Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2514 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-05-26
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 306 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Alan Bleasdale's Boys from the Blackstuff gripped television audiences in 1982 with its bleak, fiercely funny exploration of the effect of the UK's economic depression on a group of Merseyside characters, originally introduced in his 1978 play, The Blackstuff. Bleasdale's writing is unsparing in both its pain and its unconditional affection for characters being pushed to the very limit of civilisation. Yosser Hughes (the outstanding Bernard Hill) is still, and rightly, recognised as one of the great creations of modern television drama: a man on the brink of madness, unlikeable, ostracised, digging a deeper hole with every desperate act, but ultimately a human being deserving our sympathy.

The performances are wonderful throughout: particularly Peter Kerrigan as Malone, the once giant union leader reduced to a shadow but still with the spark that commands love and respect; Michael Angelis as Chrissie and, in a typically sharp cameo, Julie Walters as his wife. "My dreams still give me hope and faith in my class. I can't believe there's no hope," says Chrissie towards the end. And it's testament to Bleasdale's skill and the resilience of his characters that somehow, that flicker of hope remains unextinguished.

The blackstuff--the tarmac--of the title becomes increasingly ironic. There is none. The boys have no work. The dole office scenes have a grimly nostalgic, documentary quality. Each second drips another droplet of disillusionment on people whose expectations are crushed by every effort to haul themselves up. Thatcher's Britain was a cruel place for many people. The unspoken question that hangs in the air after watching Bleasdale's poetic dissection of ruined lives is, have things really changed that much? Television drama doesn't come any more powerful or honest than this.

On the DVD: Boys from the Blackstuff is presented in standard 4:3 TV format with a mono soundtrack that often suffers from a muffled quality. There's only one additional feature, but it's a treasure: The Blackstuff, Alan Bleasdale's original 90-minute play, is presented as a prelude to the series with the bonus of an insightful commentary from the author and the director, Jim Goddard. --Piers Ford

DVD Description
Alan Bleasdale's hugely acclaimed series echoes the misery and despair of long-term unemployment. Set in Liverpool, these profoundly moving human dramas follow in turn the attempts of five working-class heroes to survive.

Running Time: 306 minutes + 110 minutes approx.

Special Features
Includes:

• Commentary on The Blackstuff from Alan Bleasdale and Director Jim Goddard
  
• Play for Today: The Blackstuff

Customer Reviews

Grity early 1980's Television
Some 23 years after its broadcast, The Boys From The Blackstuff remains an intense and powerful drama which highlighted the grim realities of being working class in Margaret Thatcher's Britain in the early 1980's. Although the series is forever associated with Liverpool, the actual original Play For Today "Boys From The Blackstuff" broadcast several years before the series was made in 1982, is mainly set in Middlesborough, and concerns a group of memorable characters travelling to the North East for work. Events do not go to plan whilst they are there. In the subsequent series we see the characters now back in Liverpool, unemployed, and claiming dole. Each episode centres on different characters, and the individual struggles they face. For example Chrissy, brilliantly potrayed by Michael Angelis, wants to work legitamelty as opposed to moonlighting whilst claiming dole money. However his employer wishes to save money and only pays him cash in hand. The series most famous character, Yosser Hughes, is in the midst of a breakdown, as he copes with feeding his children, and desperately seeks work asking anyone who will listen to 'gisse us a job". Although his circumstances of his character are tragic, his catchphrase uttered by many would be impressionists, helps highlight the bleak and dark humour which can found throughout the series, culminating in the series final scenes in a Pub, in which an assortment of characters who no longer have any place in the employment market have assembled with nothing else to do other than drink. The far reaching influence of the drama, can be seen in many subsequent series such as Brookside, Yosser Hughes is in particular a forerunner of Jimmy Corkhill. Liverpool has changed immensely since the series broadcast, the Albert Dock here seen as a decaying and barren wasteland, is now a thriving shopping and restaurant district, and the Liverpool pierhead has been regenerated. In this way therefore, Boys From The Blackstuff does feel like a history programme in some respects, a snapshot of life many years ago.

In the depths of despair, a masterpiece
I was old enough to remember what Liverpool was like in the early eighties. The city was trying to cope with mass unemployment and seeing the slow painful death of a port made famous by the slave trade. The riots that took place in Toxteth in 1981 had made national news, and yet it hardly registered here as the whole city was in such a state of rapid decline that a few buildings gutted by fire hardly registered.

And it is extraordinary that in this period Liverpool had a football team that swept all before them, a music scene that produced some of the most critically acclaimed acts of the decade (Japan and Echo and The Bunnymen, for example) and a vibrant local theatre scene. Out of this, and with a help with a few visionaries from down the M6 at Pebble Mill, came a series that followed the fortunes of Chrissy, Dixie, George and of course, Yosser.

It has been said that no drama captured the essence of early eighties deprivation like Boys From The Black Stuff, even though Alan Bleasdale claimed he had written it before Thatcher came to power. This does it a slight disservice, only because it suggests that this should only be seen by those with an interest in that period of seismic social change. Boys From The Black Stuff is not only a gripping drama but also one of the blackest comedies you are ever likely to see. It is a must see. End of.

What is so special about this programme is that it shows in considerable depth the unravelling of each of the main characters (no leads here either, just a fine ensemble of actors in tune with the writing and the roles they played) as they try and cling on to their last bit of pride as they fall into the poverty trap. This spirit leads to further confrontations with the officials from the DHSS, Social Services and even the law. Their descents into despair (and in one harrowing case, madness) is painfully compelling to watch. And the humour that came out of these darkest moments is testament not only to the quality of writing but the spirit of those who have no choice but to keep fighting on.

Liverpool has moved on since then, with it being the European capital of culture this year. However, despite the massive regeneration in the city and (so we're lead to believe) a new dawn for Liverpool, the once mighty Liverpool has fallen down the pecking order in terms of footballing invincibility (the battle for fourth place? do me a favour), musical talent (Atomic Kitten - spare me) and even the drama comes courtesy of Hollyoaks. If this is progress, you can keep it.

Note: this DVD features the Play for Today that preceded the series. It's just as fascinating, but nowhere near as strong as the main series. You could watch it as an appetiser as it kind of sets the scene for what happens during the series, but it isn't compulsary (which is why it's on Disc 3).

One of the great TV dramas
Boys from the Blackstuff is quite simply one of the most powerful dramas to have been televised. Appearing during a period of intense social strife in Britain, as Thatcher’s politics crashed against the class values and social constructs of post-war Britain, the series encapsulated the pain, anger and loss of the victims.
Bleasdale’s writing is spot-on, and is fantastically acted by the cast; I still remember the state of shock I was in when I first saw Julie Walters and “our Lucian” Michael Angelis argue and fight; such pain, such anger, a dialogue so authentic you can hardly believe it wasn’t real, and so brilliantly portrayed. I wonder if films such as Billy Elliott and The Full Monty would exits if it hadn’t been for this series.
Yosser Hughes is one of the most enduring and affecting characters; you don’t know whether to hate him or hate those partly responsible for the mess he gets in, dragging his kids around and taking on the unforgettable “shake ‘ands”. Very far removed from Théoden King!
The dvd is passable, the original play being quite a bonus, and if anything the lack of hi-tech gizmos and a rather poor soundtrack help to give a timeworn feel to the plays which put them firmly in an early-‘80s feel. But for lovers of great, gripping drama and of British social history, this series is a must.