Blood on the Dole

Alan Bleasdales touching yet frank drama for Channel 4 about the struggles of a group of young adults leaving school in a deprived area of Liverpool Starring Stephen Walters Suzanne Maddock and Amanda Mealing Based on the acclaimed play by Jim Morris voted Most Promising Playwright by the Financial Times and Morning Star in 1981 Blood on the Dole shows the lives of four teenagers two boys and two girls struggling to cope after being thrust into the real world for the first time after leaving school Living in deprived Merseyside the four youths brighteyed optimism for their futures and newfound freedom is soon crushed by the realities of unemployment poverty and the brutal reality of living and trying to find work in a city in decline They all soon find themselves in the hopeless situation of facing complete dependence on state handouts the dole The four teenagers instead find themselves turning to each other to find the strength to survive