In search of the UK’s great “city films”: Merseyside - part 1 (late 50s - late 70s)

The aim of the City Film blogs, of which this is a part, is to highlight films and tv movies that show off the locations, stories, actors, and filmmakers of British cities. The films must be at least an hour, made from the late 1950s onwards, and portray the city in that same timeframe or very close to it.

The focus here is the five metropolitan district councils of Merseyside (Liverpool, Sefton, Wirral, Knowsley, and St Helens). Since these have had so many films, the blog is in three parts - corresponding to the time periods in which the films were released.

 

OK, some films …

 

Dangerous Youth (1957), about a teenage Liverpudlian singer getting drafted into National Service, starred Frankie Vaughan who was born in Liverpool in 1928 and raised there until being evacuated during the Second World War. Apart from a young Kenneth Cope the rest of the main cast was not from the area. The barracks in the film were in London and locations in that city stand in for Liverpool several times but the film nonetheless has lots of shots of  locations including the Pier Head, Dingle riverside, St. George’s Hall, and the Lime Street area.

 

Frankie Vaughan born Frank Fruim Abelson in the Islington district of Liverpool came from a family of Russian-Jewish descent. His stage name came via his Russian grandmother who referred to him, her first grandchild, as "my number vorn". As a boy, he sang in the choir at the Princes Road Synagogue in Toxteth.

Violent Playground (1958) is based on Liverpool Police Department’s employment, in 1949, of a small number of officers dedicated to deal with youth crimes. The film's set dressers reportedly annoyed residents by making the main shooting location (the now-demolished Gerard Gardens) more dilapidated than it was. Despite innovatively (for the time) showing several mixed-race and black characters, and having two important British-Chinese characters, only Fred Fowell (before he took the stage name Freddie Starr) has a local accent. The Queensway Mersey Tunnel is the endpoint for the car chase scene.

 

Genuine/believable local accents are important to City Films.
In Violent Playground only Fred Fowell, before he became Freddie Starr, has a local accent.

Beyond This Place (1959) is about a man who returns, from America to his birthplace city of Liverpool to discover that the father he thought was dead is in prison for murder (for a crime he maybe didn’t commit). The Pierhead, city centre, St John's Gardens, and the museum and library buildings on William Brown Street all feature.

 

Ferry Cross the Mersey (1965) features Liverpool band Gerry and the Pacemakers and their attempt to win a fictional talent contest in the city’s 1960's Beat Scene. Marsden wrote nine new songs for the film whilst performances from local artist Cilla Black and several local bands also feature. The idea for the film came from the band’s manager, Liverpudlian Brian Epstein. City locations included the Mountwood ferry on the River Mersey, the Albert Dock, The Cavern Club, Frank Hessy's music store, and the Locarno Ballroom. Most of the non-musician actors have no local connections although Liverpool-born and raised Deryck Guyler has a good part.

 

Some City Films will capture a cultural scene in a city's history.
Ferry Cross The Mersey helped to do this for The Merseybeat Scene.

The Golden Vision (1968) is a 75-minute BBC ‘Wednesday Play’ that combines behind-the-scenes documentary coverage of Everton FC with comedy-drama of fictional supporters’ lives. The title of the film was the nickname of Everton’s then centre-forward Alex Young. The screenplay is partly drawn from the experiences of its writer Liverpool-born Neville Smith who also had a part in the film. Liverpudlian actors Ken Jones and Johnny Gee had leading roles as did local stand-up comedians Joey Kaye and Bill Dean (Dean was born as Patrick Connolly in Everton and took his stage name in honour of Everton football legend William 'Dixie' Dean).

 

The Big Flame (1969) is a BBC Wednesday Play about striking Liverpool dockworkers rejecting management demands of a return to work and deciding instead to occupy the docks and run things themselves (a so-called "work-in"). Some of the key roles are played by Liverpudlians – notably Norman Rossington and ex-docker Peter Kerrigan. Real dockers also appear as extras. The film title was soon after used by a socialist organisation founded in Liverpool in 1970.

