Boys from the Blackstuff was a landmark television series.
An indictment of the rise in unemployment during the Mrs Thatcher years caused by a deliberate recession the newly elected Tory government created.
It was political but also filled with pathos, humour and sadness.
The follow up to a one off play, The Blackstuff.
Writer Alan Bleasdale examines the lives of the characters from that play now they have lost their jobs and signing on the dole.
A few of them are working in the black economy. Signing on and doing undeclared jobs on the side in building sites.
This time they are being chased by social security investigators even though one of them does not have a full driving licence.
The episode is mainly about Chrissie Todd (Michael Angelis) although other characters from the play turn up.
Dixie Dean the foreman is bitter that he got fired because his men were moonlighting. Yosser Hughes is losing it as he goes round looking for a job with his kids in tow.
It is Chrissie unable to get a regular job as the builders find it cheaper offering casual employment. No need to have him on the books and pay his stamps.
There is humour, such as the scene when Snowy, a socialist plasterer and short in stature is mocked by a tall policeman after throwing an insult.
The same tall policeman despises the social security snoopers as he too was once unemployed.
It also leads to tragedy as an escape plan goes wrong and the others face the consequences of wrongly claiming unemployment benefit.
Despite being 40 years old. This is still fresh. Governments still cause recessions, deliberately heating up the economy to cause a spending boom and then having to contract it.
Benefit claimants are easy to demonise. Corporations meanwhile beg for tax breaks and handouts. They got billions during the Covid outbreak, some wrongly and then get praised for their supposedly entrepreneurial spirit.
When this episode was shown. There were 3 million unemployed people in the UK. Almost 9 months later the Tories won a landslide. Now we have record number of food banks. The Tories are on their fourth term. Maybe sometimes people deserve the kind of governments they get.
An indictment of the rise in unemployment during the Mrs Thatcher years caused by a deliberate recession the newly elected Tory government created.
It was political but also filled with pathos, humour and sadness.
The follow up to a one off play, The Blackstuff.
Writer Alan Bleasdale examines the lives of the characters from that play now they have lost their jobs and signing on the dole.
A few of them are working in the black economy. Signing on and doing undeclared jobs on the side in building sites.
This time they are being chased by social security investigators even though one of them does not have a full driving licence.
The episode is mainly about Chrissie Todd (Michael Angelis) although other characters from the play turn up.
Dixie Dean the foreman is bitter that he got fired because his men were moonlighting. Yosser Hughes is losing it as he goes round looking for a job with his kids in tow.
It is Chrissie unable to get a regular job as the builders find it cheaper offering casual employment. No need to have him on the books and pay his stamps.
There is humour, such as the scene when Snowy, a socialist plasterer and short in stature is mocked by a tall policeman after throwing an insult.
The same tall policeman despises the social security snoopers as he too was once unemployed.
It also leads to tragedy as an escape plan goes wrong and the others face the consequences of wrongly claiming unemployment benefit.
Despite being 40 years old. This is still fresh. Governments still cause recessions, deliberately heating up the economy to cause a spending boom and then having to contract it.
Benefit claimants are easy to demonise. Corporations meanwhile beg for tax breaks and handouts. They got billions during the Covid outbreak, some wrongly and then get praised for their supposedly entrepreneurial spirit.
When this episode was shown. There were 3 million unemployed people in the UK. Almost 9 months later the Tories won a landslide. Now we have record number of food banks. The Tories are on their fourth term. Maybe sometimes people deserve the kind of governments they get.
