Overview

Alan Bleasdale's 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' bright-eyed optimism for their futures and new-found 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.

Top Cast

Stephen Walters

Joey Jackson

P

Philip Dowd

Ricky Jones

Suzanne Maddock

Cathy Thompson

R

Rachel Caldwell

Jean Kavanagh

Aneirin Hughes

David Williams

Jake Abraham

Paul Price

R

Rachel Maxwell

Tracey Ryan

Amanda Mealing

Laura

G

Gill West

Jobcentre Receptionist

J

Jodie Draper

Jobcentre Receptionist

Andrew Schofield

Post Office Supervisor

A

Alan Igbon

Art Gallery Attendant