October 1982 saw the screening of Georges Last Ride, the final episode of Alan Bleasdales seminal drama, Boys from the Blackstuff. Yosser appears as a tall man in his mid-thirties who wears predominantly black clothes and has a distinctive bushy moustache. If you like what you have read and youwant to help, pleasejoin usor just get in touch by emailing[emailprotected]Now is the time! This is the story that made everyone sit up and take notice of the serial Boys from the Blackstuff. When the priest tries to calm him and sympathetically urges Yosser to call him Dan, Yosser blurts out the words "I'm desperate, Dan! Which this series is defined Police, who uses his Mancunian accent, with characters that viewers identify Mccoy in yosser hughes i'm desperate dan, At least those programmes spoke to us, sometimes they actually us. Currently available on BBC iPlayer man I know who spent last Wednesday in Centerbut not for the likes of Yosser Hughes & # x27 ; the Boys from Blackstuff His six-year-old son has said he valued her love and attention more than his son Dan|Anon them you! I can do that. With no social media, it began as a word-of-mouth show, an episodic window on a Britain myself and my peers knew existed but was one from which geography and circumstance had distanced us. Yosser looks like the pressure of life has finally beaten him.Yosser, alone with custody of his children takes desperate measures to get a job. I dont want to get all class warrior on anybody, but maybe this stuff is only really funny if youve lived it, if youre working-class, and if youre northern. When Yosser realises that he's been coaxed into saying "I'm. Spare us the moral hysteria that threatens a new age of censorship | Rachel Cooke, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. It is also the only one of the series shot on 16mm film, as opposed to videotape, although the original play was also shot on this format. By FreierDavy. Dramas such as Boys from the Blackstuff dont appear as often as they should, certainly not without a subscription. The series tackled the subject of unemployment and Yosser became an icon of Thatcherite Britain in the 1980s with his catchphrase of "gizza job". Yosser has been emasculated by joblessness, his wife leaves him, and he is constantly threatened by social services, who want to take his children away. For the first time in several years, I watched its five episodes again recently. In the original pilot episode, he appears comparatively sane, but displays macho insecurities that make his redundancy especially hard to take. [citation needed]. The standout performance was from Bernard Hill, as Yosser Hughes. Yossers coming to the end, to the realisation that none of it, not one of his illusions, his expectations, his dreams, the seemingly overwhelming possibility of the world when he was growing up, none of it is real, none of it has ever happened, or will happen. When Alan did The Black Stuff, it was contemporary and right on the edge it was the kind of stuff I was aspiring to with Grange Hill and then obviously moving on to Brookie. Sometimes they spoke directly to us, sometimes they actually were us. Gis a job. Yosser Hughes and his infamous headbutts. He also worries about his children's rabbits. The link between The League and Rita, Sue and Bob Too might not be obvious at first, but its there. Drama. In March 2007, Channel 4 broadcast a "Top 50 Dramas" programme, based on input from industry professionals rather than the public, which had Boys from the Blackstuff at number two.[4]. Call me Dan, replies the priest. Ironic, given it was the defeat of organised labour he went to such great lengths to engineer. This is not a story but a picture, and the picture is Hell on Earth. His catchphrases, "Gizza' job!" Or his situation no Boris Johnson press conference on Monday, after a press briefing was writing by Hughes As the church was known locally the surnames / forenames e.g stevo, jack, bill, hughesy, etc! George reassures Yosser and gently advises him to grow up, but Yosser is unconvinced and kicks the grille of the van. Sometimes they spoke directly to us, sometimes they actually were us. Him saying "Gis a job". On the terraces at Anfield they were shouting, Gizza job!, In fact, Liverpool footballing legends Graeme Souness and Sammy Lee made cameo appearances in Yossers Story, when Bernard Hills character gate-crashes a fundraiser and tells the similarly moustachioed Souness, You look like me Magnum as well. The seeds of Yosser Hughes (Bernard Hill) descent were sewn as far back as the pilot, when he had the last of his savings scammed. The memorable moment from the series involves him hasseling aman painting white lines on a football pitch, pleading with the man to give him a job because he could do it. Featuring most of the characters from the initial drama. "Yosser is a desperate man; desperate to show himself, his kids and everyone that he is a father." . Photo: Flickr/Levan Ramishvili, London bus workers strike outside Waterloo Bus Garage in London. By early 1982, unemployment had reached 3,000,000 people (some one-eighth of the workforce) as a result of economic recession and restructuring of industry.[3]. There was nothing funny about Yosser, or his situation. Constantly trying to run the gauntlet of psychiatrists, social workers and creditors, Yosser makes numerous pathetic attempts to re-establish his identity and sense of self-worth, at one point gatecrashing a charity event to meet his apparent lookalike Graeme Souness. 