Alan Bleasdale
Birthdate: March 23, 1946
Birthplace: Liverpool, England, United Kingdom
Occupation: Writer
Profile: English television dramatist.
Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Bleasdale
Number of Quotes: 25
A man without a job is a corpse waiting to be buried.
Boys from the Blackstuff (1982).
This line encapsulates the central theme of the series: the dehumanizing effect of long-term unemployment on the working class.
A nervous breakdown calling himself a magician, two coachloads of 70-year-old
religious maniacs looking for a fight and a fancy-dress contest that nobody knew about.
Are you lads working?
No, we're desperate.
The Blackstuff (1980 pilot) and Boys from the Blackstuff (1982).
This exchange became a cultural catchphrase in Britain, summing up the despair and defiance of the unemployed.
Fine words have there place, but action is all.
Get out there and find us some work!
Boys from the Blackstuff (1982).
A desperate plea from the tarmac gang's foreman, highlighting the pressure and responsibility he feels for his men.
Gizza job! I can do that!
Boys from the Blackstuff (1982).
Arguably Alan Bleasdale's
most famous line, a blunt, pleading, and aggressive demand for work that became a national catchphrase.
I can be a socialist and still believe that some of my class are total and utter bastards.
Boys from the Blackstuff (1982).
A nuanced line showing the complexity of political and social identity, acknowledging that solidarity doesn't mean blind allegiance.
I can't go on like this. I'm a walking disaster.
Boys from the Blackstuff (1982).
A moment of vulnerable self-awareness from the increasingly unstable Yosser.
I could have been a mathematician, you know. A scholar. But I was never given the chance.
Boys from the Blackstuff (1982).
A line expressing the theme of wasted potential and the lack of opportunity for the working class.
I think when the full horror of being fifty hits you, you should stay home and have a good cry.
I'm desperate, Dan.
Boys from the Blackstuff (1982).
A simple, repeated line that became one of the most iconic phrases in British television history, conveying a depth of despair.
I'm Yosser Hughes. I can give you two sons.
Boys from the Blackstuff (1982).
A bizarre and heartbreaking line showing Yosser's deteriorating mental state and his distorted view of what he has to offer.
I've got a group who can't play music, one bad comedian plus boyfriend, a nervous breakdown calling himself a magician,
two coachloads of 70-year-old religious maniacs looking for a fight and a fancy-dress contest that nobody knew about.
If you can run one business well, you can run any business well.
It's easy to be generous with money. Far harder to be generous with your time.
It's the system, see. It's the system that's the enemy.
The Monocled Mutineer (1986).
A line that defines the anti-establishment theme of the series, portraying the system as the true antagonist.
Let's just say I'm in the security business.
The Monocled Mutineer (1986).
A typically enigmatic and confident line from the charming and cunning protagonist.
My life is a tragedy.
No it's not. It's a farce.
GBH (1991).
A exchange that captures the blurring line between serious drama and absurdist satire in this series about political corruption.
The men who run this war, they're the real criminals.
The Monocled Mutineer (1986).
A sentiment reflecting the series' critique of the incompetent and callous British military leadership during World War I.
There is a woman at the beginning of all great things.
There is not in nature, a thing that makes man so deformed, so beastly, as doth intemperate anger.
There's more to life than tarmac, you know.
Boys from the Blackstuff (1982).
A line expressing a longing for meaning and dignity beyond mere subsistence-level work (or the lack of it).
To resist the frigidity of old age, one must combine the body, the mind, and the
heart. And to keep these in parallel vigor one must exercise, study, and love.
We are the boys from the blackstuff.
Boys from the Blackstuff (1982).
A statement of identity and solidarity, naming the series and the tarmac-laying trade of the characters.
Who do you think you are, dealing in lives?
GBH (1991).
A powerful challenge to the corrupt political leader, accusing him of playing with the fates of ordinary people.
Last on Earth
