From sibling quarrels to inheritance infighting the sky television series “ Succession “ is the penthouse of dramas far above ordinary family mayhem. The award-winning show does not imagine what could go wrong in family empires it plasters together what has gone wrong in case after case of real life melodrama and applies a glorious gloss of word play and satire.

The farce makes for great telly especially as Logan Roy - the patriarch of the family - favours his only daughter. 

Family businesses can have strange dynamics and the show offers a tempting conclusion that you should never work with your family. 

But the truth is that family businesses - at their best - are world beating. They can outperform other businesses because they have high degrees of trust and communication. 

The antidote to the duplicity and shenanigans of Succession ,the tv show , is available for all to see at Earl Transport in Lancashire. 

It’s not uncommon to see curtain-siders with “. & son” after the family name of the haulier. It’s less common to see “ & daughter “ But that’s the position at Earl Transport in Accrington. Peter Hughes started this successful haulage company 43 years ago and his daughter - Rhian was so impressed by her father‘s business acumen that she followed him into the business and Peter’s  personal succession is now secured. But  Peter was farsighted and would not allow his daughter to come straight into the family business even though she sometimes did her school homework in the cab. He wanted her to gain wider business experience before joining the family business and taking it to the next level. Rhian  can now drive every class of hgv but is also no stranger to tv herself. In this edition of BACK AMONGST FRIENDS we  find out how Rhian was taken by Cadbury’s from haulage operator to television ice skating maestro. 

Talking of media this podcast is expertly produced down under. In today’s global village we have our podcasts skilfully edited by Mandy Turner in Australia who can be contacted at www.mandyturner.com.au 

Back in 1984 we were introduced to Beverly Hills Cop an American buddy cop action comedy film starring Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley, a street-smart Detroit cop who visits Beverly Hills to solve the murder of his best friend. The film  shot Murphy to international stardom.

It  was an immediate blockbuster, receiving critical acclaim and was the highest-grossing film released in 1984 . The theme tune was “the heat is on “by Glen Fry and was an up-tempo recording featuring  a steady drumbeat, synthesiser, and guitar, with a repeated saxophone riff framing the lyrical message. 

When the HEAT was ON from former senior traffic commissioner Beverley bell the lawyer of choice  for many operators had to be John Heaton - one of the senior lawyers at Backhouse Jones . John provides a steady drumbeat of advice to the transport industry and BACKS the bus up in this podcast to take us on his BACK to the future journey. 

Hello, darkness, my old friend.I've come to talk with you again “ are the opening lyrics to the sound of silence - the theme tune to the graduate written and sung by Paul Simon. 

This week we go BACK and forth  with an old  friend to many transport operators and he explains how he experienced complete darkness whilst driving a hgv through the deserts of Namibia. If you can connect Switzerland with the plains of Africa then you will have guessed that it is Matt Eisenegger  BACKing the truck up on his life’s journey within the commercial road transport industry. 

Matt ‘s surname is not only keeping up with the joneses it’s uniqueness leaves other names in the dust of his desert vehicle. Unlike the common or garden name of our host Matt’s surname is Swiss and came to the east end of london with his great grandfather. His father made the move north having met his mother through a Wallace Arnold coach holiday in Cornwall. 

In this weeks conversation Matt Circles BACK to tell us how he moved  from maintaining trucks to selling them to reporting on them and then publishing the #FORS Magazine. 

His Afrikaner guide  in the sands of #Namibia realised that Matt and his fellow truck journalists visited an area of Africa that nobody had ever previously visited. 

In this podcast we discover  if like Paul Simon’s lyrics “in restless dreams he walked alone” in the silence of the darkness. Thankfully he breaks his silence on how  his vision came silently creeping  to him whilst he was sleeping under a canopy under the stars .....