I remember watching this when i was 13 years old. It was shown in several parts on BBC1 after the 9pm news and came over like a 'PLAY FOR TODAY' intended for teenagers. I remember liking it so much that i went out and bought the Penguin paperback novel which unfortunately i no longer have. I also think a lot of it was filmed on location on a drab, dreary, grey and concrete council estate in London, something that gave it a low budget Mike Leigh feel as well as authenticity.
My recollection of the storyline isn't that good. It concerned a nerdy teenage schoolboy trying to impress people about how interesting he is by telling yarns about what interesting adventures he and his mate, Johnny Jarvis, get up to (all lies of course). Poor old Johnny is unaware of these stories about him and thus he gets held up as some kind of mystical superman by those who believe the stories.
I suppose the story is about alienated, no hope youth and the need to invent heroes if none exist (remember, this was Thatchers Britain of 1983 we are talking about). I know its never been available on video and i don't think its ever been repeated (does it still exist?) but i'd love to see it again. If the beeb won't release it on DVD then perhaps they could show it again on one of their digital channels!!!
Addendum: I can't believe I wrote the above review 13 years ago! Well I was surprised to see last week (September 2018) that Network DVD in the UK have released the complete series (all 6 episodes on two discs) so I ordered it immediately from Amazon. I haven't seen this series in 35 years and have started to re-watch it now and it still packs a punch. Really well written and acted and some faces I have recognised in the years since (John Bardon & Jamie Foreman to name but two). I had forgotten specifics but the series was every bit as good as I remember, addressing youth unemployment, racism, parenthood...stuff that I was old enough to grasp even back then. The lack of opportunities for young people who leave school with poor qualifications is very much at the forefront here and it was still very apt when I left school 4 years later. The only sad note is that I noticed Mark Farmer (who played Johnny Jarvis) unfortunately passed away from cancer in April 2016 at the age of 53.
This is really good drama with a social conscience that I think anybody of the age group it was written for or who remembers the early Thatcher years will connect with. Definitely recommended.
My recollection of the storyline isn't that good. It concerned a nerdy teenage schoolboy trying to impress people about how interesting he is by telling yarns about what interesting adventures he and his mate, Johnny Jarvis, get up to (all lies of course). Poor old Johnny is unaware of these stories about him and thus he gets held up as some kind of mystical superman by those who believe the stories.
I suppose the story is about alienated, no hope youth and the need to invent heroes if none exist (remember, this was Thatchers Britain of 1983 we are talking about). I know its never been available on video and i don't think its ever been repeated (does it still exist?) but i'd love to see it again. If the beeb won't release it on DVD then perhaps they could show it again on one of their digital channels!!!
Addendum: I can't believe I wrote the above review 13 years ago! Well I was surprised to see last week (September 2018) that Network DVD in the UK have released the complete series (all 6 episodes on two discs) so I ordered it immediately from Amazon. I haven't seen this series in 35 years and have started to re-watch it now and it still packs a punch. Really well written and acted and some faces I have recognised in the years since (John Bardon & Jamie Foreman to name but two). I had forgotten specifics but the series was every bit as good as I remember, addressing youth unemployment, racism, parenthood...stuff that I was old enough to grasp even back then. The lack of opportunities for young people who leave school with poor qualifications is very much at the forefront here and it was still very apt when I left school 4 years later. The only sad note is that I noticed Mark Farmer (who played Johnny Jarvis) unfortunately passed away from cancer in April 2016 at the age of 53.
This is really good drama with a social conscience that I think anybody of the age group it was written for or who remembers the early Thatcher years will connect with. Definitely recommended.