Bread or Blood

I should love to see this again. I don't remember it being broadcast more than once, or certainly not since shortly after its first broadcast. I remember it as very gritty and very powerful - one of the few things I've seen that may have come anywhere near depicting the true grinding desperate awfulness of peasant life back then.

This series, loosely adapted from the memoirs of one of the men involved, is about a clash between the workers and the aristocracy in England in the eighteenth century.

It is reminiscent of the play "The Fool" by Edward Bond, which also takes place at this time, and deals with riots in East Anglia. The shepherds are losing their lands to the aristocracy and riot: if there is no bread, they warn, then there will be blood.

The show was criticised at the time for inventing certain incidents: for instance the main character beating his son with the belt because the boy cried for a dog - it's quite a brutal story - but it is a powerful piece of work and should be revived. Malcolm Storry was excellent in the lead role.