Boys from the Blackstuff

Boys from the Black Stuff is more than just a story. It's a snapshot of a special time in a special place. Liverpool in the 1980's could be a bleak and despairing place, with only the common threads of unemployment and humour keeping spirits alive. The story centres on the struggle of a ragged band of workers trying to make ends meet. On the way we see scams, subterfuge, corruption and the ongoing battle between the workers and the 'sniffers' (welfare benefit fraud investigators).

The locations are superb, painting a grisly accurate portrait of the time, with much of the filming done in Liverpool 8.

The language and dialogue also help capture the spirit of the time, with idiomatic 'scouse' used without apology.

Perhaps the best summary of the whole series is encapsulated in a line from the opening scenes in the first episode. Whilst establishing the number of dependents a claimant has, he is told that his grown up children who are 'on the dole' don't count. His response: "Nobody on the dole counts,love".

Recently released on dvd, this series is a documented history of the sharp end of 'Thatcher's Millions' - watch it if you can.

This series is being reshown on T.V. at the moment and it reminds one on how drama should be made. True the subject matter about poverty and unemployment in 80's Britain was a strong one for the writer,producer,director& actors to rise to. But they do it with the peak of professionalism,realism & creativity, seldom seen in more recent T.V. ( or Film for that matter ) output.

All the episodes which make up the series really move the watcher even today and it sends echoes out to everyone living in 90's Britain towards the turn of the century where some similar themes as explored in this piece are still more than ever relevant today.

Alan Bleasdale's defining production. Almost unbearably tragic characters, yet Bleasdale manages to find the opportunity for rare wit in his dialogue. As good a T.V. series as there has ever been. Truly the work of a genius.

The opening 2 hour 'Play for Today' TV film that lead to the 5 part mini-series isn't all that strong. But the 5 remaining parts (ranging from 43 to 68 minutes) are often powerful stuff indeed. A rueful, depressing and cutting look at unemployment and personal and economic depression in the Thatcher years. The opening film isn't really needed, as one could pick up much of what happened from the 5 part mini-series, but it does serve as a good basic set up for the characters and their relationships, as a group of workers on the dole take an off-the- books job laying down tarmac (the black stuff) at a new apartment complex. But in the original film the characters stay frustratingly close to caricatures, and the story twists are largely unsurprising.

But in the 5 part mini-series, made 2 years later, that all changes. Each hour investigates one of the character's lives in great depth and detail, The performances are very strong, and the stories are almost all heartbreaking as we see what being unemployed and unwanted by society does to these men; their families, their self-esteem, even their sanity. There are occasional darkly funny moments, but this is grim, uncompromising stuff, with one episode in particular "Yosser's story" as harrowing and disturbing and honest a piece of film- making as I've seen in a long while. It's interesting (if depressing) to see how much of what was going on in England in 1982, could just as well be America in 2013.

TV executives could do with watching this masterpiece, in the hope that they remember that not all British TV dramas have to be set in a hospital or a police station......And they don't have to be sh*t either. Boys... had top scripts, top acting and even the BBC weather forecast camerawork gives it an unparralelled sense of authenticity. Pure quality.