Bobbisox - you know how much I loved the Catherine Cookson books - read them so much as a child as did my mother.
Some of her books were turned into fantastic movies but her most wonderful book "Katie Mulholland" was never turned into a movie. It was simply the best book she wrote.
Know you don't know everything Bobbs but would you kind of wonder why that didn't happen.
so did mine Smowball - There was "Murder she Wrote" when we went to bed at night - cos we fought over Katie Mulholland. LOL
It didn't enter our stupid heads that the two of us could have ordered another one from our library. Mother was a fabulous reader but couldn't spell for love nor money.
Catherine hailed from Jarrow and based many of her books on areas like Tynedock ,Hebburn and Jarrow for example the 15 Streets would be those that ran concurrently towards the Tyne , also until I'd say the 50s if not longer, there was a lot of sectarianism between the towns of Hebburn and Jarrow, with Jarrow being predominantly Catholic and Hebburn , Protestant
I don't think it was as prevalent as much there JJ, not like NI or West of Scotland ( Glasgow) but it did go on for example marriages were frowned upon if they wed from someone on the * other side*