left to right : – Liam McMahon as Sam Hardacre, Claire Cooper as Mary Hardacre & Julie Graham a (Image: C5)
The Hardacres is a rags-to-riches tale of a working-class family in 1890s Yorkshire, based on two books by CL Skelton, which have been adapted for a new six part series on Channel 5 and made by the same people who bought us All Creatures Great and Small.
Starring Julie Graham (Ridley, Time)as Ma Hardacre, Claire Cooper (Hollyoaks, The Continental) as Mary Hardacre, wife of Sam, played by Liam McMahon, the Hardacres are a working class family who start out at a grimy fish dock on Yorkshire’s windswept coast and end up living at a vast country estate in a saga that spans the first half of the 20th Century.
Independent publisher Ian Skillicorn of Wyndham Books, rediscovered the forgotten novels that had long gone out of print and learned the author had just as an exciting life as his long lost characters.
He said: “I work like a literary detective, tracking down the publishing rights to novels that topped the book charts in the mid-twentieth century, taking my inspiration from the books I inherited from my grandmother.
Hardacre by CL Skelton – SX FEATURE – FREE (Image: Wyndham Books)
“I remembered the Hardacres’ story from my childhood.
“It was the book everyone’s parents and grandparents had on their bookshelf or bedside table.
“When I re-read Hardacre as an adult I knew it had all the right ingredients to be a hit with a new generation of readers.“Hardacre is good old-fashioned storytelling at its best. The lives and loves of the Hardacres keep you gripped until the last page.“It combines the grit and passion of Catherine Cookson with the riches and glamour of Downton Abbey.”
On rediscovering the novels Ian also discovered their author was as fascinating as his characters.
Clement Lister Skelton (Clem) was born in Tynemouth, Northumberland in 1919 and his father was an equerry to George V.
He had a brief spell at Harrow School, due to his connections with the Royal Family, but at 14 he ran away and joined the Frank Benson Touring Theatre Company, where he took on Shakespearian roles.
Unfortunately being an actor wasn’t especially well paid despite his connections with the aristocracy.
Ian said: “He once went to visit Queen Mary, who suggested he take a young Princess Margaret out to dinner.
“As a penniless actor, he was concerned when she arrived with a whole party in tow about how he was going to pay for it all.
“He didn’t realise then that Royals don’t pay and fortunately for him the bill was sent to Buckingham Palace.”
When war came Clem joined the RAF as Spitfire pilot but many years after the war he would still have nightmares about jumping out of a burning plane.
Aged 37, he went into religious orders founded by the Society of St Paul.
The Society was active as a publisher and film-maker, and Clem made films for them for seven years, adding yet another career to that of actor, pilot and lay brother.
But in the end he came out of the order in 1962 having never actually taken his vows.
It was then he met David James, a publishing director, who had an obsession with discovering the Loch Ness Monster.
James founded the “Loch Ness Phenomena Investigation Bureau” to try and catch “Nessie” on film.
Accompanied by Clem, who had excellent camera skills, the pair put round-the-clock cameras around Loch Ness with Clem, now an official Nessie hunter, living permanently in a caravan on site just in case!In 1966 Clem, 47, met his future wife, Edinburgh university student Alison Scott, 20, who was travelling in the Highlands.
To support them while they began a joint writing career Clem sold insurance and brushes door-to-door in the Scottish Highlands.
Together the couple wrote Gothic novels together under the pen name of Abigail Clements before Clem went on to write Hardacre.
An international success, it was followed by a sequel, Hardacre’s Luck.
In the first episode viewers will see an accident at the docks lands Sam and Mary Hardacre, along with their three children Joe, Liza and Harry, played by Adam Little, Shannon Lavelle and newcomer Zak Ford-Williams and Mary’s mother Ma, unemployed and destitute.
In a bid to avoid the workhouse, the driven and determined family put their last penny into a radical business venture they hope will free them from their harsh existence on the quays of the North Yorkshire coast.David Stern, Executive Producer said: “We’re thrilled to bring CL Skelton’s glorious novels to the screen.
“The Hardacres is a life affirming rags to riches story about a family overcoming all odds, but in their quest for financial success they rediscover that community, friendship and family are the most precious things in life.”
Clem’s widow Alison, who helped him with the Hardacre books said: “
“I am so delighted that this story which has given pleasure to readers for fifty years is now to extend that enjoyment into a whole new medium.
Having been indulged with an early showing of two episodes, I happily say to all who have read the books, and all yet to do so:
‘Draw the curtains, get out the popcorn, and pour the wine. The Hardacres are coming to stay!’
* The Hardacres begins on Channel 5 on Monday 7th October at 9pm.
* Hardacre by CL Skelton is available exclusively from Amazon. The ebook is £4.99 and a new paperback edition of the novel, also available exclusively from Amazon, is available shortly.