 

What’s Good for the Goose (1969) is about the amorous escapades of a 50-something assistant bank manager (Norman Wisdom) who attends a conference in Southport. The film uses locations in and around the town, including Scarisbrick Avenue, the beach, Wayfarer’s Arcade, pier, funfair, Floral Hall Gardens, Rotten Row, and the Birkdale Palace Hotel.

 

The Reckoning (1970) is a tale of a successful businessman in London, who returns to his hometown Liverpool when his father has been attacked for singing Irish rebel songs. The son takes revenge. Most non-London scenes were filmed in Wallasey and Birkenhead including one of the bridges that connect the two. Everton’s St George's church and surrounds also get a look-in. The screenplay is by John McGrath who was born in Birkenhead to Irish Catholic parents and who, despite leaving at age 4 on the outbreak of World War Two, would later be heavily involved in the early 1960s creation of Merseyside-set TV series Z-Cars and, between 1970 and 1972, worked at the Liverpool Everyman Theatre, developing community-style theatre for working-class audiences.

 

The Reckoning's lead character, played by Nicol Williamson, crosses one of the bridges connecting Birkenhead and Wallasey.

John McGrath - screenplay writer of The Reckoning - had various Merseyside connections.

Gumshoe (1971), about an amateur private detective in Liverpool, was written by Neville Smith, who makes a cameo appearance. The film features various city locations including several buildings that have long since been demolished. The Broadway Club that features in the film was (and still is) a real venue in Norris Green. The Club's (then) owner, Ernie Mack (Ernie McGrae), appears briefly with his jazz group the Saturated Seven (the father of the former Everton FC player and manager Joe Royle was the band’s pianist). Bill Dean plays the club manager and Ken Jones also has a part.

 

One element of a City Film is that it is written by local writers - such as Neville Smith.

The Rank and File (1971) is a fictionalised BBC tv film of the Pilkingtons Glass strike in St Helens in 1970 and the lead actors are from Liverpool and Lancashire. Writer Jim Allan had met with the strikers at the time and based the character, Charlie, on one of them. The BBC, concerned about legal issues, insisted that the company name be changed to Wilkinsons (clever huh) and the setting (and shooting location) to the West Midlands. Nonetheless, the film starts by saying that it is “based principally on events that took place in Lancashire in the Spring of 1970". Not a city film but an important part of St Helens story and so worthy of mention.

 

After a Lifetime (1971), a tv film written by Neville Smith focuses upon two adult sons reflecting on the life of their recently deceased trade unionist father. Smith drew on his experience of losing his father (photos of whom can be seen in the opening credits) for inspiration and played the eldest son. Their uncle, played by Peter Kerrigan, tells them about their father’s impressive activist past. Bill Dean plays another uncle. Jimmy Coleman, Johnny Gee, Joey Kay, Mike Hayden, and Ernie Mack also feature. The film reportedly influenced writer Alan Bleasdale to end his classic Liverpool-set early-80s tv series The Boys from the Blackstuff with the funeral of another working-class Liverpool activist, played by Peter Kerrigan. As with After a Lifetime, Mike Hayden plays the priest conducting the funeral.

 

Lucky (1974) is a tv film about Samuel 'lucky' Ubooto, a twenty-something man of Irish and African parentage who has just been released from prison (could he not have come back from the navy, University, etc.?). The film focuses on Lucky on that first day as he wanders around Liverpool. Paul Barber, Toxteth-born to a white mother and Sierra Leonean father plays the lead role. The other local actors in lead roles are Doreen Sloane and Peter Kerrigan.

 

City Films need to reflect a place's racial and ethnic diversity.
Actor Paul Barber seems to have been the first non-white lead in a Liverpool city film. 

