The return of a show that defined a decade
Meet Boys from the Blackstuff actor George Caple
George Caple missed out on the 1980s, having been born in the early years of the following decade, but he recalls an initiation into adulthood imposed by his father on Merseyside.
“He sat me down when I was 18 – I’m 33 now – and basically made me watch it from start to finish as part of my education as a young Scouse lad,” recalls the actor, humour in his voice.
‘It’ was Boys from the Blackstuff, the bitter-sweet TV comedy which reflected a decade of industrial upheaval and mass unemployment under Margaret Thatcher.
It originated as The Black Stuff, a one-off television play for BBC 1 penned by Alan Bleasdale and telling of a group of Liverpudlian men laying Tarmac (the ‘black stuff’) near Middlesbrough.
People warmed so much to the play, broadcast in 1980, that it led to the series, focusing on the mishaps and misadventures of the men, now unemployed. It aired in 1982 on BBC2 and was repeated almost immediately on BBC1.
It captured the mood of the moment – much as Auf Wiedersehen, Pet did when the tale of work-hungry brickies hit ITV screens the following year – and the desperate utterances of ‘Yosser’ Hughes, played by the late Bernard Hill, became comic catchphrases: “Gizza job” and “I can do that”.
The enduring popularity of Boys from the Blackstuff is evidenced by the stage adaptation which has been packing theatres and arrives at the Theatre Royal this month.
For George, that early initiation proved useful in a way he can’t have foreseen.
He has been a cast member of the play from its earliest days at Liverpool’s Royal Court Theatre, where it premiered in 2023, and continued in the roles of Snowy Malone and Kevin Dean when it transferred to the National Theatre and then the West End.
For the national tour he has taken over the part of Christopher Todd, ‘Chrissie’, from “good pal” Nathan McMullen.
“He’s an actor I’ve worked with a few times and have a lot of respect for. When he told me he wasn’t going to be playing Chrissie on tour, I asked my agent if they’d let me have a go. I auditioned and the rest is history.”
But to delve a bit deeper into George’s history, he reveals he was once determined not to enter the profession he’s now in.
“My dad’s an actor and mum was an actor, too, so I’d seen it was an insecure lifestyle.
“You never really know when your next pay cheque’s going to come. I thought it was daft.
“But when I left school I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with myself and luckily (he chuckles) didn’t get good enough grades to go to university.
“Because of that it meant I had a year of just doing odd jobs while figuring out what it was I wanted.
“My dad had always steered me away from acting, saying I shouldn’t do it because it was such a hard job. But in the end he suggested it and I said, ‘Yeah, I want to give it a go’.
“As soon as I tried it for the first time – I must have been 19 - it completely changed my life. I was like, ‘I’m going to do this – this is what I’m supposed to do’. I haven’t looked back since.”
Because you’re bound to be curious, George’s dad is Neil Caple who has been in loads of things and played Marty Murray in Brookside for a few years. His mum performed under the name Deborah Snook, mostly on stage, but prioritised motherhood in the 1990s when George’s sister was born.
Having served his time in bars and cafes, learned a barista’s skills and come to terms with the fact he’d never play football for his beloved Everton, George went to Southport College to learn the first rudiments of a life in theatre.
Acting, from then on, consumed him and he “became completely obsessed”. He joined a youth theatre group and took extra-curricular lessons at Rare Studio, a Liverpool performing arts college.
He teaches there himself now between acting jobs and says it gives him a similar kind of fulfilment, helping young Liverpool kids pursue their dreams.
From Southport College he went to RADA (the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) and then entered the profession, returning to Liverpool to join the repertory company at Liverpool Everyman which enabled him to play Shakespeare’s Romeo and Alex in A Clockwork Orange.
His experience in Boys from the Blackstuff has been a happy one.
Audiences, he says, have been loving the show.
“Obviously I wasn’t there (in the 1980s) but a lot of people who’ve come to see it who were around at that time have come up to us and said that’s how it was. It was that tough.
“But for those who aren’t familiar with Boys from the Blackstuff, it’s not all doom and gloom. It’s about how communities can pull together during incredibly tough times.
“It takes a little bit of effort. People expect the Government to bail us out of these situations when actually we need to work together and make sure our neighbours are OK to stop things falling apart.
“That’s the kind of message I think it has.”
It has brought George and fellow cast members into contact with the two great writers associated with the play.
Alan Bleasdale has kept an eye on proceedings, says George.
“During the first year he attended quite a lot of rehearsals and would just sit in the corner or go away and discuss things with Kate (Wasserberg), the director, and offer nuggets of wisdom.
“I had quite a few chats with him outside on smoke breaks and he’s such a warm, kind man.
“We had a thing called Bleasdale’s bevvies where he’d buy us all a round of drinks after the show on a Thursday, which was tremendously kind of him and testament to the sort of man he is.”
But it fell to the seemingly ubiquitous James Graham (whose Dear England is also coming to the Theatre Royal later in the year) to fashion the original play and subsequent series into a suitable piece for the stage.
“It’s testament to how good a writer James Graham is that he’s condensed five hours of TV without losing any of the good parts,” says George.
“He’s a real master of his craft. He would share his thoughts and was also really open to us discussing the characters. One thing we kept coming back to is that he’s so unbelievably talented and also one of the loveliest men you’ll ever meet.”
Boys from the Blackstuff will be in Newcastle from Tuesday, May 20 to Saturday, May 24, bringing George to the city for the very first time.
“I’m really excited about being there,” he says. “I genuinely can’t wait to go.”
A warm welcome is assured. Tickets from the Theatre Royal box office.