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| THE
BROTHERS 10/03/72 - 05/09/76, BBC1 reviewed by Ian Abrahams |
September
2000
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There has been a long tradition of business related soaps, stretching back as far as Compact. The pinnacle of this strand of soap-opera, the "avarice" soaps, is clearly Dallas. But, for its long run during the 1970s, the BBC series The Brothers was clearly one of the best and most influential of the entire genre. On paper, this series was about the personal and boardroom strife endured by three conflicting (if not to say diametrically opposed) brothers who each inherit a share of their father's road haulage operation after his death. However, the seeds of family disunity are sown from beyond the grave in the opening episode. It is revealed that not only will eldest son Edmond Hammond be unexpectedly dividing his legacy with dropout arty brother David and his hitherto disinterested middle sibling Brian (an accountant "in the City"), he will also be sharing the boardroom with former Hammond Transport secretary Jennifer who was the secret long-time mistress of old-man Hammond. However, whilst this was ostensibly the plot for the first series it soon became apparent that the programme would pitch into other directions. The focal points for much of The Brothers early seasons would be the women in the lives of the three brothers. Presiding over the lot of them was Jean Anderson in her stereotypical role as the matriarchal force behind the scenes, plotting and directing the lives of her three sons and their relationships with their wives and girlfriends. Brian's turbulent marriage to Anne, played with devious glee by the late Hillary Tindal, and David's on-off relationship with girlfriend Jill (the effervescent Gabrielle Drake) are the most compelling elements to early episodes. Indeed the death, off-screen and between seasons, of Drake's character is still one of the best remembered TV demises! Hardly surprising then, that the original undercurrent provided by the love-hate conflict between Edward (originally Glyn Owen, playing a role he would essentially reprise for Howard's Way) and Jennifer is sidelined very early into the second season. The second interesting element, which perhaps is only appreciable by viewing in hindsight, is the reflection of the changes in worker/management relationships which occurred through the '70s and early '80s. This can be seen in the elevation of work's foreman, Bill, from "one of the boys" to key board member and the resistance in accepting this by both workforce and directors. The pointer in this scenario to the Thatcherite '80s is exemplified by the addition to the programme of city-slicker Paul Merroney (Colin Baker). During the later run of the series, Baker cemented his "man you loved to hate" role, sparking off against Kate O'Mara who played an aviation company owner. At the peak of the series' popularity, Baker endured physical attacks in the street as a result of his machinations in attempting to expand and globalise Hammond Transport. What a bastard, all those underhanded, money grasping strategies! Except, love it or hate it, we are all now children of the Thatcher revolution and it's impossible to view those scenes today without secretly identifying with Merroney as a dynamic, go-ahead entrepreneur having to use every tactic to pull the backward looking, stuck-in-the-mud Hammonds into the modern business environment. It finished after six years, fading out with a Christmas special. Not axed, but not renewed again either. In a way, it returned a few years later. Only this time it was called Howard's Way and it embraced the Thatcher era like no other soap could have done. It had the same themes, powerful women directing the lives of weaker men, acquisition of wealth and status through business at the cutting edge. It had Glyn Owen playing Jack Rolfe in much the same style as he had done as Edward Hammond in The Brothers' first season. It had Tony Anholt, even more devious as Merroney replacement Charles Frere. Towards the end it even had Kate O'Mara - guess what - essentially reprising her Brothers' role. But it lacked some of The Brothers more down to earth touches and, like the now forgotten ITV business soap The Foundation, and like Dallas, it had a disconnected relationship with the way our lives developed during its era. The Brothers, however, delineated the workplace issues of the day whilst pointing towards the aspirations of the decade to follow, a format which has not since been repeated. |
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