Death of a Young, Young Man (1975), is a BBC tv film about three lads from a high-rise Liverpool council estate who go potato picking a few miles away in rural Lancashire. Written by Knowsley's Willy Russell and featuring local lad Gary Brown as Billy and a 15-year-old Andrew ‘Drew’ Schofield (Cazza), it was filmed around Kirkby (Knowsley). Paul Cahill (Bo) may well also have been local too, but I can’t find anything about him.

 

The 1970s saw locally-set tv films from both Alan Bleasdale (left) and Willy Russell (right).

Bag of Yeast (1976) is a 60-minute tv film about how a man’s decision to be ordained as a Catholic priest impacts his family and friends. It was written by and stars Neville Smith with Peter Kerrigan playing his father and Alison Steadman (who spent her first 20 years in Liverpool) his fiancée. The wider cast included a range of well-known locals – Gladys Ambrose, Bill Dean, Jimmy Coleman, Mike Hayden, and Ernie Mack. The title is, apparently, rhyming slang (not something Merseyside is known for!) for priest.

Scully's New Year's Eve (1978) was the tv film debut of a pre-existing character, Francis "Franny" Scully. Writer Alan Bleasdale first brought him to life to entertain his pupils when he was a teacher in Huyton. The character then made it to several BBC Radio Merseyside and Radio City plays in the 1970s, a stage play, and two novels – a full tv series would follow in 1984. Scully is played by Andrew Schofield whilst the other character, "Mooey" Morgan, was played by Ray Kingsley. Bleasdale claimed that Kingsley, who died young, was the inspiration for Mooey. Other Liverpool talent includes Gil Brailey, Jimmy Coleman, Arthur Kelly (once in a band with George Harrison), comedian Mick Miller (playing a wannabe stand-up), and Roger Philips (later a distinguished Merseyside broadcaster).

 

Before the '80s Scully tv series, Andrew 'Drew' Schofield (right) and Ray Kingsley first appeared in a late '70s tv film featuring their respective characters Scully and Mooey.

Some of the key Liverpool actress to feature in city films in the 1970s

The Birth of the Beatles (1979) covers the period from the early 60s in Liverpool through the time in Hamburg and finishing in 1964 with the band heading to New York for their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. The former drummer Pete Best served as a consultant and some have alleged that the film consequently misrepresents the reasons for his dismissal from the band. In addition to the story, there are shots of the city – including Pier Head, Anglican Cathedral, St. James Gardens, Brunswick Dock, Litherland Town Hall, Penny Lane, and Strawberry Field.

 

The first of several films that attempt to capture The Beatles' early days in Liverpool. 

To go to part 2 (the 80s and 90s) please click here.

The author, a Brit. based in Washington DC, is on Twitter at @newbarnraising.

In search of the UK’s great “city films”: Merseyside - part 2 (80s and 90s)

Thanks for making it to part 2. Here are some more Merseyside 'city films' ...

The Black Stuff (1980), about a Merseyside tarmac crew on a job on Teesside, was a TV film written by Alan Bleasdale. Four of the stars (Peter Kerrigan, Tom Georgeson, Michael Angelis, and Gary Bleasdale (the writer’s cousin)) were from Liverpool. Not a ‘city film’ but worthy of mention - in part because the film’s popularity led to the follow-up Merseyside-set Boys from the Blackstuff tv series.

 

The Muscle Market (1981), a tv film about the owner of a failing building firm who resorts to low-level thuggery to stay in business, was written by Alan Bleasdale. Filmed around Liverpool and Birkenhead, it was directed by Alan Dossor who had been artistic director of the Everyman Theatre from 1970 to 1975. The film was originally meant to be an episode of Boys from the Blackstuff, but a BBC veto saw Bleasdale make it a stand-alone drama. The lead was played by Pete Postlethwaite (from Warrington – a town on the Mersey if not part of Merseyside) with Alison Steadman as his secretary. Other Liverpool talent included Roger Phillips (adopted Scouser and local radio royalty), Ronald Forfar (later to be Freddie Boswell in Carla Lane's tv comedy Bread), Paul Harman (who had founded Merseyside Young People's Theatre just a couple of years earlier), Ken Sharrock, and Bill Moores. There was also something of an in-joke for local viewers – namely that the men playing the contractor’s thugs were well-known local comedians – these included Brian Jacques who was also a BBC Radio Merseyside presenter at the time and in 1981-2 served as the resident playwright of the Everyman Theatre.

