| Boys From The Blackstuff 14:07 - Jul 13 with 2263 views | SaintNick |
Possibly one of the best TV series made in the early 1980's as the description below documents
Who was old enough to remember it.
Alan Bleasdale’s gritty BBC Two drama The Black Stuff brought a hard-edged look at working life to British television in 1980, centering on a Liverpool tarmac-laying crew facing mounting desperation.
With Bernard Hill starring as Yosser Hughes and Michael Angelis as Chrissie Todd, the series quickly established itself as a street-level portrait of people struggling to keep going when steady work and stability feel out of reach.
The Black Stuff, written as a Play for Today entry by Bleasdale, focused on the day-to-day pressure of a workforce caught in limbo. Its raw depiction of a specific trade and its wider social fallout struck a chord beyond its original broadcast, turning the story’s bleak realism into a wider conversation about employment, dignity, and survival in the UK.
That resonance helped spawn the landmark series Boys from the Blackstuff, extending Bleasdale’s focus on the same kind of precarious existence. For viewers who value character-driven drama rooted in real social conditions, the show’s legacy is its clear, continued relevance to how communities cope when opportunity dries up |  |
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| Boys From The Blackstuff on 14:33 - Jul 13 with 2201 views | Ifonly |
"You're Graeme Souness. You look like me."
Half of Liverpool looked like that at the time. |  | | |
| Boys From The Blackstuff on 15:07 - Jul 13 with 2150 views | Monksway |
Masterpiece. For those to young to remember the eighties a must watch if you want to understand how Thatcherism laid the foundations of today's Britain with it's gig Economy, zero hours contracts, increased inequality, and wrecked public services.
"I can do that - gi us a job" | | | |
| Boys From The Blackstuff on 15:18 - Jul 13 with 2127 views | LondonSaint76 |
Nick, I am old enough to remember it. Groundbreaking at the time and very thought provoking. Although only a minor part of the series, the character ‘shake hands’ was terrifying.
By the way, whilst on the subject of series set in Liverpool, Series 2 of This City Is Ours comes to BBC1 this autumn. Like you, I thoroughly enjoyed the first series. |  | | |
| Boys From The Blackstuff on 15:54 - Jul 13 with 2093 views | arfurdent |
Remember that series well, a very good depiction of real life in those times.
Watched a rerun about five years ago and it has aged well.
The immortal phrases like "Yosser Kiss" and Gissa a job" |  |
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| Boys From The Blackstuff on 08:53 - Jul 14 with 1834 views | Tonyfromdk |
Great series. I would also say Auf Wiedersehen Pet was up there too. | | | |
| Boys From The Blackstuff on 10:18 - Jul 14 with 1780 views | Chesham_Saint |
Nice cut and paste job there, Nick.
I much preferred ‘Auf Weidesein, Pet’ meself like,though, but. |  |
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| Boys From The Blackstuff on 11:23 - Jul 14 with 1752 views | arfurdent |
| Boys From The Blackstuff on 10:18 - Jul 14 by Chesham_Saint |
Nice cut and paste job there, Nick.
I much preferred ‘Auf Weidesein, Pet’ meself like,though, but. |
agree about Auf Weidesein, Pet. The Jimmy Nail line about the rat poison pellets on the bar "Fatal?, how fatal" was a line worthy of The Two Ronnies | |
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| Boys From The Blackstuff on 11:29 - Jul 14 with 1747 views | dirk_doone |
| Boys From The Blackstuff on 11:23 - Jul 14 by arfurdent |
agree about Auf Weidesein, Pet. The Jimmy Nail line about the rat poison pellets on the bar "Fatal?, how fatal" was a line worthy of The Two Ronnies |
Yes, but the writer of that wasn't from Liverpool. |  |
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| Boys From The Blackstuff on 12:07 - Jul 14 with 1720 views | SaintNick |
| Boys From The Blackstuff on 11:29 - Jul 14 by dirk_doone |
Yes, but the writer of that wasn't from Liverpool. |
I loved Auf Weidersen Pet, I loved Porridge I loved the Royle Family I even loved Father Ted, all had a social message running through them | |
| Satisfying The Bloodlust Of The Masses In Peacetime |
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