The Flower of Gloster

Season

1967

7.9

A boy and his sister and brother pilot a canal narrow boat from north-east Wales to London. With a girl they meet on the way, they learn about the history of British canals and of the people who live and work on the waterways today.

Episode List

S1 • E1

The Accident

Jim and his eldest son, Dick are to set sail a converted narrow-boat from the family's boat yard in North Wales when Jim is injured in an accident.

S1 • E2

The Cut

Now responsible for getting the Flower of Gloster to London Dick and his sister Liz set of along the LLangollen canal. But Life on the cut turns out to be far from plain sailing. There was for example, the trouble with the swing bridge.

S1 • E3

The Boy

Day 2 of the Flower Of Gloster's journey to London. Dick and his sister Liz are in trouble. They've had to waste a valuable day in Northwich having the boats engine repaired, and with 9 days left, there are still 200 miles left to cover.

S1 • E4

The Girl

Dick is angry: a flight of fifteen locks to climb at Audlem, Liz is busy window shopping, and Mike chatting to a narrow-boat family means that he has got to get boat through the locks on his own.

S1 • E5

Betton Woods

With Ann now part the crew, the Flower continues on it's course towards London. Later that evening, it runs out of fuel and the crew are forced to spend a night wild moored alongside the allegedly haunted Betton Woods. When Mike and Liz hear strange noises they leave the boat to find the source.

S1 • E6

The Dog

With little more than a week left before they must reach London, Dick, Liz and Mike need to earn more money and Market Drayon provides the opportunity it also provides yet one more Passenger.

S1 • E7

Lost

Mike becomes lost whilst chasing Baskerville the dog, as the rest of the crew reach Wolverhampton. They soon reunite, and later the crew take the Flower down a wrong turning and find themselves in a derelict part of the canal, where they have to tend with a gang of young trouble makers.

S1 • E8

The City

The crew get some help and directions from a photographic industrial archaeologist who soon leads them to Gas Street Basin in Birmingham. Once moored, Ann, Mike and Liz head off to the city to buy food but they soon find themselves separated. Meanwhile Dick enquirers about some work at the Birmingham and Midland Canal Carrying Company.

S1 • E9

Life and Death

The crew tow Chocolate Charley Atkins' butty down towards its destination at Kingswood Junction in Braunston, which links onto the Grand Union Canal. Liz and Ann come to the aid of an expectant mother, whilst Dick learns about old canal folk songs with Jack Roberts and Mike discovers the history of the canals at a local museum.

S1 • E10

The Tunnel

After the funeral barge of the late captain Billy Hunt passes the Flower of Gloster, the crew follow it down Blisworth Tunnel. They soon find themselves stranded in the middle of the tunnel when they run out of fuel. Dick and Ann have no option but to leg the boat through the remainder of the tunnel.

S1 • E11

The Deadline

Jim receives an irate phone call from Mr Newell, the buyer in London who demands to know where the boat is. He gives him an ultimatum of 6pm the following day or the deal is off. Meanwhile, Dick, Mike and Ann visit the residence of the Duke of Bedford and Woburn Abbey. Word about the deadline eventually reaches Liz who rushes off to tell the others about the situation.

S1 • E12

The Hitch

With less than 24 hours to go until the deadline, the crew race through the night when they are forced to moor up until dawn by the lock-keeper at Cassiobury Park. At daybreak, the Flower of Gloster is sabotaged by Dai Evans from the narrow boat Vigilant, who are also hoping to reach London by 6pm. If they should get to Mr Newell first, then the Gloster deal is off.

S1 • E13

Late

The crew finally reach London with only a few hours to go until the deadline. The Evans family put an elaborate plan in motion to slow down the Flower of Gloster, by sabotaging the locks and changing the location of the rendezvous with Mr Newell. Dick soon hears about their plans and proceeds to the thwart them, whilst the rest of the crew travel towards the River Thames.