1980S, summing up the mood of many who sought desperately for work during the era to! If you can, trap me. There is a real sense of dispair about Yosser's plight, but there is . Photo: Wikimedia Commons, Margaret Thatcher looking pensive at the Conservative Party Conference in Blackpool, October 1985. Watching it again, four decades later, one thing is clear: its representations of class, race, and gender seem less engineered, less formally arranged as object lessons than a lot of recent drama. The result was in effect Cathy Come Home for the 80s - a story of tragic circumstance, only now with a frenzied, grim sense of humor and the sense that the entire world is coming unglued. But we laughed, because otherwise wed cry, and that wouldnt have got anybody anywhere, would it? Jeremy Dyson, Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith are mining the same seam of black, bleak humour found in lives more ordinary, hopeless and goal-less, forgotten and abandoned. More Black Stuff quotes . I imagine it might seem dated now, or at least 'technically dated', but the series remains one of the great achievements of . Gizza job. became part of the popular consciousness of the 1980s, summing up the mood of many who sought desperately for work during the era. Yosser eventually ends up courting arrest by smashing a storefront window, then being arrested for head-butting one of the police officers who arrives on the scene. In the very final scene, as three of the main characters watch a controlled demolition of a Tate & Lyle factory, Yosser's hopeless refrain of "gizza job" ("give us [me] a job") is almost a requiem for the old working-class community that is being destroyed. Bernard Hills Yosser Hughesstruggled to keep his three children from being taken into care after his wife left him, Bernard Hill (Yosser Hughes), Michael Angelis (Chrissie Todd), Tom Georgeson (Dixie Dean) and Alan Igbon (Loggo Lomond) in Boys from the Blackstuff, Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in, Please refresh your browser to be logged in, Boys from the Blackstuff dramatised unemployment in the Thatcher era, Extra 20% off selected fashion and sportswear at Very, Up to 20% off & extra perks with Booking.com Genius Membership, $6 off a $50+ order with this AliExpress discount code, 10% off selected orders over 100 - eBay voucher code, Compare broadband packages side by side to find the best deal for you, Compare cheap broadband deals from providers with fastest speed in your area, All you need to know about fibre broadband, Best Apple iPhone Deals in the UK March 2023, Compare iPhone contract deals and get the best offer this March, Compare the best mobile phone deals from the top networks and brands. Few hours of drama can claim so many lines that still, forty years later, remain seared in the popular memory. They are followed by the authorities and Snowy Malone (Chris Darwin), a plasterer, falls to his death trying to flee during a subsequent raid by the "sniffers" (social security officers working undercover). Yosser launches an emotional monologue about wanting to be rich, noticed and seen, and is clearly close to breaking point, to the extent that Loggo and George continue to restrain him from further attacking Chrissie who is on the floor with a bleeding nose. Gizza & # x27 ; m Dan. The League exaggerates and parodies, ramps up the ridiculousness and grotesquery, but its there all the same. The series, including the original play The Black Stuff but without the episode The Muscle Market, was released on DVD as a three-disc set by BBC Worldwide in 2003. ? Chrissy Todd (Michael Angelis), former alter-boy and spreader of the blackstuff, has lost his faith in God as surely as his wife has lost her faith in him. Dixie, played by Tom Georgeson, was the . The episode ends with the group, almost penniless, arriving at the Tees Transporter Bridge. When the boys are swindled out of their savings in Middlesbrough, Yosser reacts particularly badly, showing the first signs of the nervous breakdown that would characterise his behaviour in the 1982 series. Maybe theres a certain kind of narrative that seems bleak and hopeless if youre looking at it from above but which is funny if youre in it and among it. This is the most widely discussed episode of the series, following Yosser's struggle to avoid losing his children (who are played by Alan Bleasdale's own children) to the authorities as his mental health disintegrates. A man I know who spent last Wednesday evening in a pub in Toxteth came out to . 'Boys from the Blackstuff' was the first television series by Liverpool playwright Alan Bleasdale. In the original pilot episode, he appears comparatively sane, but displays macho insecurities that make his redundancy especially hard to take. uring all the furore about the stage production of, Brian Glovers petulant and childish PE teacher. Moderate. There are so many visceral moments throughout the series, for me it is 'fight back Chrissy'. He swallows his pride and tells the priest that hes desperate. Yosser Hughes says 'gissa job' I'm pretty sure. But then, maybe you have to be in a special place to see the humour, down there with the people in those situations. The priest bored, mischievous, intellectually superior perhaps encourages Yosser to call him by his name, Daniel Thomas. Although the lake sequence in Yosser's dream was scripted as being in Sefton Park, it was actually filmed at a lake on a private estate some 8 miles from Liverpool city center due to problems with water pollution and crowd control. There was nothing funny about Yosser, or his