Tom Grattan's War

Tom Grattan's War was a British television series which ran from 1968 to 1970. The show revolved around the life of Tom Grattan who was sent to live with relatives in Yorkshire during the Great War.

Plotlines and setting

Tom Grattan was a 15-year-old boy from London during World War One who is sent to live on a farm in Yorkshire for the duration of the war with relatives the Kirkby family. While living on the farm he has various adventures involving German spies, prejudice towards resident enemy aliens, saboteurs, escaped P.O.W.'s, criminals and secret weapons.[1]

The series was filmed entirely on location in rural Yorkshire including making use of various rundown and abandoned castles, quarries and factories although the show did also feature vintage stock footage from the war.

The story-lines ranged with some plots carrying over for multiple chapters while other episodes were stand alone.

Unusually for a drama television series, the episodes included a narrator that would sometimes appear on screen.

Cast
  • Michael Howe as Tom Grattan
  • Sally Adcock as Julie Kirkby
  • Connie Merigold as Mrs Kirkby
  • George Malpas as Stan Hobbs
  • Richard Warner as the Host/Narrator[2]

Artist Clive Hicks-Jenkins appeared as a guest star in one multiple episode story line. Some episodes were directed by Ronald Eyre and others by Stephen Frears.[3]

Broadcast history

26 episodes were produced by Yorkshire Television[4] with the show originally airing between 1968 and 1970 in Britain[1] and was also carried in Canada on TV Ontario and in America on the American Broadcasting Company network. It was released on Region 2 DVD in July 2009.[5]

Other media

Stories from the series were also adapted in paperback book form.

References
  1. "Tom Grattan's War". networkair.com. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  2. "Tom Grattan's War". IMDB. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  3. "Stephen Frears: Baftas 'arse-achingly' boring, says director". The Independent. 23 February 2003. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  4. "Tom Grattan's War". Radio Times. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  5. "Tom Grattan's War the complete series". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
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