Decent TV – such a rarity these days.
Iplayer if you missed it – Bob Hoskins doing his thing

Brilliant TV.

yes. v good.

I LOLed at the pint with the cocktail umbrella (no doubt it has a proper name)

Yep, brilliant TV

Enjoyed it. High Noon without the gunfight. err! a reference to a classic western for the younger ones 😉

Gary Cooper?

Not as good as '3.10 to Yuma' (or whatever time the train left)

Bob Hoskins doing his thing

Not really – back in his day he would have wupped his ass! 😉

I only caught the last bit – what had the kid done to be banned in the first place and be called a tart?

Fantastic programme!

MF – yep, in his Long Good Friday era, the boot would have been on the other foot.
Jimmy McGovern at his best with a good solid cast.

So – what HAD the kid done to be banned?????

Smoking in the toilet.

Is that all? I though maybe he'd been caught cottaging a regular round the back by the bins or something!

Pub landlord bans local gangsters son. Gangster threatens all sorts of violence unless son is unbarred. Revenge is served cold…

He did beat him, that's what the whole thing was about. Plus he gave the gangsters wife and son a chance to sack the thug off.

But as a plot, wasn't the landlord a bit of a wet to ban someone for something as trivial as smoking in the toilets? I thought it would have been something really serious so he felt he couldn't back down from the ban.

Think it was because he was one of the yoofs in the pub footy team rather than a general rule of the pub. He banned another player earlier in the play and so, after a crisis of conscience, stuck to his principles and applied the rules equitably he then banned the gangsters son and would not back down due to threats – etc etc.

The £5000 fine a landlord apparently gets for someone smoking in a pub had a lot to do with it.

Think it was because he was one of the yoofs in the pub footy team rather than a general rule of the pub. He banned another player earlier in the play and so, after a crisis of conscience, stuck to his principles and applied the rules equitably he then banned the gangsters son and would not back down due to threats – etc etc.

Fair enough – that sounds a reasonable plot. You can tell I didn't watch it all 🙂

But why did he call him a tart??? Was he acting like a tart for smoking in the bogs?

But why did he call him a tart??? Was he acting like a tart for smoking in the bogs?

He asked the lad if he thought he was right to be banned, he said yes and also agreed that he was only there because his father made him, so landlord to hardman;

"You treat your son like a Tart, I'll serve him like a Tart"

Hence the drink with umbrella and straws, an exercise in humiliation though you really had to watch the whole programme to appreciate it.

So he was a tart because his dad made him go back in? Weird.

But as you say, I should've watched the whole programme, but I was attending to our 5 week old twin daughters 🙂

It's on iplayer and I would recommend it.

So he was a tart because his dad made him go back in? Weird

He didn't say he was a tart – said to the hard man, he was bringing his son up as a tart

should've watched the whole programme, but I was attending to our 5 week old twin daughters

Respect – that must be hard work. Don't bring them up as tarts. 😉

Tip Top Tickety Boo Telly IMHO

Recorded it by mistake and watched it it anyway – fantastic – mastilles, no amount of explaining will make it clear – just watch it. Great performances all round, and well worth watching again