It is unclear from the way that "Hold the Dream" was presented whether it was a mistake or not that Blackie's tombstone said that he died on 10th May 1985, aged 84. However, since Blackie was supposed to be three to four years older than Emma, and they met on or about 1905 (in the original mini-series: A Woman of Substance (1984)), when Emma was about 16-17, that would have meant that Blackie was about 19-20 in 1905, meaning his birth date would have been between 1884 and 1886, and if his date of death was in 1985, that would have made him between 99 and 101 years old. Also, Emma was supposed to be nearing her 80th birthday in "A Woman of Substance," which was supposed to be set in or about 1970, which would have matched the dates set in the story. It is not clearly stated that "Hold the Dream" was taking place directly after the events at the end of "A Woman of Substance," or several years later, but either way, the dates/ages would not have held up to close math and calendar calculations. This may have been a concession to Deborah Kerr's (born 1921) request for vanity, since she was portraying a woman of about 80, but was considerably younger, 63-64 at the time of filming "A Woman of Substance" in 1984, and 65-66 at the time of filming of "Hold the Dream" in 1985-86. In "To Be the Best," the opening scene shows Paula, now portrayed by Lindsay Wagner, placing flowers at the grave of Emma Harte, with the headstone stating "In Loving Memory of Emma Harte 1889-1970," which would again be consistent with A Woman of Substance (1984), but totally out of alignment with the dates presented in Hold the Dream (1986), which showed Blackie's headstone indicating his dates as 1901-1985, and Emma dying soon after.