With perfect timing The Boys from the Black Stuff march into Birmingham on a red letter day for the dispossessed

Set in 1982 Liverpool when three million souls were unemployed and the busiest people on Merseyside were those behind the counter in the dole office. 

Chrissie, Loggo, George, Dixie and Yosser are among what UB40 so memorably called the one in ten after losing their tarmacking job after a foreigner went wrong. 

The first face which greeted the audience in James Graham's adaptation was Margaret Thatcher which was fitting on the day our current Government announced the type of benefit cuts she would have loved.

The opening scene is in the dole office, with the gang being grilled about working on the side and warned their benefits would be chopped if they were caught moonlighting. Which, of course, they were trying to do, as the city's docks had ground to a halt and other industries collapsing, the jobs generations had done were long gone and they were desperately racing to the bottom with someone always ready to take advantage.

The moral dilemmas were laid beautifully in the first act, whether it be the over-eager "sniffer" at the dole office who was determined to catch the gang working behind Maggie's back or nice-guy Chrissie's (George Caple) principles which would be bent beyond breaking point by the evening's end or Dixie having to turn a blind eye to theft during a cash-in-hand security shift.

And then there was Yosser. Who's catchphrase "Gizzus-a-job" became ingrained in 1980s culture. 

Carting his make-believe children behind him, Yosser always wanted a job but when he got one the fella who gave him it was in mortal danger of a headbut. Jay Johnson had the menace and presence to capture Yosser to a tee. Clearly mentally ill, Yosser these days would be on PIP disability benefit, until yesterday that is. 

The embarrassment of three million unemployed meant the Government used a slight of hand, instead of classing people as jobless, they were offered disability payments. 

The consequences of which led us down a path to which 3.6m million people on PIP suddenly now have a very different type of sick feeling after yesterday's benefits cuts.

The dialogue was peppered with industrial language and worthy of anything originating from Bleasdale's pen. Whether it was the back and forth between the young un's in the gang or old boy Ged McKenna's George's reminiscences of a long gone Liverpool, each word turned the screw on the audience's attention.

If every scene was about the actual boys who once laid the black stuff then it could have worn as thin as a giro on a Liverpool FC (though the beautifully written Yosser line to fellow moustachioed Graham Souness 'some people say you look like me' line of the series felt slightly mangled on stage) cup final day.

But the scenes in the dole office, church and behind closed doors when the wives lives were wonderfully woven in. 

Dixie's wife's scene trying to avoid the "sniffers" inspecting her house as all and sundry bang her front and back door was hilariously done. The pub scenes were great, fizzing with violence and humour, the crazy "Shake My Hand" captured sublimely Sean Kingsley reminded me of a pensioner in my old local who used to buy two halfs, one for his dead mate, and then mark out a cricket pitch before closing time.

This being about Scousers, and written by a Scouser, in a Scouse production, there was always going to be funny moments, but what started out as a Play for Today, Boys from the Black Stuff, is no comedy. It is British drama at its best, shining a light on those who everyone else want to ignore. 

A fatal industrial accident focussed the minds and using funerals, investigations and police raids the tension ratcheted up in the second act. The all encompassing desperation of unemployment as it replaced an industrial way of life which had given the working man pride, took its toll on every character. 

Even those in the job centre, with Ms Sutcliffe's closing monologue, delightfully delivered by Sian Polhill-Thomas, to her over eager sniffer providing a clever shaft of light in the darkness.

But, we all know how the story ends, no magic job fairy ever would appear. You just wonder if there is a 21st Century Bleasdale who can capture the mess we find ourselves in now.

Five stars.  

Boys from the Black Stuff is at the Birmingham Rep until Saturday.