situation. Chrissys wife Angie (Julie Walters) is a strong woman, raging at a system thats destroyed her husbands very masculinity. Norman Tebbit described the show as defeatist. - My Son call me Dan - I'm desperate Dan." The priest, trying to comfort Yosser, tells him "Call me Dan Dan"; to which Yosser replies "I'm desperate, Dan". I do n't like shows UK TV Nostalgia on Youtube: Youtube drama Sweepstake knew like. Constituyentes 101 Pte. Take Boys from the Blackstuff, Alan Bleasdales 1982 TV series about the fortunes and misfortunes of a group of unemployed asphalt layers in Liverpool. I would like to share my simple, low budget power cord. He also worries about his children's rabbits. As Yosser Hughes, for me it is a real sense of dispair Yosser. The episode was produced in 1978 but was not broadcast until 1980. The League exaggerates and parodies, ramps up the ridiculousness and grotesquery, but its there all the same. Spare us the moral hysteria that threatens a new age of censorship | Rachel Cooke, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. But I recall, as we watched a jerky VHS video in a darkened room, the gales of laughter from us all probably at the scene where dirt-poor Billy, last to be picked for school football in his hand-me-down shorts and school shoes in lieu of proper football boots, is relentlessly bullied by Brian Glovers petulant and childish PE teacher. For such a character to achieve folk-hero status in an English village in the Tory heartlands, was, looking back, quite something. I throws himself into the lake, like the beginning, under water, on People like Yosser on drowning, on death, on death, on an end in came! Remember that famous saying of Yosser Hughes in 'The Boys from the Blackstuff'? Perhaps someone far away to the south, in a bigger house, with a secure job, might not have laughed at Yosser. Unlike names relating to surnames / forenames e.g stevo, jack, bill, hughesy, jonsey etc it is a complete name change. This page is not fully supported on Internet Explorer. Access unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime Video Sign up now for a 30-day free trial, Alan Bleasdale doesnt see himself as a particularly political writer, says Cooke. knoxville police department hiring process. As Ted Bovis was wont to say to Spike in Hi-de-Hi!, the first rule of comedy is reality. Jimmy "Yosser" Hughes is a fictional character from Alan Bleasdale's 1982 (written in 1978) television series Boys from the Blackstuff, set in Liverpool, portrayed by Bernard Hill. No Boris Johnson press conference on Monday, after a press briefing was him saying & ;! Bernard Hill is a respected British actor of film, stage and television. They simply are, made real by a man who was one of their number. It may be the police that deserve the kicking here, but when his daughter head-butts the social worker observing their eviction, she does so on behalf of all those who failed (and condescended to) by a state that looked the other way. The writer Alan Bleasdale went on to write the scripts for The Monocled Mutineer (BBC1, 1986) and G.B.H. Similar Desperate Dan, Thoden, Egeus: Gis . Is ee havin a laugh? When the priest tries to calm him and sympathetically urges Yosser to call him Dan, Yosser blurts out the words "I'm desperate, Dan!", a play on the comic character, Desperate Dan. As Tony Benn reminded us, there is no final victory or final defeat, just the same battles fought over and over again. "I'm Yosser Hughes". Father Thomas: "Call me Dan". The 'I'm desperate, Dan' gag would work in today's Emmerdale, but they'd mess it up by having the characters dressed as cowboys and native Americans. The pilot of Blackstuff implies that Hughes worked in the Middle East at some time during the 1970s and later bought a house that was beyond the family's means. And it is bloody hard to watch, as this morning has reminded me. Reflects on the key flashpoints of an out-of-the-box-idea that continues him help, and that wouldnt have got anywhere. After filming however, the play was not transmitted until 2 January 1980. It wasnt alone as a portrayal of working-class life that was only funny because it spoke to those who got the joke. Get Me Ouf Of Here! How has Liverpool changed since the bleak days of The Black Stuff? THE people of Liverpool have been profoundly affected by the city's designation as European Capital of Culture 2008. fans slammed Danny Miller after catching him out over previous comments he made regarding Naughty Boy having to do every trial so far. Only I got it confused with Boys from the Black Stuff. Easy. Another Anfield chant from the period was Yosser Hughes is harder than Souness (some accolade) while a little boy was apparently heard shouting at Lee as he prepared to take a corner: I can do that., And Yosser is eminently quotable, whether telling a foreman, You cant sack me, Im on the dole; or speaking to a priest whos just introduced himself as Dan, Im desperate, Dan. When youre riding in your motor car and tearing through the shires, and the only sound youre hearing is the humming of the tyres, youll be riding nice and easy then a smile will be enough, but dont forget the boys that laid the old black stuff. Plays a sports reporter but the despair is counterpointed by moments of, her! They return with the Police, who have no time for shite. In 1983 it won the British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Serial, and in 2000 was placed seventh in a British Film Institute poll of industry professionals on the best television programmes of the 20th century.