Drinking for England BBC2

Introduction

This BBC2 documentary explores Britain’s drinking culture in the 1990s and the deep-rooted connection many Brits have with alcohol. It follows the lives of heavy drinkers who express their often tragic—yet occasionally humorous—experiences through poetry and song. Among them are a man who consumes at least ten pints of beer each night, a fashion model who drinks until she passes out, and a woman undergoing detox in a private clinic.

Quotes

“I want to stop drinking because I think eventually it might kill me. If it doesn’t kill me, it might ostracize me. I’ve got some fabulous friends but they’ll only go so far and they’ll get fed up. I can’t let them down and I can’t let my son down.”

“Thinking’s a beautiful thing for a man, Thinks from a bottle, thinks from a can.”

“I don’t ever sit on me own having a drink in order to get drunk. I just never do that, but I know a lot of people do and some people would say they have a drink problem.”

“When you’re in your 20s, you do what you can do. When I’m in my 40s, I’m not going to go out in tight trousers and things like that and get drunk and flirt. At this point in time, I enjoy having a drink. Most of the time, I make a fool of myself but I haven’t got a problem.”

“I don’t think women understand men’s needs for being with other men to have a drink.“

“Drinking patterns change with your years in life but as you get older, you possibly need the drink early in the morning or early in the day. The first one, sometimes, is not desperate, but pretty useful.”

“If there wasn’t a drink drive law, well, then I could go out and drink a reasonable amount of alcohol, but you can’t do it, can you? People who have been regular drinkers all our lives, we are the victims of this law … because it is so stringent, there should be dispensation for people who have or can prove a known medical record of drinking over a period of time without any ill effects and an ill accident record.”

“I’ve always worked on the principle that you should not drink cheap wine. People who suffer from alcoholism or the effects of excessive drinking usually do it because they drink cheap booze. My drinking isn’t a problem, not to me. It just slightly governs the way I lead my life.”

“I can imagine pouring [a drink]. I can imagine drinking it. But I’ll do it tomorrow. I won’t do it today.“

“Sometimes I feel ashamed of things I’ve done when I was drinking. This alcoholism, it’s a disease that takes a grip and yet, you don’t realize until … well, some people never realize and that’s why they die. I’m fortunate, I’ve learned early on in life and I have a chance.”

“We open with logger, then move on to wine, and spirits and cocktails, two at a time. Till we’re holding as much as we’re physically able, by which time we’re shitfaced and under the table. And when we wake up, we’re a sorrowful sight, but we go out and we do it again the next night.“