Spode Under the name 'Spode Ltd' the same factories and business was continued after 1970. In 2006, the business merged with Royal Worcester. The merged company entered administration on 6 November 2008. The brand names and intellectual property were acquired by Portmeirion Group on 23 April 2009. On 23 April 2009, Portmeirion Pottery purchased their rival Royal Worcester and Spode brands, together with some of the stock, after they had been placed into administration the previous November. The purchase did not include Royal Worcester or Spode manufacturing facilities. Many items in Spode's Blue Italian and Woodland ranges are now made at
A Line in the Sand (TV series) A Line in the Sand (TV series) A Line in the Sand is a two-part British television mini-series, adapted by Gerald Seymour from his novel of the same name, that first broadcast on ITV on 7 June 2004. The series, directed by James Hawes, stars Ross Kemp as Frank Parry, a former MI6 spy who tries to escape his past by hiding out in a remote village on the Suffolk coast. The series was originally scheduled for broadcast in September 2001, but was later shelved until June 2004, due to a major plotline which involved Middle-Eastern terrorists, which was deemed