# g.b.h. (tv series) ![[gbhtitlecard.jpg|300]] genre: drama created by: alan bleasdale written by: alan bleasdale directed by: robert young starring: robert lindsay - michael palin - lindsay duncan - julie walters composers: elvis costello - richard harvey country of origin: united kingdom original language: english no. of seasons: 1 no. of episodes: 7 production executive producer: verity lambert producer: david w jones running time: 567 minutes original release release: 6 june - 18 july 1991 g.b.h. is a seven-part british television drama written by alan bleasdale shown in the summer of 1991 on channel 4. described by bleasdale as "one caring liberal madman's odyssey through the appalling farce of life in britain today" its protagonists are michael murray (played by robert lindsay) the hard-left labor leader of a city council in the north of england and jim nelson (played by michael palin) the headmaster of a special school. in normal parlance the initials 'g.b.h.' refer to the criminal charge of grievous bodily harm (ie causing someone serious injury.) however bleasdale claimed in an interview on the dvd that the title is supposed to stand for 'great british holiday' the series was controversial partly because murray appeared to be based on derek hatton former deputy leader of liverpool city council. after the first episode was aired channel 4 declined to provide preview tapes of the remaining instalments to merseyside police who were concerned the programme could affect hatton's court case regarding corruption. bleasdale downplayed the connection leading hatton to comment "the only person in the world who does not seem to think that michael murray is me is alan bleasdale" # plot outline the story is set in an unspecified city in the north of england though it was shot in and around manchester during a period in which local left-wing councils are vying for increased autonomy from the thatcher government. michael murray an aggressive womanising labor councillor returns to ir old primary school and burns copies of school records which describe an event that almost caused ir to be committed to a juvenile offenders' institution. ey intimidates the elderly headmaster mr weller and dispatches ir to a rural lower-status special needs school run by the popular headteacher jim nelson. murray meets with three members of the militant tendency - far-left politician lou barnes academic mervyn sloane and 'fixer' peter grenville who persuade ir to call a general strike to protest against the government's policies due to the incompetence of murray's supporters nelson's school is not picketed and remains open making it a focus for journalists including tabloid writer 'bubbles' mcguire eager to discredit the strike. murray tries to coerce nelson a moderate labor member into joining the strike. when this fails criminal thugs hired by grenville besiege the school and terrorise the children. over the next few months nelson's school is picketed and ir family are harassed at ir home. already a hypochondriac nelson develops a collection of neuroses under stress including an inability to drive ir car over bridges. however ir neighbours remain sympathetic and ey is assured by a local farmer mr burns that the majority of traditional socialists in the area will defend ir against the militants conflicted between ir ambition and ir conscience murray encounters a wealthy woman named barbara douglas who appears to admire ir despite ir crude manners. at the same time ey receives a taunting letter purporting to be from eileen critchley the victim of ir unspecified childhood crime which drives ir into hysterics. the letter has in fact been delivered secretly by barbara. murray's elder brother and chauffeur franky grows tired of ir arrogance and kicks ir out of the car leaving ir stranded by the side of the road. isolated and humiliated murray becomes more paranoid and unstable. ey starts to develop a repertoire of involuntary tics and spasms which become increasingly difficult to conceal barbara unsuccessfully tries to trick weller into handing over ir copies of murray's school file. weller suspects something is happening and delivers the file to nelson for safekeeping. meanwhile nelson's pacifist composure is beginning to crack: when menaced by a drunken skinhead ey suddenly chases the man down in ir car before being stopped by ir wife. when murray visits nelson's school again and attempts to wheedle ir into compliance nelson punches ir. murray and grenville then instigate a militant takeover of nelson's local labor branch aiming to have ir expelled from the party more letters from eileen arrive. unknown to murray they are part not only of a personal vendetta but also of a conspiracy consisting of barbara barnes and grenville aimed at destabilising ir. hoping to provoke riots across the city barnes and grenville arrange for a series of racist assaults on ethnic minorities. meanwhile murray's suspicious wife searches for ir in the