MovieChat Forums > When the Boat Comes In (1976) Discussion > Last series is pretty poor

Last series is pretty poor

posted 14 years ago by Majestic_Moose
10 replies | jump to latest

Now at first glance When the Boat Comes In isn't usually my kind of show, but I was able to enjoy the writing, characterisation and social commentary of the first few series. I particularly enjoyed the way Jack would balance his own self-advancement with his working roots in Gallowshields.

However, the 1980s revival really hit a downward slope and suggests they should have let the series end on a high. If the opening episodes where Jack claws himself out of the gutter weren't sloppy enough, the rest of the series really lacks focus. New characters continually appear unannounced, and are either not compelling enough to capture your attention or they're deprived the chance to do so. The original series simply concentrated on the lives and relationships of a select caste of characters, which worked to great effect.

And to top it all, were they really that stumped for actors they had to recast several as new characters and think people wouldn't notice?

[–] joyfarrah 14 years ago

I think that the 4th series has weak points certainly. I feel that the Jack becomes very rich thing was a bit hard to accept,(I could understand his becoming reasonably prosperous again but within 3 years he does seem to have gone from rags to enormous riches) and his success with aristocratic ladies seem IMO rather unlikely.

I think that it went off a bit in hte middle - very weak eps with poor acting adn silly storylines, such as the necklace one with Mel Martin...
I can understand them bringing back Billy and Jessie and the Communists in Spain storyline, but its not as convincing as I remember it back when I was a lot younger!

but I still think that the first seasons also had their weak points. There was some terrible acting at times, though usualy from the "guest" actors...
and while overall the scripts were quite good, I found the repeated use of words like "the bosses", the capitalists etc rather silly esp from supposedly educated people liek Jessie and Billy. (or perhaps people did tlak like that in the 20s and 30s....
I thought taht the 3rd series was rahter bitty, with Jack veering between doing odd "intelligence jobs" for the Duke, and his divorce storyline with Dolly, rather disjointed. Perhaps that was actually a "series too far"....
But Im still a fan and like the whole thing, overall, and Im glad that they did a 4th series even if it had weak points.
Poor Sarah though! I knew she remarried, but I didn't realise it was the elderly Stan Liddle... as Jack siad, couldn't she have done better?

[–] MidniteRambler 14 years ago

I didn't think the last series poor. The only episode I didn't like was the first one when Jack Ford was pretty pathetic. From there it rolled on nicely, if you made allowances for the time frame. Jack's wealth I thought reasonable given that the average weekly wage at the time was about three pounds and they were dealing in hundreds and thousands. I liked the way he dealt with Jessie and Billy, who were out of order and out of their depth. I should have liked to see the other Seatons, at least for an episode. I think killing Jack off was the only way they could deter themselves from making a fifth series.

My favourite line was his reply to the German who asked him what people in the north-east did when it rained: 'They get wet.'

I guess it's all over on Monday. A pity they didn't put it on a more prominent channel and one which didn't hack it about like a piece of meat. The editing was poor and unnecessary given that the episodes were fifty minutes: how long do they need for adverts in a one hour programme? God bless cable/satellite.

[–] duke-verity 14 years ago

I don't feel that series four was poor at all. It had some of the show's most powerful and moving moments within its ten episodes. Some people just don't like the fact that James Mitchell made Jack Ford a more vulnerable and fallible version of his former self. James Bolam's performance in this series was arguably the best he gave in all four seasons. Look at his facial reaction in episode two when he hears from Sarah of Matt Headley's death. Decades of Bolam's acting experience went into that close up.

This is a more thoughtful, older, wiser and ultimately sadder Jack Ford; battling alcoholism, advancing years and a world that seems to be leaving him behind, despite all his material gains. Ford's speech in 'Action!' about the various deaths of all his old friends becomes a eulogy and a roll call for a war generation that didn't seem to have any place in the world of the 30's. This was now after all, as Sid Liddell snaps back, "ancient history".

