Amber, 1988, 10 mins, drama series

Made by Amber’s Current Affairs Unit, these ten 10 minute ‘soap’ dramas each explored issues that the group was coming across in its work on the Meadow Well estate, with the trade unions and with the different community and tenants’ organisations, during its North Shields residency, which it had begun in 1986.

This month’s episode 10, ‘Hot Dogs’ grew out of Amber’s Privatisation Tapes and work with North Shields’ school meals workers. There is no substantiated evidence that Jamie Oliver was influenced by this video. The Shields Stories dramas, written by Tom Hadaway, Kitty Fitzgerald and Steve were originally made for screening in waiting rooms at a number of council offices in North Tyneside, but this didn’t happen in the end. Along with Robson Green, the Shields Stories cast includes Tom Hadaway, Amber Styles, Ray Stubbs, Brian Hogg, Anna Gascoigne and Art Davies.

Episodes:

1. Ray Gets A Job
2. Accident
3. Truant
4. Debt
5. Joyride
6. Probation
7. Florrie
8. Reading and Writing
9. Hot Dogs
10. Pregnancy