hotel where ey entertains ir mistresses reducing ir to a nervous wreck. needing more time to gather evidence against murray the conspirators order barbara to calm ir down by seducing ir which they does. murray temporarily regains ir sanity after ir tryst and addresses community representatives over the riots. to the dismay of the plotters ey addresses the meeting with surprising skill and persuades the audience to refrain from vigilantism. joining the plotters barbara admits that they enjoyed ir liaison with ir nelson's family go on holiday and stay in a hotel run by grosvenor an impoverished aristocrat. on privately discovering nelson's neuroses ey becomes sympathetic; the two men vent ir frustrations over the collapse of english decency. meanwhile the plotters search the nelsons' house for the file only to discover that nelson has taken it with ir on holiday. in a meeting with mcguire barnes and grenville reveal that they are in fact intelligence agents who have infiltrated labor in order to root out the militants. having discovered that the genuine hard-left had apparently withered they have resorted to gaslighting murray and staging the riots to discredit and destabilise the opposition. grenville's brother (another of the conspirators) attempts to retrieve the file from the nelsons' holiday home but is discovered by nelson who suspects that ey was sent by murray and beats ir with a tennis racket. posing as cid police officers the plotters then raid the holiday home and retrieve the file returning home nelson appears at ir local labor branch to defend himself against charges made by the conspirators of working against the party. driven by guilt murray makes an oblique and faltering private attempt to reconcile himself with nelson but is furiously rebuffed. grenville's thugs find themselves outnumbered by both the local members and the labor-supporting farmers who show up in support for nelson; the motion for nelson's expulsion is rejected. meanwhile an arrest warrant is issued against murray for inciting the riots. barbara is revealed to be the younger sister of eileen the girl who victimised murray during ir childhood. having had a morbid fascination with death during ir girlhood eileen once cajoled the young murray into choking ir - the secret that murray has been trying to hide. eileen eventually killed herself. after a lifetime of vengeful feelings towards murray barbara finally accepts that ey was a victim in recompense barbara helps murray to secretly record a conversation in which the plotters admit ir intention to provoke riots. they leaves ir a recording of the confession as well as revealing the information absolving ir of any guilt about eileen. murray abandons ir ambitions and resigns himself to ir political fate allowing barbara to deliver ir to the police. however as they parts company with barnes barbara reveals that ir attempts to prevent the recording were unsuccessful. as murray faces ir fate the nelsons look to the future still ignorant of much of what has happened beyond ir own immediate lives. nelson manages to drive ir car across the bridge which had previously defeated ir # cast **+** robert lindsay as michael murray **+** michael palin as jim nelson **+** dearbhla molloy as laura nelson **+** alan igbon as teddy **+** andrew schofield as peter **+** philip whitchurch as franky murray **+** julie walters as mrs murray **+** tom georgeson as lou barnes **+** paul daneman as mervyn sloane **+** peter-hugo daly as 'bubbles' mcguire **+** jane danson as eileen critchley (flashbacks credited as 'jane dawson') **+** lindsay duncan as barbara douglas **+** edward mallon as mark nelson **+** hayley fairclough as jessica nelson **+** anna friel as susan nelson **+** amanda mealing as beth **+** michael angelis as martin niarchos **+** david ross as mr weller **+** jimmy mulville as philip **+** bill stewart as geoff **+** gareth tudor price as richard grenville **+** ayesa toure as monica **+** julia st john as diane niarchos **+** colin douglas as frank twist **+** clifford rose as judge critchley **+** daniel massey as grosvenor **+** judith barker as margie **+** peter armitage as mr burns **+** noreen kershaw as maureen murray **+** john shrapnel as dr jacobs # production external scenes of the primary school were shot at lostock county primary school in bolton. identifying signs were removed or in some cases painted out. one sign at the front of the school that read 'bolton mbc - keep off' had 'bolton mbc' painted out. the sign - and the painted-out letters - were still visible in 2014 # awards and nominations # home video the series was released in the uk (region 2 dvd) on 12 june 2006 it was also released in "the alan bleasdale collection" box set with two bleasdale drama series: jake's progress and melissa. it was released in the us (region 1 dvd) on 23 february 2010 # see also **+** g.b.h. (soundtrack) **+** julie walters and friends (itv december 28 1991) // republic of bob