Flesh and Blood is the story of the Brassington family who are ruled, both at work and at home, by their bombastic head of family, Henry, played superbly by Bill Fraser, with the late Dame Thora Hird, as Mabel Brassington, his mother.
The Brassingtons own a cement factory which provides welcome employment for the local people and the story deals with the harshness of making workers redundant, an unhappy marriage and family life and death. Flesh and Blood was well received and achieved over seven million viewers when the first series aired on BBC One in 1980. John Peter of The Observer reviewing Flesh and Blood wrote ‘real from the start, with first-rate actors who fill the screen’.
I found the series a bit of a peculiarity as I found it a bit bland and lightweight and more akin to a soap that a short drama series. The subject matter wasn't really that glamourous either, so board room battles and petty rivalries seemed trivial in comparison to others shows with a similar theme (think of Dallas and the oil, or Howard's Way and the boatyard). Cement is just grey dust, and not exactly the sort of thing people get excited about! That said, it was well worth watching for Bill Fraser and Thora Hird alone.