The Brothers is a British television series, produced and shown by the BBC between 1972 and 1976. Corporate logo of the British Broadcasting Corporation The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is the national publicly funded broadcaster of the United Kingdom. ... 1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ... 1976 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Synopsis

The series was based around conflict within the Hammond family over the direction of the family firm, a road haulage business called Hammond Transport Services, after the death of patriarch Robert Hammond. The eldest son, Edward (played by Glyn Owen during the first series and by Patrick O'Connell for the remainder of the show's run), prepares to take over the running of the business, only to find that his father has left equal shares to his two other sons, Brian (Richard Easton), a dull accountant and David (Robin Chadwick), a young graduate - and to his mistress, company secretary Jennifer Kingsley (Jennifer Wilson). Storylines throughout the series dealt with plans to expand the business into an international concern, coupled with more family-oriented plots as Edward and Jennifer fall in love and marry. Glyn (Griffith) Owen (6 March 1928 – 10 September 2004) was a British stage and television actor. ...

Other prominent characters included Hammond's hard-faced widow and the mother of the three brothers, Mary (Jean Anderson), who is determined to continue exercising her own influence over her family, Brian's shrewish wife Ann (Hilary Tindall) and David's girlfriend then wife Jill (Gabrielle Drake). Later cast members to join the programme included Colin Baker as the villainous financial whizzkid and proto-yuppie Paul Merroney, Liza Goddard as his secretary then wife April Winter and Kate O'Mara as Jane Maxwell, the tough female boss of an air freight business. Gabrielle Drake as Lt. ... Colin Baker (born June 8, 1943) is a British actor who is best known for playing the sixth incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who. ... Yuppie, short for Young Urban Professional, describes a demographic of people comprising baby boomers as well as people in their late twenties and early thirties. ... Liza Goddard (born 20 January 1950) is a television and stage actress best known for her work in the 1970s and 1980s. ... Kate OMara (born August 10, 1939), British actress, born in Leicester. ...

The show also featured Mike Pratt playing the character Don Stacey (1975 - 1976). This was the final role that he played before his untimely death. Michael Pratt (known as Mike; 7th June 1931 - 10th July 1976) was an English actor and born in London, England. ...

Analysis

The Brothers could be considered a prototype "supersoap" since the series defined a successful format that would later be used by the American series Dallas, Dynasty and Falcon Crest as well as the British serial Howards' Way. The use of a family as the central focus of the drama, introducing conflict between the men and having their lives directed by ambitious, formidable women acting as the power behind the throne, and storylines involving the scheming for status and acquisition of wealth and power against a corporate backdrop. Although it is highly doubtful that this 1970's BBC family drama had any genuine influence on the glossy American capitalist fantasies of the 1980's, the thematic links between The Brothers and many of the "avarice dramas" that followed on both sides of the Atlantic are undeniable. Dallas title card used during the shows first season. ... Dynasty was an American primetime television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 1981 to May 1989. ... Falcon Crest was an American primetime television soap opera; it aired 227 episodes from December 4, 1981 to May 17, 1990. ... Howards Way was a BBC drama series that ran from 1985 to 1990 that attempted to provide a British alternative to glossy American sagas such as Dallas and Dynasty, usually transmitted on Sunday evenings. ... Events and trends Although in the United States and in many other Western societies the 1970s are often seen as a period of transition between the turbulent 1960s and the more conservative 1980s and 1990s, many of the trends that are associated widely with the Sixties, from the Sexual Revolution... In economics, a capitalist is someone who owns capital, presumably within the economic system of capitalism. ... Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 1960s and 1970s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ...

Created and produced by Gerard Glaister, who would go on to produce the popular BBC drama Secret Army as well as Howards' Way, The Brothers became a highly popular Sunday night favourite with BBC viewers throughout the early 1970's. Gerard Glaister (1915-2005) is a British television producer and director best known for his work with the BBC. Amongst his most notable successes as a TV producer were Colditz, The Brothers, Secret Army and Howards Way. ... Secret Army was a BBC television series created by Gerald Glaister that ran for three seasons from September 7, 1977 to December 15, 1979. ...

Links

• Mike Pratt - Actor