 

Muscle Market Director Alan Dossor - not from Merseyside but a key figure in the fortunes of the Everyman Theatre in the first half of the 1970s.

A Turn for the Worse (1981) is a tv film about the boss of a Liverpool-based entertainment agency who “discovers” a talented young unemployed comedian at one of his regular auditions in The Bootle Railway Club. The cast is not hugely local – the actor playing the comedian, Max Hafler is “Lancashire-born”, but that’s all the information (freely) available on him online. There are appearances by locals Vince Earl and Ray Kingsley. I’ve also not been able to dig up any information on the writer - John Bill. Help!

 

The Terence Davies Trilogy (1983) is how three shorter films by Liverpudlian Terence Davies, often shown together, became known. The films are Children (1976 - 46 minutes); Madonna and Child (1980 - 30 minutes); and Death and Transfiguration (1983 - 26 minutes). Davies wrote and directed all three and they form a semi-autobiographical account, from childhood to old age, of a man (Robert Tucker) wrestling with his sexuality. Like Davies’ own life the early setting is a Catholic working-class home in Liverpool. The cast is not local, but Paul Barber has a good role in the second film.

 

Terence Davies left Liverpool in the early 1970s but has thoroughly mined his post-war childhood in the city and made it the subject of several films.

Letter to Brezhnev (1985), about a Merseyside woman who falls for a Russian sailor, is directed by Liverpool-born Chris Bernard, a key figure in the city’s theatre scene and a scriptwriter for tv soap Brookside. The screenplay was by Liverpudlian Frank Clark and his sister Margi played one of the two female leads – the other female lead, Alexandra Pigg, was from Knotty Ash. Kirkby (in Knowsley) was the setting as well as the filming location for several scenes and the premiere was in Knowsley Council's offices. Wirral musician Alan Gill composed the score – partly performed by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. The film’s key figures even had a public reunion in 2017 at the FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) cinema complex. It is a great city film ... and the Elaine and Peter characters got married in real life in 2017!

 

The soundtrack for City Films will ideally use the music of local bands/artists/composers.
The Letter to Breshnev soundtrack, composed by The Wirral's Alan Gill, is a good example.

Franke Clarke with sister Margi and mother at the Liverpool premier of Letter to Breshnev.

No Surrender (1985), about a club that has been double-booked at Christmas (for Catholic Nationalists and Protestant Unionists), was written by Alan Bleasdale, and among the handful of stars are Liverpool actor Michael Angelis and Pete Price a (still) well-known local radio personality. Other local actors to appear include Vince Earl, Ken Jones, Ian Hart, and two of the McGann clan (Mark and Joe). Locations to feature include Wallasey (Magazine Promenade), Wavertree, Old Swan, Cantrill Farm Estate (now Stockbridge Village), and Garston.

 

Mr. Love (1985), about a mild-mannered gardener’s active but covert love life, is a great advert for Southport. Locations include the Cambridge and Wayfarers Arcades, the Royal Clifton Hotel, the Pier, Hesketh Park, the Promenade by the Marine Lake, Marine Parade, the now-demolished ABC cinema on Lord Street, and The Princess Diana Gardens.

 

Mr. Love - a great advert for Southport ... and gardening

The Fruit Machine (1988) is about two gay teenagers in Liverpool who go on the run from an underworld assassin and the police. The film starts in the city - shooting locations include the Britannia Adelphi Hotel - then moves to London and Brighton. The split locations make it hard to call a city film, but it was written by Frank Clark and has two Liverpudlians, Emil Charles, and Tony Forsyth, as the friends. Liverpool actor Louis Emerick also has a role.

