Boys from the Black Stuff (1982) - Yosser's Story

Boys from the Blackstuff is a British television drama series of five episodes, originally transmitted from 10 October to 7 November 1982 on BBC2.

The serial was written by Liverpudlian playwright Alan Bleasdale, as a sequel to a television play, The Black Stuff. The British Film Institute described it as a "seminal drama series... a warm, humorous but ultimately tragic look at the way economics affect ordinary people... TV's most complete dramatic response to the Thatcher era and as a lament to the end of a male, working class British culture."

The series Boys from the Blackstuff follows the stories of the five now unemployed men who lost their jobs due to the events of the original play The Blackstuff. Set in Bleasdale's home city of Liverpool, and reflecting many of his own experiences of life in the city, each episode focuses 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 a subsequent lack of social support.

Although the series is and was noted by many reviewers as a critique of the Margaret Thatcher era, which was seen as being responsible for the fate of many of the unemployed lower and working classes, particularly in the North of England (and in fact fuelling the North-South divide), most of the series had actually been written in 1978 during Labour's James Callaghan's prime ministership, therefore preceding Thatcher's Britain by a year.

Indeed the most memorable and poignant of the characters was Yosser Hughes, a man driven to the edge of his sanity by the loss of his job, his wife, the authorities' continued attempts to take his children away from him and his constant attempts at salvaging his male pride (often the main give-away of his insecurity).

His catchphrases, "Gizza' job!" ("give us a 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.

Yosser's Story:

As previously mentioned this is the most often cited of the series, following Yosser's struggle to avoid losing his children (who are played by Alan Bleasdale's own 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. Graeme Souness and Sammy Lee, then of Liverpool F.C. make cameo appearances in this episode.

The episode also contains the often repeated scene in which Yosser goes to confession looking for help, and tells the priest he is desperate. The priest, trying to comfort Yosser, tells him "Call me Dan -- Dan"; to which Yosser replies "I'm desperate, Dan".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boys_from_the_Blackstuff
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosser_Hughes

Don McCullin's 1989 film about London's homeless:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8471292.stm

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[ukthrowback]

Wonderful. Brilliant. The best of British television at its finest.

[AlexisCapri]

All of that unemployment so that some suits in London could save £2 a month in tax.

Margaret, meet the guillotine.

[j0nw]

"I know your face..."

[sillyhew]

Stunning - Brilliant - both writing and acting, If you lose your identity, you are truly lost. A brilliant evocation of someone trying desperately to keep his sanity. "I'm Yosser Hughes" is the point of this story. He tried to hang onto his identity.

[ALotofWind]

My God! I'd forgotten just how brilliant this series was. I've just sat here watching this episode with all kinds of emotion flowing through me; from laughing out loud to sobbing and crying. This was jaw-droppingly great television written by the brilliant Alan Bleasdale. 1982 in Britain under Thatcher was very grim indeed.....believe me. Off to Amazon now to buy the DVD

[pilbop]

love the bit when the lil girl stick a nut on the social worker

[PendleWitch01]

WHAT AN BRILLIANT ACTOR BERNARD HILL IS

[BlackArts68]

quality