Painted Boats appreciates the gentle rhythm of traditional canal life, whereas Ted's ambition is to get off the canals and into mainstream life at the earliest opportunity. World War II intrudes when Ted is called up for military service, leaving the future for the pair uncertain. Location filming took place on the 20-mile stretch of the Grand Union Canal between Stoke Bruerne and Braunston in Northamptonshire, including the Blisworth Tunnel – at 1.75 miles (2.82 km) in length, the third-longest canal tunnel in Britain. Insert shots feature the industrial landscape of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, the famous Anderton Boat Lift in Cheshire and
Shrewley Tunnel which crosses the tunnel; having crossed this the path then descends on another ramp to reach the southern portal. The interior of the tunnel is unusually wet and this has led to the creation of flowstone formations. The tunnel runs from the south-east to the north-west. From the northern portal, the canal is level for to the bottom of a flight of five locks at Knowle, which raise the level of the canal by . Kingswood Junction, which connects to the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal occurs about halfway along this stretch. To the south, the canal if level for around to Hatton