When the Boat Comes In — Season 1, Episode 4: Swords and Pick Handles

Episode synopsis

Jack visits Sir Horatio Manners, father of his late commanding officer, to gift him a sword. Manners knows this is a ploy for Jack to ingratiate himself but is regardless 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 reconcile after Jack rescues Tom, in need of money and working as a 'black-leg', from being beaten up by his striking colleagues.

About When the Boat Comes In

When the Boat Comes In is a British television period drama produced by the BBC between 8 January 1976 and 21 April 1981. Taking place between 1919 to 1937, Jack Ford is a veteran of The Great War who returns to his poverty-stricken (fictional) town of Gallowshield in the North East of England. It dramatises the interwar political struggles of the 1920s and 1930s, and explores the impact of national and international politics upon Ford and those around him.

More episodes from Season 1

• E1A Land Fit for Heroes and Idiots
• E2Say Hello... Say Tirra
• E3Fish in Woolly Jumpers
• E5Coal Comfort
• E6Empire Day on the Slag Heap
• E7A First Time for Everything
• E8Paddy Boyle's Discharge
• E9Angel on Horseback
• E10King for a Day
• E11Happy New Year, Some Say
• E12Heads You Win, Tails I Lose
• E13Kind Hearted Rat with a Lifebelt