Description
BOYS FROM THE BLACKSTUFF
3-DVD Set
The original play plus all five episodes.
OPTIONAL SUBTITLES. 3 discs. Drama. Running time: 305 mins approx.
Year: 1980-1982. Colour.
The Alan Bleasdale classic BBC TV Series that defined depression-scarred 1980s Britain.
BAFTA Award-Winner for Best Drama Series.
Created by: Alan Bleasdale. Series Director: Philip Saville.
Cast: Bernard Hill, Alan Igbon, Michael Angelis, David Ross, Peter Kerrigan, Cheryl Leigh, Tamana Bleasdale, Isa Dixon, Tom Georgeson, David Neilson, Gary Bleasdale, Shay Gorman, Timothy Bleasdale, Jean Boht, Jamie Bleasdale, Gilly Coman, David Fleeshman, Julie Walters, Eileen O’Brien, Ricky Tomlinson and Graeme Souness.
The television play The Black Stuff, about a group of Liverpudlian tarmac layers, was written by Alan Bleasdale and directed by Jim Goddard for the Play for Today series in 1978. It was not transmitted, however, until January 1980. The acclaim that The Black Stuff received aired led to the commissioning of the sequel serial, Boys from the Blackstuff, with the five men nowunemployed. Set in Bleasdale’s home city of Liverpool, each episode focuses on a different member of the group. The series was acclaimed for its powerful depiction of the desperation wrought by high unemployment and a lack of social support. Shot on location in Liverpool, the series was so acclaimed that it was re-shown only nine weeks after its first transmission. A time-capsule of Eighties Britain, with well-judged moments of comedy and a fine cast, it has never been forgotten.
