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Paul Abbott's breakthrough first story for Cracker (ITV, 1993-96; 2006) began
in a Manchester textiles factory, with a bewildered young John Simm exciting the
interests of a hoard of screaming women. Abbott's Clocking Off, set in another
Manchester textiles factory, began with an older but still bewildered John Simm
- this time the object of attention for just two women.
Not that what followed was any kind of creative treading water for Abbott,
now emerging as one of TV's most restlessly inventive storytellers. Clocking Off's 27 slice-of-life stories were rich and diverse, with the tales of assorted
Mackintosh Textiles employees initially orbiting those of factory boss Mac, his
serially unfaithful wife Katherine and underappreciated diamond of a secretary
Trudy. The first story - telling of a husband's unexpected return after a year's
absence with apparently total amnesia - set the tone: subsequent plots were high
on everyday hyperbole and marked by their wit, frenetic energy and audacious
narrative gambits: a single mother driven to arson, a joker who discovers his
best mate is a paedophile, a lorry driver's staging an elaborate fake hold-up to
fund a new life with his disabled wife's nurse.
The series' success may have unfairly eclipsed its most obvious predecessor,
Debbie Horsfield's Making Out (BBC, 1989-91) - set in yet another Manchester
factory - but the workplace drama has a long history stretching back at least as
far as The Plane Makers (ITV, 1965-69). Born in a less ideological age, Clocking
Off was, as its name suggests, at least as concerned with events beyond the
factory gates as within them, meaning a greater focus on characters' personal
relationships and crises than on, say, industrial relations.
Clocking Off was credited with reviving the lost tradition of the TV play
anthology, fifteen years after the demise of Play for Today (BBC, 1970-85). In
fact, although the variety and texture of its stories did capture something of
Play for Today's versatility, structurally it wasn't really an anthology at all,
but a good old-fashioned series - with the stability of its factory setting
allowing for a large, overlapping cast of characters to tell a quite different
story each week. This was a form that British TV seemed to be progressively
abandoning in favour of the perceived audience draw of serials, but it not only
suited Abbott's own frenzied imagination but his bold attempt to fashion a kind
of ersatz job training scheme for young writers.
Mark Duguid
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