 

The 1980s saw a greater on-screen reflection of Merseyside's racially diverse population.

Business as Usual (1988), stars Birkenhead-born, West Kirby-educated Glenda Jackson as the manager of a Liverpool boutique who accuses the regional manager of sexually harassing a worker (played by Dingle-raised Cathy Tyson whose acting career began at the Everyman Theater). Jackson’s character is sacked but then mounts a public campaign to get her job back. The film was based on the sex discrimination case of Militant supporter Audrey White, who fought successfully, via a 1983 Transport and General Workers Union picketing campaign, to get her job back at the Lady at Lord John boutique in Church Street. Craig Charles (Tyson’s character’s love interest and, at the time, real-life husband) and two of the McGann brothers – Stephen and Mark – also have roles.

 

True stories can be the basis for good city films - as was the case with Business as Usual.

Appointment in Liverpool (1988) is an Italian film about a girl who tracks down the Liverpool fan who she thinks killed her father in the Heysel Stadium disaster. Despite being a Liverpool-relevant story and some scenes being filmed on Merseyside, it is (very) hard to call a city film.

 

Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988), written and directed by Terence Davies, is about the life of a white working-class family in Liverpool, in the 1940s and into the early 1950s. This is before the period this blog is looking at, but it features in several best British film lists so I’ve squeezed it in. In addition to Warringtonian Pete Postlethwaite as the father, the rest of the lead cast is largely from Merseyside and includes Angela Walsh, Debi Jones, Dean Williams, Michael Starke, Chris Darwin, and Vincent Maguire. Andrew Schofield and Jean Boht (Ma Boswell from Bread) also make appearances. Most of the filming was done in an area of north London with homes that were architecturally like Davies’ Kensington home that had been demolished in the early 1960s. However, there was filming in Jubilee Drive (Kensington), Formby Sands, and the now-demolished Futurist cinema near Lime Street.

 

Angela Walsh and Debi Jones in Still Voices, Distant Lives

It is worth mentioning a couple of important institutions that helped to get the city on screen and which will be referenced ahead. 1989 saw the creation of the Liverpool Film Office to promote the city to film and television producers - the first such office in the UK. This was followed in 1992 with the creation of the Moving Image Development Agency (MIDA). Roger Shannon, MIDA’s founder, and Head summarized the position as “the Film Office puts Liverpool in front of the camera – MIDA puts Liverpool behind the camera”.

 

Liverpool Film Office: supporting film on Merseyside and, now, the Liverpool City Region. Many of the films supported have been 'city films'.

Dancin’ thru the Dark (1990), about a woman’s pre-nuptial doubts, is Willy Russell’s adaptation of his play Stags and Hens – Russell also has a cameo and wrote three of the songs. The male lead, Con O'Neill, was raised near a Merseyside New Town (Skelmersdale), trained at the Elliott-Clarke college in Liverpool, and started his acting career at the Everyman Youth Theatre. The female lead, Claire Hackett, is from The Wirral. Colin Welland, Liverpool-born and raised in Newton-le-Willows (now part of St. Helens), has a role as the manager of Bransky's nightclub (the old Locarno Ballroom on West Derby Road). U.S.-based, Liverpool-raised musician Peter Beckett, plays a band member. Several other key cast members are also from the area – including Mark Womack, Andrew Naylor, and Simon O'Brien. Stephen Graham appears briefly in his feature debut - he's the kid who scores the goals in the kickabout with the bridegroom. There's a fair few shots of the city in the first half of this very good 'city film'.

 

Claire Hackett and Con O'Neill in Dancin' thru the Dark.

