Peter Kerrigan

Peter Kerrigan

Born: January 1, 1916
in Bootle, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, UK
Peter Kerrigan was a Liverpudlian actor famous for his work on a series of TV plays, many of which were directed by Ken Loach, and for his role as George Malone in Alan Bleasdale's Boys From the Blackstuff. Born in Bootle in 1916, Kerrigan was a docker originally and, as a Communist Party member, founded the Birkenhead Port Workers Defence Committee. At some point in the '50s, he joined the National Association of Stevedores and Dockers and he wrote the 1958 pamphlet, 'What Next For Britain's Port Workers?' on behalf of the Socialist Labour League - the party he had joined following his departure from the CP. In official retirement Kerrigan became an actor appearing in the militant dockworkers drama The Big Flame, written by Jim Allen and directed by Ken Loach. The play stimulated the formation of a political group of the same name, largely based in Liverpool. He was soon in demand, appearing in Loach's The Rank and File and Days of Hope, as well as the Play For Today's The Spongers and United Kingdom, and the drama The Gathering Seed - all of which were again written by Allen. He also appeared in Z Cars, The Sweeney, Family at War, Strumpet City, Crown Court, Brookside and Scully. But he'll perhaps be best remembered as George Malone in The Blackstuff and its subsequent spin off series, Boys from The Blackstuff, in which he played a blacklisted former docker and trade unionist.

Movies for Peter Kerrigan...

