Stephen Botherstone, Dave Lawrence & oth — Scarred For Life Volume 2: Television in the 1980
Rolling in five years after the first Vol of Scarred For Life, here we have Vol 2- Television In The 1980s. The five hundred and the thirty-page book is a joy to behold, for those (like myself) who lived through the decade, or those wanting to study the darker/ troubling/ more bizarre side of British TV in the 1980s.
Like the first Vol- the book is a nicely presented and produced paperback- with a glossy ‘n’ bright full-colour cover, and good paper stock inside. Inside the book is total in black & white, but it features loads of well-reproduced stills and artwork relating to 80’s TV.
Once again it's co-written by retro-loving writer friends Stephen Brotherstone and Dave Lawrence, but this time around they are joined by a selection of seven or so collaborators- we have Jez Conolly, Mark Cunliffe, James Gent, Neil Mitchell, Helena Nash, Andrew and Chris Orton. All of the book's subjects are very well researched, though thankfully none of the writing ever becomes stuffy, dry or academic- with all the writers passion for the 80’s always shining through.
The book kicks off with an introduction by Johnny Mains, who is an awarding-winning editor/ writer. After a few other forwards- the book moves into just under 100 pages of write-ups regarding sixteen ‘meant to be’ for kids drama/ shows from the decade. We go grim and dystopian set Noah’s Castle, onto school soap of Grange Hill, which in the decade covered students deaths, troubling bullying, and heroin strung-out students. Through to the creepy and nightmare-inducing Noseybonk- that featured someone wearing a huge nosed mask, with beady set eyes, getting involved in all manner of surreal adventures, and the chilling kid's sci-fi of Chocky, Boy From Space, and The Tripods.
As we move on we come to the Future Shock section which takes in all manner of 80’s Sci-fi fare, going from the expected Doctor Who, moving onto the BBC’s serial adaptation of The Day Of The Triffids, and that classic 80’s Sci-fi series V- which saw seemingly friend aliens pretending to be humans, but turning out to be devious lizard folk. There’s a selection of chilling and creepy fare, featuring the likes of Hammer House Of Horror, Salem’s Lot and the original Women In Black.
Around the halfway mark we get a section on dole drama- because of course unemployment was a real issue in the decade- this section features the likes of Grange Hill Spin off Tucker’s Luck( which I recently revisited on YouTube, and is well worth a look), and a selection of docs about the issue. Moving towards the latter half of the book we get a far-reaching section entitled ‘How We Used To Live”- and here we move from the fear of a dystopian state and year 1984, page 3 girls, rabies, the decidedly dodgy treatment of mental health in the decade, and weird TV adverts.
The last seventy or so pages of the book focus on public information films from the decade- and boy there were a lot of subjects covered. Going from being careful in the countryside, onto car-related issues- like the amazing debate in the ’80s whether or not if we should wear seat belts. We have stranger danger, drink driving, Aids and safe sex, anti-smoking campaigns featuring superman, heroin addiction and dangers around the house….there was a lot to worried about in the ’80s!. The book is finished off with a section of troubling 80’s TV-related memories from Scarred For Life’s Twitter readership, and an afterword from both Brotherstone and Dave Lawrence… oh and there is mention Scarred For Life Vol 3 , which they hope will appear later this year- and this will focus in on the 1980s in general
All told this is a great follow-up/ second release in the Scarred For Life series- and a truly must-have publication if you either lived through the 80s or are curious about the 1980's and all the troubling TV we were fed in the decade. To buy a copy of the book direct-please do head over to here.