Scum (television play)

Three young delinquents, Carlin, Davis and Angel, are escorted via van to a British borstal. Once they arrive, they are given rooms. Angel and Davis are allotted private rooms whilst Carlin has to stay in a dormitory. Carlin, who was transferred from another borstal as punishment for attacking an officer, is thoroughly told by the senior officer Mr. Sands that he expects no trouble and he will be severely punished for any transgressions. Shortly afterwards, Carlin strikes up a friendship with Archer, an intellectual, albeit eccentric, inmate. Meanwhile, Banks, the "daddy" (head inmate) of the wing is informed of Carlin's reputation and told to keep him in line. That night, Banks and his crony Richards assault Carlin, leaving his face bruised. Due to this, he is mistakenly accused of fighting by Sands and given three days solitary confinement as punishment.

After serving his punishment, Carlin seeks revenge on Banks and Richards by first attacking Richards and then beating Banks and effectively replacing him as the "daddy" of the wing. Carlin then makes a deal with house officer Mr. Goodyear. In exchange for a single room cell, Carlin will use his "natural leader" skills to keep peace in the wing. Carlin asks a new inmate named Rhodes to be his "missus", although Carlin stresses he is not homosexual.

A short while after, whilst Davis is working in the greenhouse, he is assaulted and gang raped by a group of boys. Sands looks in the window and sees the rape, but merely smiles and walks away. Later that night, Davis, traumatised by the rape, asks warder Mr. Greaves for help but is merely berated by him. Davis later slashes his wrists in his cell and dies as a result. His body is found the next morning by Sands.

The following day during breakfast, the boys refuse to eat out of protest of Davis' death. Carlin then incites a riot. Later, Carlin, Archer and several others are led away by guards, handcuffed. The Governor of the borstal makes an announcement to all the inmates stating he will tolerate no further outbursts. He then declares a minute silent prayer in Davis' memory.

To protect against possible trouble, considerable research was undertaken to establish the authenticity of the drama, although executives in the corporation considered it unrealistic, according to Play for Today producer Margaret Matheson, because of the potential confusion between documentary and drama because of the detailed representation.[1] An 'Early Warning Synopsis' practice existed in the BBC between producers and their superiors whereby details of a programme's content was communicated. In the case of Scum, this had been seen by the controller of BBC 1, Bryan Cowgill, without any problems being raised.[2] A change in personnel, with Bill Cotton succeeding Cowgill, soon led to difficulties in October 1977 when the completed work was awaiting its now scheduled transmission.

Some cuts were made at Cotton's request, an earlier suicide was removed;[3] those involved in the play hoped the edits would prevent it being banned, but no avail.[1] The play was not transmitted at the time. Matheson managed to screen the film for the press, outside the BBC in a Soho preview theatre, which did result in press coverage about the suppression, not necessarily favourable to Scum itself. At the screening, Minton dubbed the production the 'Billy Cotton Banned Show'[3] after the light-entertainment programme Billy Cotton Band Show, hosted by the BBC executive's father.

• Scum (film)
• Made in Britain

• Scum (TV drama) at the BFI's Screenonline
• Scum at IMDb