When the Boat Comes In — Season 1, Episode 5: Coal Comfort
Drama • 50 min • 4 seasons, 51 episodes • ★ 7.7/10
Episode synopsis
As the strike continues, Bill approaches an old friend, regarding the location of a mine shut down fifty years earlier. Tom pursues two children who have stolen leeks from his allotment but, on discovering that their mother is a war widow with no pension, makes a gift of leeks to them. Billy decides to quit his studies and, while Bill initially offers no opposition, he belittles the lad in the hopes that he will change his mind. The three Seaton men work on the shallow pit that Bill begins to dig under the floorboards — and eventually, Tom holds up a lump of coal in triumph.
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
- E4Swords and Pick Handles
- 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