Alan Bleasdale
Encyclopedia
Alan Bleasdale is an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 dramatist, best known for writing several social realist drama serials based on the lives of ordinary people.The Bleasdales live in prescot,liverpool,wales and london.

Early life

Bleasdale is an only child; his father worked in a food factory and his mother in a grocery shop. From 1951-57, he went to the St. Aloysius Roman Catholic Infant and Junior Schools in Huyton-with-Roby (then in Lancashire). From 1957-64, he attended the Wade Deacon Grammar School in Widnes
Widnes
Widnes is an industrial town within the borough of Halton, in Cheshire, England, with an urban area population of 57,663 in 2004. It is located on the northern bank of the River Mersey where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. Directly to the south across the Mersey is the town of Runcorn...

 (now the Wade Deacon High School
Wade Deacon High School
-Admissions:It currently has no sixth form but has shown interest in getting one and asking for support by parents and pupils. It is situated on Birchfield Road between the districts of Farnworth and Appleton and opposite . Widnes railway station is just north of the school, and is next door to...

). In 1967, he obtained a teaching certificate from the Padgate College of Education in Warrington
Warrington
Warrington is a town, borough and unitary authority area of Cheshire, England. It stands on the banks of the River Mersey, which is tidal to the west of the weir at Howley. It lies 16 miles east of Liverpool, 19 miles west of Manchester and 8 miles south of St Helens...

 (which became Warrington Collegiate Institute, now part of the University of Chester
University of Chester
The University of Chester is a public research university located in Chester, United Kingdom. The University, based on a main campus in Chester and a smaller campus in Warrington, offers a range of foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate courses, as well as undertaking academic research.Chester...

).

In 1967, he married Julie Moses; they have two sons and one daughter. For four years he worked as a teacher at St Columba's Secondary Modern School in Huyton
Huyton
Huyton is a suburb of Liverpool within the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, with some parts belonging to the borough of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. It is part of the Liverpool Urban Area and has close associations with its neighbour, Roby, having both formerly been part of the Huyton with...

 from 1967-71, then King George V School (now The King George V & Elaine Bernacchi School in Bikenibeu
Bikenibeu
Bikenibeu is a settlement in Kiribati. It is located about two nautical miles from Tarawa.-Landmarks:*Te Umanibong -Cultural Museum...

 in South Tarawa
South Tarawa
South Tarawa is the official capital of the Republic of Kiribati on Tarawa Atoll. The meaning of Teinainano is "down of the mast", alluding to the sail-shape of the atoll...

) on the Gilbert and Ellice Islands
Gilbert and Ellice Islands
The Gilbert and Ellice Islands were a British protectorate from 1892 and colony from 1916 until 1 January 1976, when the islands were divided into two different colonies which became independent nations shortly after...

 (now called Kiribati
Kiribati
Kiribati , officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island nation located in the central tropical Pacific Ocean. The permanent population exceeds just over 100,000 , and is composed of 32 atolls and one raised coral island, dispersed over 3.5 million square kilometres, straddling the...

) from 1971-4, and lastly at Halewood Grange Comprehensive School (now known as Halewood College) in Halewood
Halewood
Halewood is in Merseyside, England and is located in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley. The district lies near Liverpool's southeastern boundary, bordered by the suburbs of Hunts Cross and Woolton....

 from 1974-5. From 1975 to 1986 he worked as a playwright at the Liverpool Playhouse
Liverpool Playhouse
The Liverpool Playhouse is a theatre in Williamson Square in the city of Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It originated in 1866 as a music hall, and in 1911 developed into a repertory theatre. As such it nurtured the early careers of many actors and actresses, some of which went on to achieve...

 (becoming associate director) and the Contact Theatre
Contact Theatre
-Contact:Contact is a multi-disciplinary arts venue in Manchester. Originally a traditional theatre Contact was rebranded in 1999 as a space specialising in producing work and providing opportunities for young people.-History:...

 in Manchester (a University of Manchester
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...

 venue).

Broadcasting

His first successes came as the writer of radio dramas for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

; several of these plays followed the character of Scully
Scully (TV series)
Scully was a British television drama with some comedy elements set in the city of Liverpool, England, it originated from a BBC Play For Today episode "Scully's New Years Eve" . Originally broadcast on Channel Four in 1984, the single series was spread over six half-hour episodes plus a one-hour...

 and were broadcast on BBC Radio Merseyside
BBC Radio Merseyside
BBC Radio Merseyside is the BBC Local Radio service for the English metropolitan county of Merseyside and north Cheshire. It was the third BBC local radio station to launch on 22 November 1967 initially serving the south west of historic Lancashire....

 in 1971 (Scully was a young man from Liverpool). Bleasdale's plays typically represented a more realistic, contemporary depiction of life in that city than was usually seen in the media.

The character became so successful that Bleasdale wrote a stage play, two novels and in 1978, a Play for Today
Play for Today
Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted...

("Scully's New Year's Eve"). That same year, he wrote another single play for the BBC1
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...

 anthology series, entitled The Black Stuff. This latter play concerned the story of a group of Liverpudlian tarmac
Tarmac
Tarmac is a type of road surface. Tarmac refers to a material patented by Edgar Purnell Hooley in 1901...

 layers. The group are assigned a job laying tarmac (the 'black stuff' of the title) on a housing development in Middlesbrough, with their hotel and meals being paid for. However, ambition and greed drives four of the six men to doing a 'foreigner'—a job 'on the sly' behind their supervisor's back, laying tarmac for a farmer. However, this turns out to be a disaster, after they spend their life savings on it, but end up being swindled by two Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...

 gypsies. The mental anguish of the four is seen, but they and the others from the collective group are sacked by the project manager.

