Boys from the Blackstuff

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Boys from the Blackstuff is a British television drama series of five episodes, originally transmitted from October 10 to November 7 1982 on BBC2. The serial was written by Liverpudlian playwright Alan Bleasdale, and was a sequel to a television play called The Black Stuff, which he had originally written for BBC1's Play for Today anthology series in 1978, although it had languished untransmitted for two years before eventually being screened in 1980. The acclaim that the play received on its eventual transmission led to the commissioning of the sequel serial, of which Bleasdale had already written a considerable amount.

Boys from the Blackstuff follows the stories of five unemployed tarmac layers (hence 'the black stuff') after they have lost their jobs due to the events of the original play. Set in Bleasdale's home city of Liverpool and reflecting many of his own experiences of life in the city, each episode focused on a different member of the group. The series was highly acclaimed for its powerful and emotional depiction of the desperation wreaked by high unemployment, and was noted by many reviewers as a critique of the Margaret Thatcher administration which was seen as being responsible for the fate of many of the working class unemployed.

By far the most memorable of the characters was Yosser Hughes, a man driven to the edge of his sanity by the loss of his job, his wife and the authorities' continued attempts to take his children away from him. His catchphrases, "gissa' job!" and "I can do that!" became part of the popular consciousness of the eighties, summing up the mood of many who sought desperately for work during the era.

Hughes was played by Bernard Hill, who subsequently went on to find fame acting in various films and television series, including appearances in the blockbuster movies Titanic (1997) and The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-03). The serial also helped to establish the career of Julie Walters, who played the most prominent female role as Angie, the wife of Chrissie (Michael Angelis).

Bernard Hill as Yosser Hughes, the programme's most famous character.

The serial was notable for being a high-profile production made not by the BBC's central drama department in London, but by the English Regions Drama department based at BBC Birmingham, although it was shot on location in Liverpool. The producer was Michael Wearing, who was based at Birmingham with a specific remit to make 'regional drama', and who would late be instrumental in bringing the equally influential BBC drama serials Edge of Darkness (1985) and Our Friends in the North (1996) to the screens. The writer Alan Bleasdale went on to pen many more acclaimed television dramas, of particular note being The Monocled Mutineer (BBC1, 1986) and G.B.H. (Channel 4, 1991)

The series was so successful upon its original broadcast that only nine weeks after it had finished transmission, it was re-shown on the higher-profile BBC1. It was also transmitted again on BBC2 as part of that station's twenty-fifth anniversary season in 1989. In 1983 it won the British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Serial, and in the year 2000 was placed seventh in a British Film Institute poll of industry professionals to find the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes of the 20th century. It was also named as one of the forty greatest television shows in a 2003 list compiled by the Radio Times magazine's chief television writer Alison Graham.

The complete series, including the original play The Black Stuff, was released on DVD as a three-disc set by BBC Worldwide in 2003.

Episodes

• The Muscle Market
• *Shown in 1981 as a standalone between the initial drama and the subsequent series, it centres on Malone, the building boss who employs people cheaply by being complicit in the social security fraud of his employees and therefore guilty of a crime himself.
• **This episode does not appear on the DVD collection.

• Jobs for the Boys
• * Featuring most of the characters from the initial drama. They take a job on a building site whilst still claiming unemployment benefit. They are followed by the authorities.
• Moonlighter
• * Follows Dixie Dean (Tom Georgeson) in his new position as a security guard, where he is strongarmed into accepting bribes for allowing the removal of goods under his charge in a docked ship.
• Shop Thy Neighbour
• * Concentrates on Chrissie (Michael Angelis) and the domestic pressure unemployment and the attentions of the benefit fraud officers place on him and his wife (Julie Walters).
• Yosser's Story
• * As previously mentioned this is the most often cited of the series, following Yosser's struggle to prevent losing his children to the authorities as his mental health disintegrates. It is also notable for being the only one of the series shot on 16mm film, as opposed to videotape, although the original play was also shot on this format.
• George's Last Ride
• * In this episode we find out something of George's politically active past. His trip (Chrissie wheeling him in his chair through the docks) leads him to reminisce about his younger days, the contrast between his recalled hopeful youth with the abandoned industrial infrastructure around him is marked. The death of George causes the main characters to be reunited if, in some cases, only briefly.

External links

• [Encyclopedia of Television]
• [British Film Institute Screen Online]
• [Kamera]
• *Review of the DVD release.
• [TV Cream review of The Black Stuff]

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