Boys from the Blackstuff [1989] | ![Boys from the Blackstuff [1989]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51D5PWHAM3L._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Philip Saville
Actors: Michael Angelis, Bernard Hill, Tom Georgeson, Julie Walters
Studio: 2 Entertain Video
Category: DVD
List Price: £15.99
Buy New: £8.04
You Save: £7.95 (50%)
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Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 796
Format: Pal
Languages: English (Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired), English (Original Language)
Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region: 2
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Items: 3
Running Time: 306 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.4 x 0.9
EAN: 5014503117825
ASIN: B000096KER
Theatrical Release Date: 1989
Release Date: May 26, 2003
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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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
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
In the depths of despair, a masterpiece March 22, 2008
R. Fitzgerald
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
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).
Utterly Essential Viewing For Everyone March 9, 2008
J. Roberts (Maryland)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
As an exploration of unemployment and the poverty which blighted many lives during the Thatcher era, 'Boys From The Blackstuff' is one of the most valuable and saddening Television Dramas ever made.
It tells the story of Chrissie, Loggo, George, Dixie and Yosser. They are all unemployed. The forgotten, the betrayed, the despised, the harassed. Unable to find work laying the Blackstuff (tar) of the title, the five men have to resort to taking cash in hand jobs, just to be able to heat their homes and put food on the table. However, if these cash in hand jobs aren't there, neither is the food or electricity. To add insult to injury, these men, all of whom have families, have to endure relentless harassment from staff at the Jobcentre they attend, who frequently try and catch them doing a cash-in-hand jobs.
And thus, Alan Bleasdale has created a perfectly accurate, honest, emotional and brutal depiction of what life was like for a large cross-section of British society during the shameful and shameless premiership of Margaret Thatcher.
Each of the men's situations are looked at in various episodes, but special mentions must go to Bernard Hill as Yosser Hughes, who, after losing his entire life savings to two travelling fraudsters, has a complete breakdown and begins behaving in a reckless, volatile, unpredicatble, yet often very funny way. Hill's performance is memorable, charismatic and simply classic; one of the truly great characters in the history of British TV drama. His unhinged manner is superb to watch, yet his heart-rending musings on the futility of life and his devotion to his three children brought many a tear to my eye. Anyone who has ever been long-term unemployed, yet had ambition and a desire to achieve goals in life will be able to relate to Yosser Hughes perfectly. His working-class philosophising is STILL highly relevant today, and I shan't let anyone tell me otherwise.
Another special mention must go to Julie Walters, who plays the wife of Chrissie, since her acting is so real and so gritty that she does justice to every single let-down and frustrated working-class person who ever lived. The story of her husband, Chrissie, is also poignant: a kind, decent, and extremely easy-going man, whose good nature is being pushed to the limit by the difficulties and constraints of unemployment.
Then there are the equally sad and superbly-acted stories of Dixie and George, both of whom feel the strain of unemployment in different ways, their lives irrevocably damaged by the stress that unemployment puts someone under.
Unemployment is such an important and omniscient social issue that there is much could be written about it here. Instead, to those who believe that all unemployed people are scroungers and benefit cheats, I only ask that you watch this, see a different side to the story and realise that there are many unemployed people whose lives are slowly unravelling because they cannot find the opportunities to climb back up the ladder and survive from one day to the next.
Alan Bleasdale's 'Boys From The Blackstuff' illustrated the plight of unemployed people eloquently, honestly and sensitively, with a great deal of wit and black humour thrown in for good measure. The issues in this drama are still very much relevant today, since unemployment still affects many people today. Meanwhile, the government is always finding new ways to cover up the true unemployment figures and ways to make the lives of unemployed people unbearable. We could ALL learn something from 'Boys From The Blackstuff'.
Lest we forget February 24, 2008
dogme (scotland)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is the closest British television has come to the brilliance of 'The Wire', a coruscating view of a betrayed and dying class, its members scrabbling in the wreckage just to live, while maintaining a heartbreaking pretence that they are preserving some shreds of dignity, until they're brutally forced into total humiliation. Bleasdale's honesty, wit, compassion and anger seem to inspire perfectly pitched contributions from everyone involved, but of course it's Bernard Hill's Yosser which stays in the mind, perhaps the greatest tragic figure ever created for television.
Grity early 1980's Television March 28, 2005
D. Evans
42 out of 43 found this review helpful
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.
One of the great TV dramas January 21, 2004
Mr. A. C. Gilbert (Chatel sur Rolle, Switzerland)
25 out of 27 found this review helpful
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.
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