It's also one of several foreshadowings in series four that show him to be far more self aware and consciously mortal than the driven, cocky young man of earlier years. It's because Ford knows instinctively that his time is almost up that this final series becomes so dramatic.

His battles against fascists and communists were fascinating and full of James Mitchell's political ironies. Despite all his years of capitalism, winning and losing several fortunes; despite all the money, the properties, the egotism, the women, the bribes, the back-handed deals and the sordidness; Jack Ford ultimately finished up as the idealist that all his cynicism could never quite bury.

[–] marktayloruk 14 years ago

I believe that Jack's death was too drawn out-and a mistake.Had he lived on,survived fighting in the Spanish War-might he have wound up a Labour MP,even Minister or peer?
Also-what happened next?Did he leave his money to Tanya-maybe some to Jessie and Sarah?
I surmise-Sarah and Stan stayed together.Jessie left CP in dusgust,Labour MP 1945-51. Billy stayed in CP,finally left over Hungary.Geordie Watson-Minister in postwar Labour government.Edward Mostyn-one of anti-appeasement Tory reberls,lost seat in 1945.
"Offstage"-Arthur,Bill and Bella died during 1940s and 1950s.Tom successful market gardener.Seatons became department store.
Would like to have seen how Jack rebuilt his fortune during Depression.How long did Sarah stay in business without him? Also Seaton family get-together-and what happened to Dolly's sharp young assistant Rosie Mason?
Finally-as an old Likely Lads fan,I've long suspected thsat Jack Ford was Terry Collier's grandfather!

[–] joyfarrah 14 years ago

I dont think that his death was a mistake.. it was the only way he could atone for his misdeeds... and I certainly can't see him as an MP or anything like that. He wasn't interested in politics, as he said quite often. He was a hedonist..and liked to enjoy his life and I think he never really quite fit with the serious Jessie....

[–] marktayloruk (2378) 3 years ago

I can see him making a fortune on the Black Market during the war.

[–] marktayloruk (2378) 10 months ago

Also - there was no.American Nazi.Party in.the 1930s unless you count the German-American Bund.

[–] joyfarrah 14 years ago

Duke
I think that Bolam's acting is indeed very good, and I dont really have problems with the fact that this Jack IS older, more vulnerable nad so on than in preivous years. I think that though the first ep where he's a total mess is a bit weak, adn the schoolteacher is not well done. But some of that is I suppose becauase we dont WANT Jack to be a drunken feeble weakling, we want him "on top" and are releived at the end when he hits the schoolteacher over the head and walks out iwth a quip or 2.
I think that there are weak eps in the middle, just the after J goes to London, esp teh one with hte nutcase played by Mel Martin! I just dont see the point of that one at all..I wish it hadn't been there, and I'd have preferred to see more of the developing relationship between Tania and Jack - which seems now rather rushed...also perhaps a bit more development of Billy and Jessie and their "moving leftwards" woudl have made that bit seem less rushed. Somehow the bits iwth Billy and Christopher Neam'es character? was it? talking about cricket as a cover to their talk about thte Party!! seemed rather cliched...I woudl have liked to see Billy adn Jessie's joining the Party gone inot more and portrayed a bit more sympathetically....

but I agrree that Jack's gradual realisation that he's getting old and that "all his friends are dead".. is well acted and very moving... which may be what propels him into the agreeing to run guns into Spain, when Stan Liddel tells him that instead of sobbing about the dead freinds, there are still people in need who could use his help....

[–] Majestic_Moose 14 years ago

I disagree. The last series was trying too hard to deconstruct Jack's character in order to contrive a sense of adversity and vulnerability. Take the alcoholism for instance, it became an 'informed flaw' due to the fact it hardly played any significance in the series.

It wasn't just Jack who was off, either. The supporting cast was also too weak or short-lived to carry the series forward.

[–] louiseculmer 9 years ago

I found the last series very disappointing - jack going off to fight in Spain quite unbelievable. not his style at all.