at the moment we are enjoying watching a dvd boxset of "when the boat comes in." i am sure some of more senior members will remember it. it was a long time ago so i don't know how much anyone can recall but the main character is jack ford and i can't watching and thinking that DW would have been proud to have created him.
he is very much in the GS mould. callous with a kind heart hes nobodies fool and although born into the slums of the northeast he seeing nothing wrong with "getting on", being a boss or enjoying all the good things in life. in fact a fair amount of the structure is to my mind DWy (have i just invented a new adjective).
so can we think of anyone else that .
ken
other DW type characters
I admit I haven't seen this show for over a quarter-century, so one can't give anything I say too much credibility, but I remember Jack Ford as the sort of no-nonsense, practical "where there's mook there's brass" sort of person, who would have had little time for caviar, foie-gras and fine vintages. When such characters appear in DW works (The Trade Union leader in "Scarlet Imposter" come to mind) they tend to be confined to secondary roles... Rather than work up from nowt, as Jack did, I think DW would prefer a man who had been born into wealth... The difference between inherited and acquired wealth was a big thing in his Milieu.
I do, however, remember the program with affection, during my early teen years - including remarking to my mother, in an excrebly fake Geordie accent "Ah doan' reackon ohur bort WILL coom in - ah reckon bloody thing's soonk" over the opening theme. Er, apologies to any Geordies reading...
I do, however, remember the program with affection, during my early teen years - including remarking to my mother, in an excrebly fake Geordie accent "Ah doan' reackon ohur bort WILL coom in - ah reckon bloody thing's soonk" over the opening theme. Er, apologies to any Geordies reading...
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Steve Whatley
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I too remember watching When The Bowt Comes In as a child - I even read one of the novels adapted from the series (not as exciting as a DW!).
Alan, I think you should know I'm an 'adopted Geordie', at least in so far as I have supported Newcastle United these last thirty years and more - strange I know for someone born in Somerset who has lived in Greater London since the age of four! Indeed, I was watching them only last night at Reading, where they all but clinched the Championship title with a 2-1 win. (Sorry, Charles, that football should rear it's ugly head on this website!)
I find the Geordie accent fascinating, but - like Alan - almost impossible to imitate.[font=Courier New] [/font]
Alan, I think you should know I'm an 'adopted Geordie', at least in so far as I have supported Newcastle United these last thirty years and more - strange I know for someone born in Somerset who has lived in Greater London since the age of four! Indeed, I was watching them only last night at Reading, where they all but clinched the Championship title with a 2-1 win. (Sorry, Charles, that football should rear it's ugly head on this website!)
I find the Geordie accent fascinating, but - like Alan - almost impossible to imitate.[font=Courier New] [/font]
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Steve Whatley
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Alan - no probs at present; top of the league and just about to clinch the Championship. Are you behind the times? Perhaps it still takes a month for news to reach the colonies????
Just to try to keep vaguely to DW, I know he had little interest in sport, but if he had been a football fan, he might have supported Southampton, being a local team for a Lymington resident, and 'the Saints' being surely the least satanic team in the league.
In his Cadogan Square days, I suppose he could have switched to Chelsea - he could have sat next to Lord Larry![font=Courier New] [/font]
Just to try to keep vaguely to DW, I know he had little interest in sport, but if he had been a football fan, he might have supported Southampton, being a local team for a Lymington resident, and 'the Saints' being surely the least satanic team in the league.
In his Cadogan Square days, I suppose he could have switched to Chelsea - he could have sat next to Lord Larry![font=Courier New] [/font]
Well, it's a well-known fact that ALL great writers support Chelsea. I can't wait till the Pies manage to haul themselves back into the big boys' league so we can thrash them twice a year again.Steve Whatley wrote:
In his Cadogan Square days, I suppose he could have switched to Chelsea - he could have sat next to Lord Larry![font=Courier New] [/font]
(ducks under table)
Yes: DW’s lead characters are nearly all either of independent means, or at the very least their own boss, or as good as (like Simon Aron). If for any reason they don’t start like that, they soon become so through some stroke of luck. Linda Lee in particular comes to mind here, and (unless my memory’s at fault) Adam Gordon of Unholy Crusade. No real prolonged hardscrabble for either of those, at least once the story begins.
And there were of course several others who are impoverished but who nevertheless have wealth or privilege or “good connections†somewhere in the family background. Think of Barney Sullivan in The Satanist, who turns out to be an Irish peer; or Swithin Destime in The Eunuch of Stamboul.
The ones who genuinely do slog their way up from nothing by their own unaided effort are usually either secondary characters (as Alan remarks) or out-and-out villains like Hinkman in Such Power Is Dangerous.
As for Jack Ford, the character who kicked this whole discussion off: I too remember fondly When The Boat Comes In, not least for its having been my first exposure to the ever-fascinating Geordie accent (my wife detests it, but there aren’t many regional British accents she does like!!). Also greatly enjoyed the theme song by Alex Glasgow, though that’s sung in Northumbrian dialect rather than Newcastle.
I’m inclined to agree with Alan in saying that JF wasn’t really a DW-type lead character. Although I do remember his adopting some pretty non-working-class habits, that was in the third series, when, frankly, the whole thing started to become detached from reality anyway. JF eventually developed into a figure of such total omnipotence and invincibility as to become completely implausible.
And there were of course several others who are impoverished but who nevertheless have wealth or privilege or “good connections†somewhere in the family background. Think of Barney Sullivan in The Satanist, who turns out to be an Irish peer; or Swithin Destime in The Eunuch of Stamboul.
The ones who genuinely do slog their way up from nothing by their own unaided effort are usually either secondary characters (as Alan remarks) or out-and-out villains like Hinkman in Such Power Is Dangerous.
As for Jack Ford, the character who kicked this whole discussion off: I too remember fondly When The Boat Comes In, not least for its having been my first exposure to the ever-fascinating Geordie accent (my wife detests it, but there aren’t many regional British accents she does like!!). Also greatly enjoyed the theme song by Alex Glasgow, though that’s sung in Northumbrian dialect rather than Newcastle.
I’m inclined to agree with Alan in saying that JF wasn’t really a DW-type lead character. Although I do remember his adopting some pretty non-working-class habits, that was in the third series, when, frankly, the whole thing started to become detached from reality anyway. JF eventually developed into a figure of such total omnipotence and invincibility as to become completely implausible.
Fas est et ab hoste doceri
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Garry Holmes
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sorry i haven't been on lately to follow this thread as we have been having some work done a home and connection has been out.
well i suppose its all down to interpretation but as i see it roger brook is not that well and that is one of the reasons he has to work for mr pitt. i have to disagree with alan on his original reply,JF loved the finer things in life, cigars, good wine, whiskey and food. personally i think RB and GS paths were modelled on DWs own in as much as they mixed in a higher starta then they would have normally have.
any just my take on it all. still no other DW type characters?
well i suppose its all down to interpretation but as i see it roger brook is not that well and that is one of the reasons he has to work for mr pitt. i have to disagree with alan on his original reply,JF loved the finer things in life, cigars, good wine, whiskey and food. personally i think RB and GS paths were modelled on DWs own in as much as they mixed in a higher starta then they would have normally have.
any just my take on it all. still no other DW type characters?