"Steel River Blues" (2004) TV series

Creators:

Jonathan Critchley
Patrick Harbinson

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

1 September 2004 (UK)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Exploring the lives and working challenges of Blue Watch, a team of fire fighters working in the heart of Middlesbrough, northeast England.

Cast

Stuart Graham	...	Bill McGlinchy (7 episodes, 2004)
Daniel Ainsleigh	...	Jeremy Lloyd (7 episodes, 2004)
Satnam Bhogal	...	Sunil Gupta (7 episodes, 2004)
John Bowler	...	Mick Hammond (7 episodes, 2004)
Mark Cameron	...	Roger Hibbot (7 episodes, 2004)
Daniel Casey	...	Tony Barnes (7 episodes, 2004)
Charles Dale	...	George Barnes (7 episodes, 2004)
Steve Hillman	...	Alan Priestley (7 episodes, 2004)
Nitin Kundra	...	Asif Hussain (7 episodes, 2004)
Michael Nardone	...	Dave Tanner (7 episodes, 2004)
Daniel Ryan	...	Andy Coulson (7 episodes, 2004)
Kelly Wenham	...	Julie Priestley (7 episodes, 2004)
Clare Buckfield	...	Katy Bell (7 episodes, 2004)
Joanne Farrell	...	Nicky Higgins (7 episodes, 2004)
Vicky Hawkins	...	Sandra Harris (7 episodes, 2004)
Malcolm Scates	...	Sgt. Moss (3 episodes, 2004)

Runtime:

UK:60 min (including commercials) (6 episodes) | UK:90 min (including commercials) (pilot episode)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Filming Locations:

Bramley Fire Station, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, UK

Company:

Yorkshire Television (YTV)

Trivia:

During pre-production, the series went through a number of title changes before the eventual title was decided on. These included "Blue Heat", "Kill the Heat" and "Fire Fight".

Soundtrack:

These Are The Days

Breath of Fresh Air

I hate British-made television as a rule; soaps really irritate me with their unrealistic plots and don't even get me started on the subject of period dramas and police shows like the Bill.

That said, however, Steel River Blues is the best new show on television for a long time. It's got just the right mix of drama, humour and realism as well as a great soundtrack and, although it's early days yet, it shows real promise.

Not only that but now there's finally a show that doesn't treat us "Northerners" as either hub-cap-stealing Liverpudlians (Brookside)or hot-pot-eating, pint-swigging seamstresses that need a 'Cockney Geeza' and his Footballer's-wives-esque wife and kids to make the street cool (the factory girls on Corrie - come on, you don't expect me to believe that everyone in London actually speaks like that, do you? I have been there once or twice!). Both of which are such clichés and so unrealistic I can't tell you! Thank heavens there's finally someone writing something set in the North of England who actually seems to have lived here for more than a few days!

Damn good television with by far the best soundtrack of any show I've seen in a long time!