A Family at War



A Family At War is a British drama series that aired on ITV from 1970 to 1972. It was created by John Finch and made by Granada Television for ITV. The director was David Giles.

The series examined the lives of the lower middle-class Ashton family of the city of Liverpool and their experiences from 1938 and through the Second World War. Despite being set in Liverpool, only one of the regular characters (David Ashton) spoke with a Liverpudlian accent.

Fifty-two episodes were produced, all but eight of them in colour. Episodes numbers 25 to 32 were recorded in black and white because of the ITV Colour Strike.

The memorable theme tune is from the First Movement (Allegro) of Vaughan Williams's Sixth Symphony.

Cast

 * Colin Douglas as Edwin Ashton
 * Shelagh Fraser as Jean Ashton
 * Colin Campbell as David Ashton
 * Barbara Flynn as Freda Ashton
 * Keith Drinkel as Philip Ashton
 * David Dixon as Robert Ashton
 * Lesley Nunnerley as Margaret Porter
 * Coral Atkins as Sheila Ashton
 * John McKelvey as Sefton Briggs
 * T.R. Bowen as Tony Briggs
 * Ian Thompson as John Porter
 * Diana Davies as Doris Jackson
 * John Nettles as Ian Mackenzie
 * Mark Jones as Michael Armstrong
 * Margery Mason as Celia Porter
 * Patrick Troughton as Harry Porter
 * Brett Usher as Ken Beaumont

DVD release
All episodes of A Family at War are available on DVD in the UK, distributed by Acorn Media UK, but with several of the released episodes edited down from their original running times. For example, in episode three Margery Mason and Patrick Troughton are credited but do not appear.