Sam Series Two - The Memorable TV DVD Review

Distributor: Acorn Media UK
Certificate: PG | 13x50minute episodes
Region: 2
Extras: Yes
Release Date: 13 September 2004
Reviewer: Alan R

ANYONE IN IT WE KNOW?

SAM was made by Granada Television with each series consisting of 13 episodes. The first series dealt with Sam as a young boy. But in this, the second series, Sam is now a man in his twenties and the role is taken over by Mark McManus (who went on to become TV's Taggart). There are no other star names amongst the regulars or anyone who went on to become a household name - except for Tom Conti who appears in two episodes.

WHAT’S IT ABOUT THEN?

This is a terrific series from the 1970s about a close-knit family in a small Yorkshire town of Skellerton set soon after the Second World War when rationing was still in force and families had to struggle to get by.

As the series begins Sam Wilson is a mineworker on the first day after the nationalisation of the industry in 1947. As the series progresses his fortunes change as he is bequeathed a row of houses by a dying grandfather and becomes a landlord. He is also the trustee for some land owned by his father whose whereabouts are unknown following his abandonment of Sam's late mother many years before. Sam seeks to discover what became of him later in the series.

His mother Rosa (from the first series) had died in childbirth whilst having his much-younger half-brother Les, and Sam feels a deep hatred for her lover Alan, although he adores Les. Other central characters are Eileen (Alan's new wife), George and Ethel (Sam's uncle and aunt), Jack and Polly (Sam's other grandparents), and Frank (another uncle with political ambitions) all living close-by and constantly popping into each others houses (no knocking required!). Other figures are Arthur Corby, a successful local businessman for whom things turn sour later on in the series, and his daughter Sarah who is Sam's main love interest. There are several other regular characters milling about on the fringes of the story.

This series takes us up to about 1952 and ends with an important turning point in Sam's life. Although the titular character, it is by no means a star vehicle for Mark McManus. Sam remains a central focus throughout but just as much screen-time is given over to scenes featuring other characters.

SAM is a studio-shot living-room drama with most of the scenes played out in the various characters' front rooms and sometimes the pub. It is not an episodic story-of-the-week type series, but a soap-opera-like saga that develops as the episodes move on. People marry, others die - and in mid-series the narrative jumps forward three years as Sam returns home from a period working as a seaman.

SO IS IT ANY GOOD?

As the old saying goes "They don't make them like this anymore". But more's the pity, I say. Some argue that seventies TV wasn't really any better than it is today but is just being viewed through rose-tinted spectacles. But can that be true? Here is a series I've never seen before - never even heard of it in actual fact - so I've no nostalgic attachment to it - and I think it's great. I didn't make "allowances" for it being made in the seventies but just watched it as if it was made yesterday. Perhaps there are some seventies series that haven't aged well but this is not one of them.

The quality of the acting and writing is first rate. Writer John Finch, who also wrote "A Family At War" a few years prior to this, definitely has an ear for dialogue and takes time to develop his characters within scenes whilst never forgetting his plot has to move on. It never feels hurried but doesn't drag either.

Here is a piece of seventies TV that will draw you in. It might help a bit to have seen series 1 first - but I haven't and it didn't seem to matter once I had got to grips with who was who and what their relationships to each other were - (character biographies in the extras would have been nice - but sadly not).

ANY SPECIAL FEATURES?

Extras are routine. Cast filmographies and writer biography as well as some production photos and background to its origins. Also some press quotes from the time about how the critics enjoyed it.