In the 1970s programmes based in Liverpool centred largely around the comedy The Liver Birds. But by the 1980s there was the groundbreaking series about unemployment The Boys from the Blackstuff, One Summer and the semi-social realist Brookside soap opera. Like previous reviewers I too watched this in my teenage years (I was 14 when it aired) and seeing this on DVD reminds me what an excellent series it was, albeit with some flaws. While One Summer doesn't dwell on the social inequalities in Liverpool at the time - under the Conservative government it was hit hard and was the only region to actually have a swing to Labour in a Tory landslide in the election of May that year (1983) - it does touch on working-class deprivation without delving into the complexities of the issue. Billy and Icky are two 15 year-olds about to leave school with no qualifications and little job prospects. Billy's home is a dysfunctional one and he is a petty thief being eyed up by the police. Both are part of a gang that get involved in various scraps, some with knives. The second-in-command of this group is Rabbit, played by Ian Hart (then called Ian Davies) who would become a nemesis for the pair. Leaving Liverpool on train in their school uniforms for north Wales, Billy and Icky become involved in a series of adventures in which they struggle to leave behind their social background and upbringing and attempt to blend in with a rural community. It also shows, somewhat uniquely for the time perhaps, two 15-year-olds doing exactly what boys of that age do, muck about and deal with teen angst. I've just watched all five 50-minute episodes of the series as well as the interviews with lead actors David Morrissey (Billy), Spencer Leigh (Icky) and Hart. Alas, James Hazeldine, who played the slightly hippy Kidder and director Gordon Flemyng had died by the time this section was filmed. Flemyng is described by Morrissey and Leigh as an amiable but tough Glaswegian who got the best out of the cast. It's also revealed, by producer Keith Richardson, that the casting procedure was a lengthy one, going round the area's drama schools and secondary schools. Neither Morrissey nor Leigh had any formal acting experience although Davies/Hart had appeared in Play For Today. It's an excellent exploration of youth but does contrive some unfortunate incidents the duo get involved in, has a grim ending and the romance between Billy and Jo is as lame as any Hollywood blockbuster can get. Those aside, I found this a fantastic series to watch, with the spectacles' rose tints thoroughly faded with age.
Review of One Summer
