1984
00:25:06
Colour / Sound
Professional
Documentary
The second programme in a series of six looking at the people and industry of the Black Country. This film looks how the hard working conditions inspired hard sports such as bare knuckle boxing and dog fighting.
The film mixes shots of industry in the Black Country (both archive and contemporary) with a group of mostly elderly people in a pub reminiscing about life in the region.
We see b/w archive of chain making by hand, modern shots of the same work (probably in the Black Country Museum) and then inside a chain factory.
A working Black Country foundry is shown and a worker describes the conditions.
A theatre group (probably from the Citizen's Theatre who receive a credit) sing a song inside the derelict Round Oak steel works (which closed in 1980). We also see an unnamed artist sketching inside the abandoned building.
Archive film of steel making and terraced housing follows and scenes of the people in the pub enjoying a sing-along (later in the film there are shots of a man whistling in a pub sourced from a 1969 ATV Today feature on the Black Country).
We then meet an unnamed vicar who is seen walking through a factory. His voice over describes his background which includes a spell in the Communist Party. An odd unexplained scene of a woman preaching from a pulpit about Noah follows.
Next we move onto scenes of dog racing which are contrasted with stills and illustrations of bare knuckle boxing, cock fighting and dog fighting. Voice overs from Black Country people defend the practises and there is a short excerpt from a b/w interview about dog fighting.
Finally there is a recreation of a bare knuckle fight involving William Perry (nicknamed the Tipton Slasher). In the very gory fight, which is accompanied by a poem, Perry is played by the actor Pat Roach.
Our thanks to:
The Citizens Theatre
The Black Country Bugle
The Black Country Museum
Photography - Peter Salkeld
Sound - Phil Middleham
Dubbing Mixer - Colin Martin
Fight sequences staged by Pat Roach
Excerpts from 'The Nailmakers' by Jon Raven and Malcolm Totten
Narrator - Ralph Lawton
Verse by Harry Taylor
Make up - Lesley Stanier
Graphics - Jim Bridgen
Research - John McLeod, Gareth Jones, Isobel Rowley, Keith Wootton
Production Assistant - Pat Harris
Producer - Graham Mole
Film Editor - Barbara Pluck
Director - Mike Connor
Central Television
Production number 4127/84.
Gi' It Some 'Ommer was a spin off from the Venture series.