
The series begins with Jack Ford's return from America, having made & lost a fortune in the Walll Street crash. The series does seem to sag in the middle when Jack moves to London & moves in ever higher social circles: the storylines just don't seem as engaging as some of those in the earlier series when he was based in the North East.
This series also suffers from the absence of so many previously regular characters. The Seatons were virtuallly Jack's surrogate family during the first three series. Bill, Bella & their son Tom, are alll absent throughout (the actor who played Tom having died between this & the previous series at a relatively young age). His brother, Billy, & sister, Jessy, do appear in the later episodes of this series. Jessy, who was Jack's first love, had been missing for much of the third series, having moved away from the North East with her husband. Also absent throughout this last series are Tom's wife & Jacks's ex, Dolly; Jacks's best friend, Matt Headly, who is supposed to have died while Jack was away; & Jack's old business sparring partner, Sir Horatio Manners. All these missing regular characters give the series an odd feeling.
James Bolam's Jack Ford is, however, one of British television's greatest ever characters & this series, even if it does disappoint slightly in comparison with the earlier three series, is worth getting just to follow his fascinating life story to its completion. The last few episodes, with the return of Jessy & Billy, who persuade Jack to become involved in the Spanish civil war, do pick up & bring the series to a fitting & poignant conclusion.
