amazing lifestory of author
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The Sunday Times Magazine



October 19, 2003

Best of Times, Worst of Times: Paul Abbott
Paul Abbott and his seven siblings endured a chaotic and deprived childhood in Manchester. The writer of BBC1's Clocking Off draws on his memories of that time for a new series, Shameless. Interview by Caroline Scott.



My mum left home when I was nine, and two years later my dad upped and left. We had become so used to looking after ourselves by then that we hardly noticed he'd gone. There were eight of us kids, and at the time Dad left, my eldest sister, Elaine, then 16, was pregnant.
Mum did night shifts, and she was a barmaid for a while. She was always the main breadwinner. Dad never worked, but he wouldn't claim benefits, because he didn't like anyone "knowing his business".

In the end, Mum must have had an affair - there were strains of violence the night before she left and then she was gone. The worst thing was that she left a note saying she'd be back for the three youngest, so me, Peter and Anthony, who was only three, spent all of the next day dressed in our best clothes, waiting, and of course she never came.

I was probably closest to her and it was as if she'd died. That period from the age of 9 to 11 was an incredibly bleak time.

Somehow the money had to come in, so as kids we were very industrious. We all had part-time jobs, bought our own food and fed ourselves. We learnt, in a fairly brutal way, how to be self-sufficient. Elaine did her best to hold it all together but it was chaos most of the time. We never had a bathroom - we had to go to the public baths for a wash, so we must have smelt pretty bad. You slept where you could. For a while we slept in the same bed, or on the floor or the sofa. I was so desperate for structure, I used to make up my own rules. I'd say, "I have to be in by 10pm," when in fact no one would have noticed if you'd not got in at all.

By the time we had hit 13 we were all sexually active, so the atmosphere in the house was explosive - testosterone was flying around like rocket fuel. There were always scraps. There were so many crises that we no longer viewed them as serious. People would be knocking each other's teeth out on the stairs and you just pushed past them and got on with the washing-up. Elaine was tough. Really tough. If anything went wrong on the street, people would always blame it on the Abbotts. But no one ever came to the house bitching about us. Elaine would have knocked them stone dead.

We were never detected by the authorities, or else they knew about us and just kept away. My sister had her baby and we all helped look after it. We weren't the only big family coping alone - and we did cope. Everyone could change a nappy and rock a baby. We made Christmas happen and everyone got something on their birthday.

I was always the observer, less thick-skinned than the others, and by the time I was 15, I was writing, which in our family was like being caught masturbating. At the same time I felt this incredible brain pressure, a consuming blackness, as if every thought I'd ever had was crammed into my head at once. I'd been heading downhill for two years: getting up before anyone else, leaving the house early so I didn't have to speak to anyone, playing truant from school. I felt I was trying to crawl through mile after mile of barbed wire without getting cut. I had no proper perception of reality by then. I was in the middle of full, reactive depression. But we were such a chaotic family that that kind of stuff just didn't get spotted.

I tried to kill myself in a disused toilet on my paper round, by cutting my wrists and taking an overdose. I was found by a tramp who must have called for an ambulance, sectioned for 28 days, and taken to ward nine, a terrifying place where addicts and drunks and kids mingled. Within two days I began to feel comfortable there. It was warm, and I was encouraged to talk about how I felt - which was great. Dad came to see me because I was under 18 and he had to, but he had no idea what to do. Prison would have been fine, but the stigma of being a ward-niner was terrible. It was ages before he spoke, and then he said: "You get yourself into some sh**, you do." He gave me money for cigarettes, even though I didn't smoke, and he left.

There are still loads of families like ours around. When we were shooting Shameless, I spent a while talking to a pregnant 14-year-old girl who was trying to hide a 21/2-litre bottle of cider under her crop top. That kind of thing makes me feel desperate, because kids like her are doomed and they shouldn't be.

I was lucky, because I had help. I came out of the unit 10 times stronger, just for having been told: "You can't change your past. Move on." I went to live with another family, unofficial foster parents, until I was 18, and I guess I've spent my adult life delving back into my childhood for material. My family is still dysfunctional; their various crises probably cost me a third of my income. My sister keeps getting her phone cut off. Anthony is in and out of rehab. It's no use saying they should help themselves, because they can't. And anyway, they're my family. I'd do anything for them.


Shameless, a seven-part drama series, begins on Channel 4 in the New Year

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here's a couple of reviews of his previous series - clocking off :

Advantages:  Brilliant, addictive
Disadvantages:  Leaves you wanting more
 
Clocking Off is the best drama on TV at the moment. It is addictive, terrific, funny, real life, entertaining drama and if you haven't seen it yet then make you sure you tune in next Monday 30th April (9pm BBC1) to see episode 4 of the second series.

Based on the lives of a group of factory workers in Manchester, this programme was created by Paul Abbott (made by Red Productions for the BBC) and looks at a different worker each week and tells their story whilst also telling the ongoing story of life in the factory with all the banter and camaraderie you would expect from that environment.