Although the play was not transmitted for two years as it waited for an available slot, on its eventual broadcast in 1980 it won much praise, and producer Michael Wearing
Michael Wearing
Michael Wearing is a British television producer, who has spent much of his career working on various drama productions for the BBC. He is best known as the producer of the highly-acclaimed serials Boys from the Blackstuff and Edge of Darkness , which created for him a reputation as one of...

 of BBC English Regions Drama managed to commission the sequel serial that Bleasdale had already been working on. The series, Boys from the Blackstuff
Boys from the Blackstuff
Boys from the Blackstuff is a British television drama series of five episodes, originally transmitted from 10 October to 7 November 1982 on BBC2....

, was transmitted on BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...

 in 1982.It benefitted enormously from a brilliant cast led by Bernard Hill in the (in)famous role of Yosser Hughes,whose catch-phrase "Gissa job" came to represent the Thatcher years. It established Bleasdale as one of Britain's most important television writers and social commentators.

Bleasdale scripted the film No Surrender
No Surrender (film)
No Surrender is a 1985 comedy film starring Michael Angelis and Ray McAnally.The film is black comedy about the Northern Ireland conflict, set in Liverpool on New Year's Eve. The plot focuses on the Irish Catholic and Protestant communities in the city, and the action is seen through the eyes of...

(1985), a black comedy in which a group of elderly Protestant hardliners are booked into a party at a pub on the same night as a group of Catholic old-timers.

Since Boys from the Blackstuff, Bleasdale has been responsible for further award-winning television dramas, including The Monocled Mutineer
The Monocled Mutineer
The Monocled Mutineer is a British television series made by the BBC in 1986, and shown on BBC1, the first episode being transmitted on 31 August 1986, intended to head BBC1's autumn season of drama...

(1986, BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...

), G.B.H. (1991, Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

) and Jake's Progress (Channel 4, 1995) the story of a couple (Robert Lindsay
Robert Lindsay (actor)
Robert Lindsay is an English actor who is best known for his television work, especially his roles of Wolfie Smith in Citizen Smith, Michael Murray in G.B.H., Captain Sir Edward Pellew in Hornblower and Ben Harper in My Family which has been on television screens since 2000.-Early life:Lindsay was...

 and Julie Walters
Julie Walters
Julie Walters, CBE is an English actress and novelist. She came to international prominence in 1983 for Educating Rita, performing in the title role opposite Michael Caine. It was a role she had created on the West End stage and it won her BAFTA and Golden Globe awards for Best Actress...

) struggling to cope with a 'difficult' child (Barclay Wright). In 1999 Bleasdale adapted Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist (TV miniseries)
Oliver Twist is a 1999 television mini-series produced by ITV based on the book Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens.-Plot:The first episode revolved around Oliver's parents as they struggled to fight their love for each other...

for ITV. The adaptation was well received but attracted some controversy as Bleasdale expanded the narrative by adding a backstory.

In 1987, Charlottetown Festival
Charlottetown Festival
The Charlottetown Festival is a seasonal Canadian musical theatre festival which runs from late May to mid-October every year since 1965.Named after its host city, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, since its inception the festival has showcased Canada's most popular and longest-running musical,...

 director Walter Learning
Walter Learning
Walter John Learning is a Canadian theatre director, actor, and founder of Theatre New Brunswick.-Biography:Walter Learning was born in 1938 in the small village of Quidi Vidi in Newfoundland. Learning attended Bishop Feild College in St. John's and the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton,...

 presented the Canadian premiere of the Bleasdale musical Are You Lonesome Tonight? at the Confederation Centre of the Arts
Confederation Centre of the Arts
The Confederation Centre of the Arts is a cultural centre dedicated to the visual and performing arts located in the city of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada.-History:...

, a national arts centre located on Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...

. A storm of controversy erupted across the country with opponents decrying the presentation of the tough look at the life of Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

 at the festival, which had been known for lightweight family fare such as Anne of Green Gables - The Musical
Anne of Green Gables - The Musical
Anne Of Green Gables - The Musical is a musical based on the novel, Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. The book is by Don Harron, the music is by Norman Campbell and the lyrics by Don Harron, Norman Campbell, Elaine Campbell and Mavor Moore...

. The chairman of the Board of Directors resigned in protest over the Bleasdale play and objections to the rough language and subject matter were even brought up in the provincial legislature. However, the play was allowed to proceed and became a major critical and financial success for the festival that season.

After 11 years of absence from the TV screens Alan Bleasdale returned in January 2011 on BBC 2 with a two-part TV film, The Sinking of the Laconia
The Sinking of the Laconia
The Sinking of the Laconia is a two-part TV film, first aired on 6 and 7 January 2011 on BBC Two, about the Laconia incident; the sinking of the former British ocean liner RMS Laconia during World War II by a German U-boat, which then, together with three other U-boats and an Italian submarine,...

, about the World War II ocean liner RMS Laconia
RMS Laconia (1921)
The second RMS Laconia was a Cunard ocean liner built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson as a successor to the Laconia of 1911 to 1917...

 and the Laconia incident
Laconia incident
The Laconia incident was an abortive naval rescue attempt in the Atlantic Ocean during World War II. On 12 September 1942, , carrying some 80 civilians, 268 British Army soldiers, about 1,800 Italian prisoners of war, and 160 Polish soldiers , was struck and sunk by a torpedo from Kriegsmarine...

, which he had been working on since 2004.

Alan Bleasdale's house is the main location in Nickelodeon's new youth series called House of Anubis, which premiered in January 2011.

External links

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