Obituary: Bernard Hill, actor who shot to fame as Yosser Hughes in ‘Boys From The Blackstuff’

As well as 'Boys from the Blackstuff', Bernard Hughes had roles in hit films such as 'Titanic' and the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy

Telegraph Obituaries
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Bernard Hill, who has died aged 79, was a virtually unknown actor when he played the out-of-work Scouser Yosser Hughes in Alan Bleasdale’s Boys from the Blackstuff (1982), a role that made him not only a sought-after and bankable star but also minted a famous catchphrase with his harrowing appeal “Gizza job! Go on, gizzit! I could do that!”.

In what became a landmark in post-war TV drama in the UK, Hill, playing the maniacal man in black with the Charlie Chaplin moustache, headbutted his way into the public consciousness with his searing portrayal of a man disintegrating before viewers’ eyes against a 1980s backdrop of a collapsing Merseyside economy. Of the five unemployed Liverpool tarmac-layers featured week by week, it was Hill in “Yosser’s Story” who monopolised the public’s imagination and sympathy.