The factory (Mackintosh Textiles) is owned by James Mackintosh (Philip Glenister) who is known as Mack. His secretary Trudy Graham played by Lesley Sharp (from Playing the Field) is dating one of the workers Martin Leach (played by the lovely Jason Merrells) whose brother Kev (Jack Deam) also works at the factory. He is a bit of a character who is mad on Man Utd. Other workers include Brian, Julie, Bev (Lindsey Coulson of Eastenders fame) and Freda (played by Joan Kempson who also plays Edna in Corrie). There is also Steve (the factory manager) and his wife Sylvia.

Previous stories have included Trudy's plastic surgery, Mack's wife's affair, Steve and Sylvia's son getting into trouble with the police and Martin getting involved with the wrong woman. This current series has seen Kev suspect Brian of being a paedophile, Bev tricking her fella into marrying her and Freda having to look after her grandchildren when their mother does a runner. These are all simple stories that are as gripping as they are entertaining, often sad, usually humorous and totally brilliant.

The best thing about this programme and the excellent actors in it, is that you can really believe they are all working in this factory in Manchester. The fast paced soundtrack and background music sets just the right atmosphere as well. You are always left wanting to hear more of the stories at the end of the show. Once a week is not often enough for this show to be shown!

I cannot praise this series enough and recommend you all to watch it ASAP!

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This drama series is made up of six interconnected stories about the lives of a group of workers at a Manchester textile factory, with each episode focusing on the home life of a different character.

Ever wondered what goes on behind neighbours'doors? Sometimes it's best not to delve into other people's lives, as Kev Leach (Jack Deam) finds out in the fist of a new series of Paul Abbot's acclaimed drama, "Clocking Off".


In "Kev's Story", Kev is pretty happy with his life - steady job, cute hairdresser girlfriend, Babs (Ashley Jenson), own home and nights out with the boys. Then his work-mate , Brian Pringle (Paul Oldham), a machine engineer at Mackintosh, moves in across the road following his divorce. At first, things run smoothly - the pair share the petrol on the factory run and go for a quick pint after work. But then Kev gets nosy. Through his video camera, usually reserved for taping his more intimate moments with Babs, he takes a look at Brian surfing the net across the road.


What Kev sees, or thinks he sees, is so unexpefcted, so awful that he can hardly process the information. Is he living across the road from a paedophile?Well, he might be, and then again he mioght not be. The problem for Kev is that however much he thinks he sees, he's never quite sure if his suspicions are justified.


As the weeks go by, Kev watches Brian closely, storing away any evidence that proves his suspicions. He even starts working in the youth club where Brian volunteers, just to keep an eye on him.


Kev's suspicions lead him down a dark road to violence, an illicit liaison and to the growing realisation that even if he can prove that Brian is up to no good, Brian will do anything to stop him blowing the whistle. For once, Kev is faced with a situation that not even his brother Martin (Jason Merrells) can sort out. And he is finally forced to dp something it seemed he'd never do - start growing up.


In "Bev's Story". Good time girl, Bev (Lindsay Coulson) is always up for a laugh but her life hasn't turned out quite as she had planned.


She's lonely, her only son is nothing but trouble and it seems as though the fun times are gone forever. However, when Mal (Paul Copey), widower and regular nice guy, turns up to service a machine at Mackintosh, Bev suddenly glimpses a possible future and, from where she sits, it looks just fine.


Knowing that Mal has alweays had a bit of a thing for her, Bev flirts with him and he asks her out. Mal's teenage sons take an instant dislike to Bev but their dad is besotted and feels alive for the first time since he lost his wife.


When Bev moves in, bringing her tacky knick-knacks with her, Mal's eldest son is furious. The situation becomes worse when Bev tells him that his mother and father's relationship was not perfect - especially hen it came to sex.


But Mal turns a blind eye to Bev's failts. He is in love. Bev wins, the son leaves and Mal and Bev get engaged. Then Bev falls pregnant. When she loses the baby, Mal is bound to her even more tightly - until a drunken conversation in a bar with Julie (Siobhan Finneran) reveeals that the pregnancy was not all it seemed.


In "Freda's Story" Freda (Joan Kempson) has her glad rags on. After sitting all week at a sewing machine at Mackintosh, she's all ready to enjoy a girl's night out. However, she's been left with more than she bargained for. She's been babysitting her grandchildren and, once again, her daughter Lindsey - not very reliable at the best of times - is late picking them up. Freda is left all dressed up with two small children to sort out.


When Julie (Siobhan Finneran) phones to find out where she is, Freda tells them to go without her. However, as a good friend, Julie turns up to help. Not for the first time, Lindsey doesn't show up at all and Freda's life is about to change. Either she looks after the children or Social Services will.


At first, it's a nightmare. How can she cope with the kids and a full-time job with not enough money and not enough time? She tracks down the father, Tony (Jonathan Wrather), to ask him to help but he's more interested in getting back to his game of pool. Increasingly desperate, Freda doesn't know where to turn. Then a chance meeting with Mack (Philip Glenister) offers her an opportunity to explain the situation and he gives her the space to sort herself out.


