Balfour Sharp

Blinker, so named because he blinks whenever he has a bright idea for a new invention, is the son of an eccentric Professor who is developing a top secret Pulsar Crystal X. Blinker's inventions help him to be a successful goalkeeper and to keep an eye on The Masons gang - and some real crooks.

When Alison unexpectedly falls pregnant after a brief encounter with Alex (David Hayman's first TV role) they decide to marry. The joining of two seemingly different families opens into a witty and audacious tale, which caused uproar after its first broadcast in 1972. An early triumph for Peter McDougall, when it was proclaimed the most exciting writing debut since John Osborne's Look Back in Anger.

This English follows the East End working-class Garnett family, headed by patriarch Alf, a reactionary working-class man who wields racist and anti-Socialist views. His long-suffering wife Else manages to keep things in control... for the most part. Their progressive daughter Rita lives with them, as does her Irish husband Mike, who, with an array of liberal worldviews, often quarrels with his father-in-law. It inspired the American show "All In The Family" and several other international variations on the same theme.