Irvine Welsh is a Scottish novelist and short story writer. His 1993 novel Trainspotting was made into a film of the same name. He has also written plays and screenplays, and directed several short films.
A dockworker is a waterfront manual laborer who loads and unloads ships.
The Writers' Guild of Great Britain (WGGB), established in 1959, is a trade union for professional writers. It is affiliated with both the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds (IAWG).
Alan George Bleasdale is an English screenwriter, best known for social realist drama serials based on the lives of ordinary people. A former teacher, he has written for radio, stage and screen, and has also written novels. Bleasdale's plays typically represented a more realistic, contemporary depiction of life in Liverpool than was usually seen in the media.
James Stanley McGovern is an English screenwriter and producer. He is best known for creating the drama series Cracker (1993–1995), for which he received two Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America. He also received recognition for creating drama series such as Hillsborough, The Lakes, The Street, and Accused, among others. On 8 December 2021, McGovern was conferred the Freedom of Liverpool in recognition of his life's work.
The Liverpool Dockers' dispute between dockers and their employers, Mersey Docks and Harbour Company (MDHC) and Torside Ltd, in Liverpool, England, lasted from 1995 to 1998. Although considered a strike, it was strictly a lockout as the employers, Mersey Docks, sacked the dockers for breach of contract when they refused to cross a picket line set up by their sacked Torside Limited colleagues. Initially, five Torside workers were dismissed following a dispute regarding overtime pay, who in turn formed a picket line that other dockers refused to cross in solidarity.
Shaun Duggan is a BAFTA nominated English writer based in the UK. He has repeatedly collaborated with Jimmy McGovern. He has written several plays and has worked extensively for television including Brookside and EastEnders (BBC1).
John Fay is a British television screenwriter and playwright. He is known for his work on television soap operas Brookside and Coronation Street as well as his later work on original drama series like Torchwood.
James Allen was an English socialist playwright, best known for his collaborations with Ken Loach.
Kevin Sampson is a British novelist, best known for his novels Awaydays (1998), Powder (1999) and Stars Are Stars (2006). He lives in Birkenhead, Merseyside. His crime thriller, The Killing Pool, was published by Cape on 21 March 2013.
Christine Murray, known professionally as Crissy Rock, is an English award-winning actress, stand-up comedian, and best-selling author, most notable for her role as Maggie Conlan in the 1994 film Ladybird, Ladybird, and as Janey York in Benidorm whom she played from 2007, until 2011 when she left the show, although she returned in Episode 6 of Series 5 for a cameo role, and then again for two episodes of Series 7 in 2015.
Moving On is a British anthology television series, created and executive produced by Jimmy McGovern, which consists of a series of standalone contemporary dramas, each focusing on a pivotal turning point in the life of one or more of the characters in the featured episode. The first episode aired on BBC One on 18 May 2009, and since, a total of 65 episodes have been broadcast. As of 2023, there has been no confirmation of a thirteenth series and the show has presumably ended.
The Belfast Dock strike or Belfast lockout took place in Belfast, Ireland from 26 April to 28 August 1907. The strike was called by Liverpool-born trade union leader James Larkin who had successfully organised the dock workers to join the National Union of Dock Labourers (NUDL). The dockers, both Protestant and Catholic, had gone on strike after their demand for union recognition was refused. They were soon joined by carters, shipyard workers, sailors, firemen, boilermakers, coal heavers, transport workers, and women from the city's largest tobacco factory. Most of the dock labourers were employed by powerful tobacco magnate Thomas Gallaher, chairman of the Belfast Steamship Company and owner of Gallaher's Tobacco Factory.
Hillsborough is a television film written by Jimmy McGovern and starring Annabelle Apsion, Christopher Eccleston and Ricky Tomlinson. Set between 1989 and 1991, the film is a dramatization of the Hillsborough disaster, which saw 97 football supporters lose their lives at Hillsborough in Sheffield. The film won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Single Drama
Jason Herbison is an Australian television producer, screenwriter and novelist, most recently serving as the executive producer of the soap opera Neighbours. He has written scripts for numerous television serials, and has published several novels.
"The Big Flame" is a 1969 BBC television play by socialist playwright Jim Allen, produced by Tony Garnett and directed by Ken Loach. The play tells the story of 10,000 dockworkers occupying the Liverpool docks in a "work-in". Filmed in a gritty, realistic drama documentary style, it was first broadcast on 19 February 1969 on BBC1, at a time when unemployment was rising in Britain. The play was shown in the BBC's The Wednesday Play anthology strand, which was noted for tackling social issues.
Daniel Percival is a British BAFTA-winning director and screenwriter of television drama.
Carl Rice is a British actor from Liverpool. He has appeared in Brookside, Brassic, Jimmy McGovern’s Hearts and Minds and more. He also founded Milk Pictures in 2021.
Anya Camilleri is a British film and television director and screenwriter of Maltese descent.
Throughout the history of the Liverpool docks, known as Mersey Docks and Harbour Company, there have been numerous strike actions by dock workers, although some have been part of larger industrial action affecting other trades and union workers. The most lengthy and best remembered of contemporary times was the dispute during 1995-1998.
