Diamonds – Nostalgia Central

1 9 8 1 (UK)
13 x 60 minute episodes

Frank Coleman (John Stride) takes over Coleman and Sons, a firm of diamond merchants based in London’s Hatton Garden, when his elderly father Joseph (Norman Wooland) dies.

His ruthless business practices make enemies of his friends and family, and his wife Margaret (Hildegard Neil) is tempted to leave him when she falls in love with his Dutch buyer, Bernard (Simon Ward), a sensitive and cultured man.

Other key characters include Frank’s little rich-girl daughter Elaine (Briony McRoberts), her fiancé Alex Randolph (David Haig), Frank’s nephew Terry (William Relton), Terry’s father Barry (Ian McCulloch), Barry’s wife, Catherine (Shirley Cain) and Dora, the mother of the family (Doris Hare).

Frank’s brother, Barry, is the opposite of his brother. A quiet man, he is not particularly interested in the business dealings.

His marriage to Catherine has all but disintegrated because of her ambitions for their ruthless son, Terry, with whom she wants to establish a chain of jewellery shops.

Racked with guilt at Joseph Coleman having cheated concentration camp survivor Mordecai Kremer (John Barrard) out of a fortune in 1940, Frank believes his father’s actions have brought a curse upon his life.

Diamonds was the last drama production from ATV.

Frank Coleman
John Stride
Margaret Coleman
Hildegard Neil
Bernard de Haan
Simon Ward
Dora Coleman
Doris Hare
Barry Coleman
Ian McCulloch
Catherine Coleman
Shirley Cain
Terry Coleman
William Relton
Elaine Coleman
Briony McRoberts
David Kremer
Michael Culver
Mordecai Kremer
John Barrard
Joseph Coleman
Norman Wooland
Alex Randolph
David Haig
Jennifer Reece
Valerie Testa
Tom Fabricus
Mark Kingston

Episodes

Rough Stone | A Debt to Be Paid | The Kremer Claim | Gamblers | Homecoming | The Other Kind | A Taste of the Orient | Middle Game | Implosion | My End Is My Beginning | Consider Thy Job, Servant | House of Cards | Ace in the Hole