Jack Ford: One Of TV's Most Memorable Villains?
He's hard and cruel and he knows how to hurt: he's a bosses man, a traitor to his own class and would sell out anyone to get ahead. But, though we may not like him, we want to know what happens to him. This is partly because of James Bolam's performance: he shows the hardness in Jack's character, but also why somebody like Jessie might know who he is and still be attracted to him. But it is also the writing: James Mitchell shows he cruelty, cynicism and indifference of English society, and how it creates people like Jack Ford, who see that nobody is looking out for them and determine to look out for themselves.
A similar anti-hero is Percy Toplis in Alan Bleasdale's "The Monocled Mutineer", except he had a little more heart than Jack. If you liked When The Boat Comes In you should look out that series, from when the BBC cared about the working class instead of making cookery and "Look-at-me-I-bought-a-house-in-Ibiza" programmes.