Boys from the Blackstuff

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.

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 inital drama. They take a job on a building site whilst still claiming unemployment benefit. They are followed by the authorities.
• Moonlighter
• Follows the character who played the foreman in the initial drama and 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.