Twofour’s four part series for BBC TWO looked at the dilemmas family firms face as one generation hands on to the next. Once a mainstay of business life, the traditional family firm is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. In Britain nine out of ten family businesses now fail to make it past the second generation.

Four family businesses with a succession dilemma – who will take over when the parents retire?  Four potential successors each with a flourishing independent career.  Four families where the next generation agreed to give it a go, with a week to learn the ropes and a week running the business alone before making the biggest decision of their lives:   whether to walk away from the business, or stay and Keep It In The Family.  The series featured:

Gary Don Auctioneers in Leeds, The Castle At Taunton - a family run hotel with two brothers potentially able to carry on the business, Forest Farm in Kent and Austins Department Store in Derry.

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