The Brothers: Emergency (BBC-1 1 Sep 1974)

In the season opener Emergency which continues on directly from the end of the final season three episode Ted and Jennifer (who are back from their holiday together having made a commitment to get married) have discovered Mary Hammond on the floor of her conservatory having suffered another heart attack, rushed to hospital intensive care things are quite touch and go, she makes something of a rally and makes it plain to Edward that she could not stand having Jennifer Kingsley being any part of the Hammond family, Edward is unable to tell her of his plans for marriage. Meanwhile Ann makes contact once again with Nicholas Fox.

A quiet opener for the season really, lots of anguish for the family and in particular Ted and Jenny who are coming to realise that whilst Mary Hammond is alive they will never be able to be together properly. Meanwhile there a few changes in the cast too, gone are the conniving Julie and Ann’s confidant Pamela Graham and in for the first time is Bill Riley’s wife Gwen (Margaret Ashcroft who plays Gwen had a prominent role in the excellent ITV series The Main Chance prior to her role here) as we get to see quite a bit of Riley’s home life. There are also new updated end titles with new photographs which make an appearance with this episode too.