Shoulder to Shoulder

I watched this avidly when it was broadcast in the 1970s. Why, I wonder, has this excellent series been allowed to gather dust? It had brilliant acting and was both informative and moving. The song, The March of the Women, always moves me to tears.

I have a nasty suspicion that it's to do with sexism at the BBC. It's about women, and by women, and deals with women as people, not decorative fluff. Given programming costs, I would have thought they'd welcome the chance to air all those well-made episodes at no cost. And a re-broadcast would stimulate DVD sales, assuming they ever made the effort to put it out in DVD format.

Of course, if the BBC felt like it, there is a great deal of gold that could be mined on the subject of the struggle for women's rights: the fight for married women's property rights; the fight for equal rights in marriage and divorce; the fights for education against medical advice that it would bring on brain fever or interfere with women's reproductive capabilities; the fights for admission to various professions.

The BBC IS Tto repeat this wonderful series starting this week on BBC4, they have shown some fantastic gems over last year including THE ROADS TO FREEDOM, SUNSET SONG, HOTEL DU LAC , MOMETI MORI dare we hope for CAKES AND ALE with Michael Hordern and Judy Cornwall and THE BELL with Ian Holm and VILLETTE it is becoming increasingly obvious these still exist and have not been shredded as were told to believe! A bonus is an introduction to the series with Sian Phillips and two of the directors Moira Armstrong and Waris Hussein. Essentially these are six separate plays giving individual movements of key figures . It shows the internal squabbles within the Pankhurst family and how they would drop people who no longer agreed with their viewpoint. It's a fascinating warts and all intelligent series well worth this new viewingfifty years since first broadcast!

I can think of few tv shows that have that kind of impact. It is now 100 years since the first women got the vote - come on BBC - wake up, boys stop worrying about your pay packets, hegemony and whether the women might actually take over your jobs and put this glorious series on i-player! The show was well written, well acted, well directed and - almost most amazing of all at the time - starred women - with men only in supporting roles - it was utterly revolutionary as a tv series as well as being about a women's revolution. Wonderful

This title should be made available on DVD so that I can show the younger members of my family at what cost the vote was given to them. Not only was this splendid drama it was an invaluable lesson to a young me and I have never wasted my vote since seeing it. There is an apathy now among the young and their precious vote just does not seem important to them not a good attitude as past history can reveal. BBC Four screened one episode recently why only one? It is so frustrating to see one episode of such a quality drama and then not to be able to see the rest. When there are so many old dramas coming out for general view again surely this one is due for release so please release it distributors there are many out there who would love to see it again.

This series is one of my favorites. It dramatizes the life of the Pankhurst family who led the movement for the woman's right to vote in England. Their cause was a just one, and they finally succeed after the first world war. The acting is wonderful. TOP RATE. What is very interesting, too, is the observation that though their cause was very important, there was an undercurrent of rivalry within an autocratic leadership of the movement. Nevertheless, the leaders ruled, rather like a dictatorship which, at times, negated humane consideration. The willingness to suffer by some of these woman for the right to vote and participate in society is a hallmark in history. I HOPE TO SEE THIS BROUGHT TO DVD.