Gradually, Freda stops seeing the children as an imposition in her life. With extra income from a new venture into curtain-making, part-time hours at work and Julie's open-hearted willingness to chip in, Freda's life has become complete. When she finds out theat Lindsay has left the country and that her grandchildren are with her long term, it is no longer a problem.


However, looming in the background is Tony. In court for breaking his probation on a drugs charge, he suddenly sees the kids as a way of avoiding jail time. One day he turns up and just takes them. Freda is left heartbroken. She realises that all she wants is the children back.



In "Barry's Story", Life is pretty simple for Barry Sleight (Barry Jackson) - as simple as life can be for someone whose wife has run off with his previous employer, who works nights as a security guard at Mackintosh while trying to bring up two young daughters, and who lives with his mother.


He's kind of innocent abroad, untouched by bitterness. Then, one day, something unthinkable happens to him. He wins £20,000 on the pools. To Barry, this is a life-changing amount. He doesn't have a love-life; he doesn't really have a social life, come to that. He went out with Trudy (Lesley Sharp) but that obviously wasn't going anywhere. Then he meets Trudy's sister, Janice (Susan Cookson). Janice is everything that Barry is not - wordly, cynical, mercenary. Since her husband ran off with all her money, love isn't half as important to Janice as cash. When Trudy suggests a date with Barry, Janice dismisses the idea out of hand. However, when Trudy reveals that Barry has come into some money, though not how much, Janice changes her mind and her interest suddenly perks up and she gets herself a date.


Barry quickly falls in love and even Janice finds herself reciprocating. He is a good man and, as an added bonus, he's a fantastic lover. She meets his kids and his mum and everything looks rosy for them both, until Janice discovers that Barry's win is only a measly £20,000. When she breaks things off, Barry thinks it's because she fears so much cash will change him. How wrong he is - for Janice, it is not too much, but too little. However much self-loathing Janice feels, will it be enough to make her give Barry another chance?



In "Ronnie's Story". Some people's lives seem like open books, nothing hidden, everything there for all to see. Ronnie (Ricky Tomlinson) is one of these people. A Mackintosh lorry driver, for over 20 years he has cared lovingly and devotedly for his wife Jess (Kate Fitzgerald), who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis.


One day, Ronnies truck is hijacked. He is beaten, dumped in a car boot and the lorry's content stolen. From this moment his world starts to unravel. Ronnie wants out: out of caring for Jess and out of his life. He's given enough and now he has a chance to start again, with Jess's home help, Trish (Denise Black), whom he has fallen in love with.


Rumours fly around the factory after Ronnie is questioned by the police, who believe that the hijack was an inside job. Ronnie protests his innocence but, like many things in his life, this is a lie. As the police suspect, the thieves' information came from Ronnie. The violence was just to make it look good.


For Trish and Ronnie, conspiring in the robbery was a way out. It was the only was to both provide for Jess and for them to be together. They console each other by thinking about their future lives. They get their cut and everything seems to be going according to plan.


Then Ronnie's son Nick (William Ash) sees them together and he suspects the worst. Ronnie, forced into a corner by Nick's anger, has to face up to the situation that will cause so much pain to those he loves.



In "Martin's Story" Martin (Jason Merrells) and Trudy (Lesley Sharp) are an item - and a happy one at that. Martin's relationship with Mack however is not so hot.


When the company that insures Mackintosh lorries refuses to renew the policy , Mack (Philip Glenister) blames Martin, his transport manager. Whether he's angry about the policy or just jealous of Martin and Trudy is not clear, not even to Mack himself. He just can't beleive that Trudy, who was always so devoted to him, can have settled for Martin. And Mack doesn't like losing, even though he hadn't realised that he wanted to compete.


Trudy, comfortable and secure with Martin, makes a suggestion. Why don't they take over running the haulage as an independent company and, while they're at it, why doesn't Martin move in with her? They're a good team. And after the final meeting with the bank about financing their new venture, they get married.


Things go well. Mack tries to muck things up but he pushes Trudy too far and she walks. She's got her own business now and she doesn't have to put up with him anymore. Mack faces the realisation that maybe he needs her a lot more than she needs him.


Then Martin's sister-in-law, Sue (Alison Swann), arrives and she is eight months' pregnant. Martin had a fling with her previously and her husband, Martin's wayward brother, Stuart, is in jail. When Trudy hears Sue say that she considered having an abortion, she suddenly relises that the baby is not Stuart's but Martin's. For Trudy, this means the end of their relationship.


When she confronts Sue, her suspicions are confirmed. Sue swears that she will never tell Martin but Trudy knows that this is a secret that she cannot live with. She sends Martin round to see Sue and then packs his bags ready for him. Martin has always looked after everyone, taken care of everything. He'll leave her now to look after Sue and the baby, his baby, won't he?


But this is one decision that Martin is determined to make for himself. And Martin, for once in his life, really knows what he wants.


Written by : Paul Abbott

Produced by : Juliet Charlesworth for Red Productions

Executive producer : Nicola Shindler


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