Johnny Jarvis

I have very vague memories of this series being like a serious version of a sitcom in which Mark Farmer also starred, called Relative Strangers. In both, Farmer portrays a disaffected youth who tries to return to his roots and rediscover his family and identity. He is not always successful in this endeavour, and seems to meet various characters of differing quality along the way. It was made by the BBC on an obviously low budget, and filmed on location around various parts of inner city London. I have to say that the main reason I do recall it though, is because every week a teacher at my school would show us recordings of it "...because it's a waste of my time trying to teach you lot R.E. for half an hour a week!".

How Ironic.

I remember watching this when i was 13 years old. It was shown in several parts on BBC1 after the 9pm news and came over like a 'PLAY FOR TODAY' intended for teenagers. I remember liking it so much that i went out and bought the Penguin paperback novel which unfortunately i no longer have. I also think a lot of it was filmed on location on a drab, dreary, grey and concrete council estate in London, something that gave it a low budget Mike Leigh feel as well as authenticity.

My recollection of the storyline isn't that good. It concerned a nerdy teenage schoolboy trying to impress people about how interesting he is by telling yarns about what interesting adventures he and his mate, Johnny Jarvis, get up to (all lies of course). Poor old Johnny is unaware of these stories about him and thus he gets held up as some kind of mystical superman by those who believe the stories.

I suppose the story is about alienated, no hope youth and the need to invent heroes if none exist (remember, this was Thatchers Britain of 1983 we are talking about). I know its never been available on video and i don't think its ever been repeated (does it still exist?) but i'd love to see it again. If the beeb won't release it on DVD then perhaps they could show it again on one of their digital channels!!!

Addendum: I can't believe I wrote the above review 13 years ago! Well I was surprised to see last week (September 2018) that Network DVD in the UK have released the complete series (all 6 episodes on two discs) so I ordered it immediately from Amazon. I haven't seen this series in 35 years and have started to re-watch it now and it still packs a punch. Really well written and acted and some faces I have recognised in the years since (John Bardon & Jamie Foreman to name but two). I had forgotten specifics but the series was every bit as good as I remember, addressing youth unemployment, racism, parenthood...stuff that I was old enough to grasp even back then. The lack of opportunities for young people who leave school with poor qualifications is very much at the forefront here and it was still very apt when I left school 4 years later. The only sad note is that I noticed Mark Farmer (who played Johnny Jarvis) unfortunately passed away from cancer in April 2016 at the age of 53.

This is really good drama with a social conscience that I think anybody of the age group it was written for or who remembers the early Thatcher years will connect with. Definitely recommended.

A very important series of the early 1980s- never repeated or feted by the BBC but remembered by all who saw it. Compulsive viewing to find out the contrasting fates of Johnny and Alan.

Check out the clips on Youtube, particularly Johnny in short-lived skinhead phase and the catchy theme tune.

Excellent acting throughout by the leads who were seldom seen again on TV. Their portrayal of growing from youths to men grew ever more realistic as he series went on, Mark Farmer delivering a tour de force of the tragedy of growing up young in Thatcher's Britain looking for work, direction , anything !