A staple in the 60's, with lots of series like 'Rawhide', 'Wagon Train' and the like, westerns seem to die down in the 70's except for the odd good series - 'Alias Smith and Jones' stands out there.  In 1978 ITV purchased 'How The West Was Won', a widely acclaimed series, that became a strip in Look-in.

Based on the successful Gregory Peck movie from 1962,  a mini series was made in 1977, this proved so popular a longer series was commissioned, a total of 25 episodes were made in all.

HTWWW tells the story of Zeb Macahan (Played by James Arness, (who also starred in the afore mentioned movies).  After the death of his brother Zeb uproots what is left of his family, and sets out to establish a colony in the west during the civil war.

Zeb finds a cruel, brutal world, with other people battling to survive, some the family can help, but some desperate people find themselves on the wrong side of the law, and often the Macahans find themselves on the receiving end of trouble, or sometimes natural elements have a part to play in the family's struggle.

Travelling with Zeb are Sister Molly (Fionnula Flanagan), Nephew Luke (Bruce Boxlietner), Josh (William Kirby Cullen), Jessie (Vicki Schreck) and and Laura (Kathy Holcomb).

Only one season was made, and the honeymoon was over for the western genre, until Clint Eastwood made them fashionable again, and would eventually win an Oscar for 'Unforgiven'

I wasn't a huge western fan, which makes it all the more surprising that I was gripped by this series, maybe because the emphasis wasn't really on the gunfighting but on the humanitarian stories and struggles, so needless to say when Look-in went with this I was thrilled.

The strip didn't disappoint, John Burns usual dynamic style and the fact that it was a black and white strip added a sort of grittiness to the stories which I liked.  Great writing, another strip that didn't last long enough.

8.0