A Family at War

- Season 2

(1970)

December 1940. As a new year begins the family contemplate missed opportunities.

January 1941. Uncertain about the fate of her husband, Margaret's anxiety creates friction at work, at home and in a possible new relationship. Her family realise that they have underestimated the extent of her problems.

April 1941. In the Western Desert, Philip becomes friends with a hard-drinking and rebellious Polish soldier frustrated by delays in his transfer to his own army.

May 1941. Sefton's attempts to retain majority control of the company extend to interfering in his son's plans for a romantic weekend while on unexpected leave, but he has underestimated Tony's new girlfriend.

May 1941. With some on leave and some bombed out, the house becomes uncomfortably overcrowded and relationships are tested as the air raids continue nightly.

Liverpool, May 1941. Margaret is going to live with Michael Armstrong, but when she visits him an aerial bomb hits the house, and sets the whole building on fire. Margaret is seriously hurt and taken to the hospital, where members of her family soon turn up to visit her. She is four months pregnant and everybody worries about the baby's survival chances. At the same time Mrs. Porter is on her way to Liverpool. A British soldier has found a letter written by John at the battlefield in France, and has sent it to her. The soldier is back in Liverpool, and now she wants ...

Liverpool, October 1941. The rationing of food has led to the development of a black market. Sefton has a share in a pig, but wants to buy the other half of the pig as well. Harry Jenkins is reluctant to sell his part, but in the end he agrees. The next morning Harry tells Sefton that officers from the Ministry of Food have confiscated the dead pig, and that Sefton will probably be prosecuted for illegal slaughter. At the same time Margaret is taken to the hospital for her delivery, but the child is stillborn. And Freda confides under tears to Sheila that she has a ...

Liverpool, December 1941. Sheila has brought her son Peter home for Christmas, but her daughter Janet didn't want to leave the Thomas family in Wales. Peter hasn't seen his father David since summer, and is now eagerly awaiting his arrival. In Peter's fantasy his father is a war hero, and he anticipates all the marvelous stories he's going to hear. When David finally arrives Peter is disappointed. His father doesn't want to talk about his war experiences, and just says that he and the other pilots are frightened all the time. He also starts criticizing his son for ...

January 1942. Two security officers visit Edwin to gain information about John Porter. Some weeks ago they traced a transmitter in Belgium. When asking for name, rank and number of the person calling, the answer was John Porter followed by some personal details. It could be a trick by the Germans, but it could also be John, locked up by a resistant group, who uses his technical skills for their own purpose. At the same time Robert is crossing the Atlantic Ocean with his ship, who is escorting a tanker with aviation fuel from New York to England. German submarines ...

Liverpool, January 1942. Freda has a crush on Michael Armstrong. She cannot reveal her feelings for him, but communicates them in a cryptic way by reciting some poetry. Freda tells Sheila that David has a leave and is coming home today or on Monday. With bitterness Sheila remarks that she probably has to share his leave with another woman as usual. She decides to give tit for tat, and joins Freda and Doris on a pleasure-trip to Southport. They go to a dance-hall with some soldiers, but Sheila doesn't enjoy herself, and leaves after a while. At the railway station she ...

March 1942 the Western desert. Phillip is sent on a 10 day mine sweeping course and he meets Sgt. Hazard...

March 1942. The family's bereavement provokes a range of unexpected emotions and re-evaluation of relationships.

John's return to a family much changed by their presumption of his death comes as a profound shock to all, and David's past behaviour comes back to haunt him.

July 1942. Recuperation is hard: in Liverpool John's insomnia affects the whole family. Meanwhile in a desert field hospital Philip copes with the possibility of blindness following a shrapnel injury.

July 1942. A visit from John's mother convinces Margaret to be decisive about her double life.

Sefton takes to his bed with an undiagnosed ailment and Tony is given compassionate leave. Meanwhile on a train, a partially-sighted Philip thinks he recognises a voice from his past amongst his fellow passengers.

David spends Christmas with his pilot in a posh flat in London and gets involved with the pilot's sister. Meanwhile Sheila throws herself at Colin while drunk and depressed. In the Ashton household, the Porters have come for Christmas, but Mrs Porter finds out about Margaret and Michael and their baby. She wants to tell her son, but her husband is trying to stop her. There is an atmosphere of deadly depression affecting everyone, and Jean Ashton is sinking deeper and deeper into herself. At the end though, Philip comes home on leave and she brightens up.

Jean Ashton appears to be suffering from some illness or severe depression, and rightly her family are worried

Preoccupied with personal problems, the family fail to notice that Jean is missing. She is found wandering around the bombed ruins of buildings from her past, reminiscing about old relationships. It seems that she has had a stroke.