Coast to Coast
Title: Coast to Coast
Character: British Rail Inspector
Released: January 4, 1987
Type: Movie
Two guys meet, one American, a deserter from the US army, one Brit, and they are drawn together by their mutual love of Soul music. Neither being gainfully employed they decide to start a mobile disco service for fellow soul lovers, which leads them to buy an ice cream van, and the adventure begins. Before long they find themselves on the run from the bad guys and the police.
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Title: Scully
Character: Old Man
Released: May 14, 1984
Type: TV
Scully was a British television drama with some comedy elements set in the city of Liverpool, England, that originated from a BBC Play For Today episode "Scully's New Years Eve". Originally broadcast on Channel Four in 1984, the single series was spread over six half-hour episodes plus a one-hour final episode. It was written by playwright Alan Bleasdale. The drama is notable for featuring many of the Liverpool football club first-team squad of that era. Francis Scully is a teenage boy who has his heart set on gaining a trial match for Liverpool to hopefully fulfil his ambition of playing for the club. Francis, in everyday situations during his waking hours, occasionally "sees" famous Liverpool players such as Kenny Dalglish when they are not really there. These dream-like sequences recur throughout the episodes. The main plotline is the efforts of Scully's school teachers to persuade Scully to appear in the school pantomime which they attempt by promising him a trial with his beloved Liverpool if he will cooperate. When Scully and his friends are not in school making trouble for the teachers and the school caretaker, they are seen roaming the local streets upsetting the neighbours and getting into trouble with the police. Scully sometimes has visions of the school caretaker appearing as a vampire due to the caretaker's nickname being Dracula. These frequent waking dream sequences give the show a somewhat surreal atmosphere.
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Title: The Gathering Seed
Character: Fred Rowsey
Released: September 7, 1983
Type: TV
The saga of Manchester lad Joe Henshaw, a story that takes in family life, the trials and tribulations of the Labour movement and World War Two
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Title: Boys from the Blackstuff
Character: George Malone
Released: October 10, 1982
Type: TV
Alan Bleasdale's five-part series relates the further experiences of unemployed Liverpudlian tarmac layers Dixie, Chrissie, Loggo and Yosser, and their revered older friend, retired longshoreman and union leader, George Malone. As they struggle to make ends meet in a depressed economy, and to hold together their financially battered families, they are harrassed by the petty bureaucrats of the DHSS. But the lumbering investigational juggernaut is, both comically and tragically, guided by drivers with only a provisional license.
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United Kingdom
Title: United Kingdom
Character: Peter Connor
Released: December 8, 1981
Type: Movie
Incendiary 1981 Play for Today, written by Jim Allen and directed by Roland Joffé that tells the story of a group of housing estate residents who attempt to organise against persistent rent rises.
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The Black Stuff
Title: The Black Stuff
Character: George Malone
Released: January 2, 1980
Type: Movie
A Liverpool tarmac gang set off for a contract in Middlesborough. After a day of work, the group are approached by two gypsies who offer them a lucrative side job.
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The Spongers
Title: The Spongers
Character: Peter
Released: January 24, 1978
Type: Movie
In the days leading up the Queen's Silver Jubilee, Pauline, a recently separated single mother, receives a visit from a bailiff and is given 15 days to address her overdue rent payments. Meanwhile, the local council is under pressure to cut expenditure, and their decisions result in Pauline's mentally handicapped daughter Paula being transferred from a care home for special needs children to an old people's home, where she is all alone.
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Bag of Yeast
Title: Bag of Yeast
Character: James Scannell
Released: February 22, 1976
Type: Movie
When teacher Tony Scannell decides he wants to be ordained as a Catholic Priest his decision has wide ranging effects on his family and loved ones.
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Title: Days of Hope
Character: Peter
Released: September 11, 1975
Type: TV
Days of Hope is a BBC television drama serial produced in 1975. The series dealt with the lives of a working-class family from the turmoils of the First World War in 1916 to the General Strike in 1926. It was written by Jim Allen, produced by Tony Garnett and directed by Ken Loach.
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Title: The Sweeney
Character: Bowyer
Released: January 2, 1975
Type: TV
Jack Regan, an unethical officer of the Flying Squad, uses unorthodox methods to pursue criminals with the help of his partner, George Carter.
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Lucky
Title: Lucky
Character: Det. Sgt. Williams
Released: February 5, 1974
Type: Movie
“Set in Liverpool in the early 70s, the film tells the story of Samuel 'lucky' Ubooto, a half African, half Irish man in his 20s whose decidedly unlucky career as a criminal has resulted in a series of stretches in prison for theft. The story follows Lucky on the day of his release from his latest sentence. As he wanders around Liverpool, not really belonging anywhere, it becomes clear that he is still waiting for his father, a man who has long since abandoned Lucky and his family, to return and take him back 'home' to Africa.” - Richard Parkin
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Talk About Work
Title: Talk About Work
Character: Self (uncredited)
Released: December 31, 1971
Type: Movie
Ken Loach's censored production for the Central Office of Information.
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After a Lifetime
Title: After a Lifetime
Character: Uncle John
Released: July 18, 1971
Type: Movie
Ken Loach's first production for ITV, shown under the 'Sunday Night Theatre' strand (originally broadcast 18th July 1971). After a Lifetime is something of a neglected, social realist masterpiece that focuses on two brothers, brought together by the death of their father, reflecting on his life of militancy and political activism. At the time critic Nancy Banks Smith called it ‘brilliantly funny, and moving with a sort of subterranean rage’. Smith himself plays the older brother with a brilliant, raw emotion.
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The Rank and File
Title: The Rank and File
Character: Eddie
Released: May 20, 1971
Type: Movie
Wilkinsons glass-works dominates a Staffordshire town. After a small walkout over pay discrepancies, the workers of the factory vote to go on strike, but they are denied support by their trade union.
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The Body
Title: The Body
Character: Self
Released: October 9, 1970
Type: Movie
A psychedelic documentary of the body electric, with music by Pink Floyd. The film was directed and produced by Roy Battersby. The film's narrators, Frank Finlay and Vanessa Redgrave, provide commentary that combines the knowledge of human biologists and anatomical experts. The film's soundtrack, Music from the Body, was composed by Ron Geesin and Roger Waters.
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The Big Flame
Title: The Big Flame
Character: Peter Conner
Released: February 19, 1969
Type: Movie
After a prolonged industrial dispute in the Liverpool Docks, the striking workers reject management demands of a return to work and decide instead to occupy the docks and run the operation themselves.