''Forever Green'' is a television programme originally broadcast on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

in the United Kingdom from 26 February 1989 to 24 May 1992. It was made for

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 unt ...

by Picture Partnership Productions, now named

Carnival Films Carnival Films is a British production company based in London, UK, founded in 1978. It has produced television series for all the major UK networks including the BBC, ITV (TV network), ITV, Channel 4, and Sky (United Kingdom), Sky, as well as ...

Cast

Pauline Collins Pauline Collins (born 3 September 1940) is a British actress who first came to prominence portraying Sarah Moffat in '' Upstairs, Downstairs'' (1971–1973) and its spin-off, ''Thomas & Sarah'' (1979). In 1992, she published her autobiography, ...

- Harriet Boult *

John Alderton John Alderton (born 27 November 1940) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in '' Upstairs, Downstairs'', ''Thomas & Sarah'', ''Wodehouse Playhouse'', ''Little Miss'' (original television series), ''Please Sir!'', ''No, Honestly' ...

- Jack Boult * Daisy Bates - Freddy Boult *Nimer Rashed - Tom Boult *

Paola Dionisotti Paola Dionisotti (; born 1946) is an Italian-British actress active on stage and British television since 1975. A character actress best known on television for recurring roles as Lady Patricia Broughall in ''Forever Green'' and Aunt Nicholls i ...

- Lady Patricia Broughall *

Wendy van der Plank Wendy Alison van der Plank is an English actress best known for playing the title role in the ITV (TV network), ITV children's series ''Wizadora''. Career Van der Plank's first television appearance was in the BBC comedy series ''Spin Off''. Af ...

- Hilly * Alan Rowe - Geoff Bate *Ian Lindsay - Ted Hubbard

Plot

Jack, a former racing driver, and Harriet Boult, a nurse, live in a London flat with their two children, Frederica (Freddy) and Tom. Freddy suffers from asthma, which Harriet believes could be due to the city pollution, and after a serious attack begins to think leaving the city could be the best treatment available. Soon after, a letter arrives advising Harriet of an inheritance from one of her old patients, a run-down house in the country. It only takes one visit to persuade them to move. The 18 episodes contain plots dealing with their adapting to life in the country and touches on environmental themes, alternative healing and alternative lifestyle choices.

Episodes

Filming locations

The Boult family's country home, Meadows Green Farm, is sometimes said to have been in the

Cotswolds The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale. The area is defined by the bedrock of Jur ...

, though place names mentioned in the series point to it being further south in

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

. For example, the fictional address of Geoff Bate's Handcross Garage is Handcross, Somerset, and Shepton is mentioned frequently, presumably a reference to

Shepton Mallet Shepton Mallet is a market town and civil parish in the Mendip District of Somerset, England, some south-west of Bath, south of Bristol and east of Wells. It had an estimated population of 10,810 in 2019. Mendip District Council is based t ...

. The exact location of the house is at Tunley, two miles southeast of Bisley, near Sapperton, Gloucestershire. A scene in the first episode of series two was filmed at Furze Platt Senior School in Berkshire. Lady Patricia's house is Nether Winchendon House in

Nether Winchendon Nether Winchendon or Lower Winchendon is a village and civil parish in the Aylesbury Vale district of Buckinghamshire, England. It is near the county boundary with Oxfordshire, about west of Aylesbury and north of Haddenham. The toponym " ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

.IMDB locations
/ref> Also,

Wincanton Wincanton ( or ) is a small town and electoral ward in South Somerset, southwest England. The town lies off the A303 road, a main route between London and South West England, and has some light industry. The town and electoral ward has a populati ...

, in Somerset, is mentioned in the third episode. The horse rustlers were caught the other side of Wincanton, more evidence to suggest it was filmed in Somerset.

Other information

Originally filmed as three series, broadcast of the second series was delayed by coverage of the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

and series 2 and 3 were shown as a continuous twelve-episode second series in 1992.British Film Institute
/ref>

Home video and DVD

Series 1 was originally released by Granada Ventures Ltd on VHS and DVD. All episodes have since been released on DVD by Network. The first series was re-released on a two-disc set in June 2009. The remaining twelve episodes were released as a three-disc Series 2 DVD in April 2010. Later in 2010, a five-disc set of all eighteen episodes was released The series was originally conceived and written by Terence Brady and Charlotte Bingham for LWTV and Picture Partnerships. Brady and Bingham then wrote the entire first series, but due to a serious dispute with the producers they then withdrew from the subsequent series and requested their names be removed from the credits. They did, however, retain format and copyright in the series and characters.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0106001, title=Forever Green 1989 British television series debuts 1992 British television series endings 1980s British drama television series 1990s British drama television series London Weekend Television shows ITV television dramas Television series by ITV Studios English-language television shows Television shows set in England