Thu, Mar 11, 1976
Dolly is pregnant and Jack jobless so he agrees to a proposition to make money, from Manners, who wants to buy a house from Lord Calderbeck. Jack, posing as a parvenu car parts tycoon, will act as front man. At the house he meets Freddy, Calderbeck's nephew and heir, though his Lordship resents him as he survived the war, unlike Calderbeck's sons. Freddy is suspicious of Jack but the merry widow Jane Cromer, Freddy's fiancée, is partial to a bit of rough and climbs into Jack's bed. Ultimately Jack persuades her to marry Freddy and, thanks to inside information from Billy, who is working on his Lordship's land, gets a good sale for the house with a healthy commission for himself. However he learns that Dolly has had a miscarriage.
Thu, Dec 15, 1977
At a charity ball where he meets Lady Caroline's betrothed, guards captain Mostyn, Jack hits it off with Isobel, who confirms that Dixon is quite mad. Billy is angry to see Jack flirting with her but it is Jack's way of forcing Billy to declare his feelings for her. Isobel's mother supports Billy as he persuades Murchison to renew business with Bill, who now owns five shops. Jack and High Life catch Dixon breaking into the duke's house to destroy a picture of the duke's wife. It is his revenge because the duke's late son seduced Dixon's daughter and Manners, feeling responsible for Dixon, agrees to look out for him and his family if no charges are pressed. Having lent Tom money for his own market garden Jack meets Matt for a last drink before setting sail for America.
Fri, Dec 17, 1976
Bill opens a second shop. Jessie returns from hospital with her baby son, Arthur William. Her husband Arthur feels they should visit his childless, wealthy aunt in Kent, in the hope that she will bestow financial favour on the child. Jack and Dolly prepare for a dinner party with the Duke of Bedlington, where Jack will negotiate for land from the duke, upon which Manners plans to build a trading estate. Manners warns Jack not to take Dolly to the party, as she will be out of her depth - and he is right, for catty society women taunt her there for her lack of sophistication, though she finds an ally in pleasant Lady Caroline. Tom later offers her a shoulder to cry on, observed by Jack.
Tue, Apr 7, 1981
Lady Caroline invites Jack to visit her and her family back in Gallowshield. He finds Sarah about to marry Geordie Watson's agent Stan Liddell, who is involved in anti-Fascist politics as the Blackshirts whip up hysteria against Jews. Jack steps in to help persecuted shop-keeper Manny Goldstein before attending a function given by Lady Caroline's husband, Edward Mostyn, who, although he hates Fascists, needs to invite their leader Smith-Jameson to improve his chances of political candidacy. Jack tells Smith-Jameson just what he thinks of him and walks out, supported by socialist guest Tania Corley. Before returning to London he buys Manny's shop so that, when Fascist thugs attack it, he forces Smith-Jameson to pay Manny full compensation or risk prosecution. He also exposes the Blackshirt as having paid money to a Jew.
Fri, Nov 26, 1976
Les Mallow wants Jack to expose seed merchant Sanderson, whose brother is on the housing committee and sells plants to council tenants at outrageous prices, on pain of eviction if they refuse. If Jack declines Les threatens to reveal that he took a bribe from Kaganovich's father, a fact he learned from a drunken Matt. Opinions of Jack's behaviour are divided, temporarily causing a rift between locum doctor Billy and Tom, now a self-employed gardener. However Jack is able to call Les's bluff by unearthing a shameful secret in his own family, courtesy of Jessie, who also asks him to employ Billy as the union's doctor in deciding compensation cases.
Fri, Dec 3, 1976
Billy gets a job with the altruistic Dr. Stoker, helping poor patients for precious little financial return. All his family disapprove, especially upon learning that he turned down Jack's job offer. Tom meets Charlotte Courtnay, a glamorous novelist from London, looking for her father, a Catholic priest, who is also working with Dr. Stoker. He gets on well with her but Jack is suspicious that she is toying with him as a bit of rough and persuades her to return to London before he gets hurt. To her credit she leaves Tom money and a note saying that he would have been 'too nice' for her.
Fri, Jan 7, 1977
Seeing the disastrous dinner party as the final proof that she should never have married him, Dolly leaves Jack to move in with Tom. Jack gets them both jobs on the duke's staff, rather enjoying the fact that they are now his inferiors as he becomes increasingly friendly with Lady Caroline, the duke's widowed daughter. He buys land from her to spite Manners and ends up kissing her though both are aware that they are only having a fling. Billy finally accepts Jack's job offer but surprises the family by saying that the money earned will be split between repaying his debt to them and finances for the clinic, with nothing for himself.
Fri, Jan 28, 1977
A hard-nosed factory owner called Colfax refuses to allow his workers to join a union. Manners has had a bet with him that Jack will make him change his mind. For his own, ethical reasons Jack tries to persuade Colfax by calling strike action but has to back off when Colfax brings in the Chief Constable to read the Riot Act to Jack about the strikers assaulting the black leg replacement workers. The strike is off but Jack sees through Manners' hidden agenda and gets one over on him. Bella is rushed to hospital with appendicitis.
Thu, Jan 8, 1976
In 1919, Jack Ford returns to Gallowshields on Tyneside after service in the Great War. He becomes friendly with the Seaton family - parents Bella and Bill, and their children: Jessie, a schoolteacher to whom Jack is attracted; Billy, a medical student and Socialist; and Tom, who is getting married to his sweetheart Mary. Mary's young brother was killed in the War, and Jack tells Tom in confidence that he died in the arms of another man. Billy and Jessie try to involve Jack in the local Labour Party against the Liberal candidate and magistrate, former Major Pinner, who is against votes for women. Pinner not only wins the election, but makes himself unpopular by trying Will Scrimgour, a shell-shocked war hero who got into a fight whilst he was confused and scared.
Thu, Jan 29, 1976
Jack visits Sir Horatio Manners, father of his late commanding officer and gives him a present of a sword. Manners knows this is a ploy for Jack to ingratiate himself but is impressed by his guile and offers him a job at his new factory, supervising non-Union workers. This angers Jessie, who sees Jack as betraying his kind but they are reconciled after Jack has rescued Tom, in need of money and working as a 'black-leg' or strike-breaking miner, from being beaten up by his striking colleagues.