Needle (1990), written by Jimmy McGovern, is a BBC tv film about a young man's descent into heroin use in a near-future Liverpool where drug use is rampant. The leads - Sean McKee as the young guy with Emma Bird as his wife - are from Liverpool. The other main roles also went to local talent including Pete Postlethwaite, Paul Barber, Andrew Schofield, Gary Mavers (brother of La's frontman Lee), Vincent Maguire, Andrew Naylor, Anna Keaveney, and former World champion boxer John Conteh. Well over a dozen others had strong local ties including Geoffrey Hughes, Jake Abraham, Chris Darwin, Stephen Walters, David Rooney, Arthur Kelly, Al T. Kossy, Angela Walsh, Carl Chase, John Shackley, Paul Codman, Carl Wharton, Maureen O'Brien (a founding member of The Everyman Theatre), Philip Foster, Mark Moraghan, and Paul Broughton.

 

Sean McKee (1961 - 2015) had the lead role in Needle. 

Jimmy McGovern - writer of Needle and several other Merseyside-set tv films

The Long Day Closes (1992), about a quiet, lonely boy growing up in Liverpool in the 1950s, is another semi-autobiographical piece written and directed by Terence Davies. Several locals feature amongst the cast including Christina 'Tina' Malone, Jimmy Wilde, and Joy Blakeman.

 

Priest (1994), about a gay clergyman, was written by Liverpool writer, Jimmy McGovern who also served as producer for the film. The film had a substantial role for Cathy Tyson whilst other Merseyside actors to feature in non-lead roles included Christine Tremarco, Bill Dean, Gilly Coman, Jimmy Coleman, Jimmy Gallagher, Tony Booth (and young grandson Euan Blair). Several Liverpool locations feature along with Crosby Beach (Sefton).

 

Dark Summer (1994) is an inter-racial, cross-class, love story set (and largely shot) in Liverpool. The film, which had funding from the city's Economics Initiative Unit, was written and directed by the (then) Liverpool-based Charles Teton and shot with a local cast and crew. The young couple is played by Steve Ako and Joeline Garner Joel whilst Sylvia Amoo (wife of local singing legend Eddie) plays his mother and Chris Darwin her father. Ako, who plays a boxer in the film, comes from a distinguished line of Merseyside boxers in real life. The boxing scenes were co-written by Bernie Deasy an amateur coach and former pro. The film seems a bit of a family affair - Wayne Ako and Marlene Amoo appear as the boxer’s siblings and Sylvia Amoo’s maiden name was Joel (so maybe a relation of the lead actress).

 

Steve Ako and Joeline Garner Joel in Dark Summer

Blood on the Dole (1994), a tv film about four teenagers struggling with life after leaving school, started life as a play by Birkenhead-born playwright Jim Morris that was first performed at the Liverpool Playhouse in 1981. Morris also then wrote the screenplay for the film which was produced by Alan Bleasdale and directed by Liverpudlian Pip Broughton (long involved with the city’s theatre scene). The actors playing the teenagers – Stephen Walters, Suzanne Maddock, Phil Dowd – were from Merseyside (I was unable to find anything about the fourth, Rachel Caldwell). Locations to feature include the Walker Art Gallery and the Hoylake and West Kirby War Memorial.

 

Stephen Walters - star of tv film Needle - began his tv career whilst at the former St. Wilfrid's Catholic High School in Litherland (Sefton).

Soul Survivors (1995) is a tale of a British DJ with a late-night American soul music program (in Liverpool) who gets a fictional American band to get back together and tour the U.K. MIDA helped to lure the production to the city where filming took place over 3 months. The main Liverpool actor to have a lead role was Margi Clarke.

 

Rich Deceiver (1995) is a tv film about a married woman in a lower-income area of Liverpool who wins £1.5 million on the football pools and uses it to quietly create a job for her husband. The film was based on a 1992 novel by Wirral-raised Gillian White and included several Liverpudlians amongst the leading actors, including John McArdle, David Yip, Elizabeth Heery (now Elizabeth Morton and writing Liverpool-set novels), and Cheryl Murray. Other local talents to feature include Georgina Smith, Jimmy Gallagher, Mandy Walsh, Bernadette (Bernie) Foley, Al T. Kossy, Sherril Parsons, and Bernard Merrick.

