Alan Bleasdales TV play ' Blackstuff ' spawned this prequel however this time featuring their wide boy boss Danny Duggan.
The part was played by Peter Postlethwaite instead of the original David Calder and he gives a performance that arguably was the finest of a brilliant career.
We see the main character who is a struggling building company boss at the onset of Thatchers Britain and the devastating recession that destroyed Liverpool in the 1980s.
To get the money that is owing he uses tactics such as hiring local gangsters to terrorise his victims.
The business is failing and we see his downward spiral from the opening scene although you can see he had been very successful previously in his business.
Like the 'Blackstuff' it has some very funny scenes however it also has some very dark ones and the violence is more extreme and in some cases very nasty particularly the one with his secretary and mistress played superbly by a young Alison Steadman.
By the end of the play you really start rooting for the main character even if he is meant to be a totally unlikeable individual.
That is down to the powerful performance of Postlethwaite who was a very very fine actor .
If I have a gripe and it is only a small one is that the picture scenes set to music at the beginning of each act make the play seem rushed and given the quality of the drama seems a shame because this could have easily have stretched over a few episodes and it is a shame it didn't.