"Bella" was the name of the character played by Jean Heywood. I often wonder whether the resemblance of Susan Jameson to the actress Louise Jameson (who played one of Dr. Who's assistants, and also the girlfriend of Jim Bergerac in the TV detective series) was a coincidence or due to familial relationship. I also often wondered what became of that fine actress who played a rather posh lady who became friends with Jack Ford (played by James Bolam; I think she was called Lois Baxter), until she definitely turned up on a TV program recently (whose name I cannot remember). I have also not noticed the actor (Edward Wilson) who played Billy Seaton, since the time of WTBCI (which I think ran from the mid-1970s), though I think I have seen Malcom Terris on TV once or twice since. In fact only James Bolam (who I last saw playing the TV part of the mass murderer of elderly ladies, Dr. Harold Shipman and more recently in a TV detective series whose name escapes me) seems to have appeared on TV regularly since, and he was of course a well established actor prior to this, though associated mainly with comedy, eg "The Likely Lads" and "Only When I Laugh". As they say if you do comedy you can do any acting (that is almost the only think I learned from a very brief spell in amateur dramatics, apart from the fact that I would never be an actor) perhaps it is surprising that Rodney Bewes, James Bolam's acting partner in the Likely Lads, didn't appear in "When the Boat Comes In".

Sorry about the long sentences - I must be subconsciously trying to emulate Bernard Levin. Sorry also to Mudcatters outside the UK as probably they will have heard of few if any of the characters mentioned here (except probably Harold Shipman, Britain's answer to Charles Manson/Jeffrey Dahmer, etc (actually he probably killed very many more).