 

Merseyside-raised writer Gillian White whose novel was the basis for tv film Rich Deceiver.

Hillsborough (1996), about the tragic events of a 1989 FA Cup semi-final in Sheffield in which 96 Liverpool supporters died and hundreds were injured, is a tv film by Jimmy McGovern. Directed by Liverpool-born, and (reportedly) mad-keen Liverpool FC fan, Charles McDougall, many of the stars are from Merseyside - amongst them  Ricky Tomlinson, Mark Womack, Scot Williams, Stephen Walters, and Kevin Jones (now Knapman - don't ask me why). There is (unsurprisingly) little of Liverpool to see, which makes it hard to call it a city film, but it is too important to the city's recent history to leave out here.

 

Brazen Hussies (1996) is a tv movie about a pub landlady who meets an old school friend (Crissy Rock) who is now a stripper and gets the idea to improve her pub business by hiring male strippers. Of the handful of star roles, only Rock is from Merseyside, but comedian Jimmy Tarbuck also appears in his first proper acting role. The film was shot on Merseyside although I have yet to uncover any of the handful of locations.

 

The mid-late 1990s saw Crissy Rock appearing in several Liverpool-set films.

The Fix (1997) is a tv movie about the true story of Tony Kay, one of three Sheffield Wednesday players, who had bet on their side to lose a match in December 1962. Kay, a Sheffield lad, signed for Everton soon after and was playing for them when the scandal hit. Kay is played by Jason Isaacs who spent his first eleven years in the Liverpool suburb of Childwall. The other key characters with strong Merseyside ties are Ricky Tomlinson (a Liverpool fan playing an Everton supporter!) and Colin Welland (as Everton manager Harry Catterick). It’s worth a mention but hard to call a city film.

 

Jason Isaacs with the real Tony Kay.

Under the Skin (1997), about two sisters coping with the death of their mother (played by locally raised actress Rita Tushingham), was filmed in Liverpool. One of the sister’s boyfriends is played by Matthew Delamere – part of a well-known Wirral acting family. The Wirral-based Castle Singers also feature. Recognisable shots of the city are mostly towards the end as is the comedy club cameo from Crissy Rock. The Moving Image Development Agency gave finance, and the Liverpool Film Office gave support.

 

Dockers (1999) is a tv film about the Liverpool Dockers’ Strike of 1995-8. Two of the four leads, Crissy Rock and Ricky Tomlinson, are from Merseyside as are a lot of the other cast members. The film emerged from a Workers’ Educational Association program for sacked dockers and their partners and was largely written by them under the guidance of Jimmy McGovern and Scotsman Irvine Welsh. The dockers ploughed the money they made from the film into the purchase and restoration of the former Casablanca club into The Casa bar and social enterprise.

 

Former real-life trade unionist Ricky Tomlinson -
one of the stars of the Jimmy McGovern-penned Dockers.

Swing (1999) is about a Liverpudlian who sets up a band on his release from prison and seeks to win back his old girlfriend. Many of the cast have strong connections to Liverpool: Paul Usher (Barry from Brooksie) plays the former prisoner’s brother, whilst Rita Tushingham and Tom Bell play his parents, Tom Georgeson is his uncle and head of an Orange Order Lodge (of which Liverpool has many) to which the character played by Alexei Sayle also belongs. Other talents with strong city connections include Danny McCall, Scot Williams, and Del Henney. The film opens with aerial shots of the Pier Head and Mersey whilst other locations include Church Street and St. George’s Hall.

 

Heart (1999), a dark tale about a heart transplant recipient and the donor’s mother, reunited the writer-director partnership behind Hillsborough (Jimmy McGovern and Charles McDougall). The tv film, which had support from MIDA’s Film Production Fund, was shot around Merseyside and Manchester.

To go to part 3 (2000 to the present) please click here.

The author, a Brit. based in Washington DC, is on Twitter at @newbarnraising.