Produced by Swing Bridge Video and North Tyneside Council Advise and Information Service a drama-documentary about poverty and living on a low fixed income. The drama follows a family who are at breaking point due to the lack of money coming into the household and the bills and amenities they need. The film ends with the family believing they have no other choice but to go to a loan-shark to make ends meet. The film is intercut with testimonies of three individuals who talk about their owner...

Produced by Swing Bridge Video and North Tyneside Council Advise and Information Service a drama-documentary about poverty and living on a low fixed income. The drama follows a family who are at breaking point due to the lack of money coming into the household and the bills and amenities they need. The film ends with the family believing they have no other choice but to go to a loan-shark to make ends meet. The film is intercut with testimonies of three individuals who talk about their owner issues of living on a low income. A deck of cards from the game Happy Families laid out. Standing together outside their home the family featured in this film changes to a young woman asking who can you turn to if your family is struggling? Title: Happy Families In a street the feet and legs of a man who stubs out a cigarette before getting into a car, he is carrying a red briefcase. He turns on the radio before driving off along the street. Over the radio the voice of the woman seen earlier talking about the problems of paying her debts and not being able to get a mortgage to pay for her own home. The car drives along a series of streets past cars parked in the road and ‘For Sale’ signs outside several properties. In the window of an estate agents’ other properties for sale changes to show posters and advertisements for mortgages and several building societies. The car turns into a street of council houses and pulls up outside the home of the family featured in this production. Penny, a young single-mother, wakes up on a sofa bed, beside her a baby in a pram which is being used as a crib. She gets up and, in the kitchen, makes the baby’s bottle before gets him dressed. She butters slice of toast and makes a cup of tea for herself after which she puts her baby back in its pram before remaking the sofa. Back in the kitchen she holds her son over her shoulder as she brushes her hair getting ready for the day. With her coat on Penny come into the living room with the baby’s pushchair, in her hand a ‘Final Notice’ electricity bill which she puts onto a sideboard. Checking over the pushchair she finds it is broken, she becomes exasperated. In another kitchen Penny’s parents sit at the table drinking tea or coffee. The mother is reading a letter from her sister while her husband Jimmy does a crossword puzzle in a newspaper. A young man, the couple’s seventeen-year-old son Tom, approaches and heads into the Metropolitan Borough of North Tyneside Magistrates Court. Back in the kitchen the parents discuss their children’s situations, the father being out of work and the mother now being the family’s main breadwinner and the imminent arrival of her sister Ivy for an extended stay. The mother attempts to heat a kettle on an electric hob but it is broken, they begin to argue about the condition of many of the appliances in the house which are old and need replacing. Because of their financial situation this is impossible. Tom comes into the kitchen and shows his parent the fine he was given by the courts, another bill they will need to find money for. An older woman of colour says she is bitter that after all the years paying taxes, she is only worth £45. Penny comes along a street pushing her child in the broken pushchair, as she approaches a shop window the single mother seen at the start of the film talks about having to buy cheap nappies for her baby and having to carry her child when her pram breaks. Penny looks in the shop windows at various prams, pushchairs, and children’s clothes she can’t afford to buy. Advertising posters for other expensive items such as new clothes and credit cards follow. At her parents’ house Penny sits on a sofa getting ready for work while her father gets ready to go on a shopping trip with his grandson. His wife makes sure he has the money and shopping list. Penny kisses her son before they leave, outside Jimmy places his grandson into his broken pushchair. Watched over by his wife he leaves before being reminded to get washing powder. Back in the kitchen Penny and her mother make a pot of tea and talk about Penny’s financial situation and the low wages they both receive from their work. They discuss Penny’s father not being able to cope with the arrival of his sister-in-law as well as his grandson. Penny is asked to get a babysitter, but this is too much for Penny to afford. She says she will have to stop working which her mother is against. Penny explains that she is sleeping in the living room because she is too frightened to turn on the heat in the rest of the house. Penny asks for her parents, help as she doesn’t have anything. Penny says she’ll have to go to a loan-shark, but her mother says she’ll lend her something. A man explains that he is on a diet as he has an ulcer because of his poor diet. He can’t afford to buy the proper foods he needs. Inside a local Presto supermarket Jimmy is shopping with his grandson. He sees something shinny and waves it in front of the baby’s face. He places shopping items in his basket including a box of washing powder. At the meat counter he looks over to items deciding if it is something the family can afford. As he thinks images of health and beauty as well as pictures of fresh fruit and vegetables and other luxury food items and in voiceover a woman talking about children and babies not having the energy to fight off bugs because of their eating ‘rotten’ foods. At the checkout Jimmy comes out of his daydream looking for the money to pay for his items. He can’t afford everything, and the checkout lady suggests putting back the steak he has selected. Instead, he has the washing power taken off the bill. Back at home Jimmy tenderises the meat with a rolling pin. He tries to hide it from his wife when she comes home showing him her wage packet. She sees the steak and they argue over it, he wanting to give his wife a decent meal while she says they can’t afford it. She goes into the living room, turns on the television and begins to flick through a magazine. Jimmy comes in with a cup of tea, they argue about the financial situations and family commitments. He switches over the television and watches and advertisement for a premier home insurance policy they simply can’t afford. Jimmy heads back into the kitchen to look at the steak he is cooking, however the cooker being broken has ruined the meat which he accidently drops onto the floor. The couple continue to argue over money becoming more and more frustrated. They need help, and quick. Behind a screen the couple speaks with an advisor at the local council about getting money for a replacement cook. He explains that due to their circumstances they are not eligible, he says they will have to eat cold foods and take-aways until something is sorted out. The advisor leaves to check if having a grandchild is enough of a reason to help. He returns and says a ‘bridging loan’ could be available, however no decision could be made now. His only other suggestion was to trade the old cooker in with the Electricity Board and get a new cooker through one of their credit schemes. The couple walk along a road, the wife stopping outside the office of ‘H. Mark (Private Loans) Ltd.’. They discuss ways of getting a replacement cooker, the wife suggesting going to a loan-shark as they don’t have a choice. The couple head home changing to show a series of posters and advertisements for loans, credit cards and cookers. The phantom car see at the start of the film turns once more into the street pulling up outside the house of the family. Showing only his feet and legs the man with the suitcase gets out and stands in front of the house, inside Jimmy looks out onto the street through the living room blinds. Title: Many thanks to Geoff Fimister, Nikki Turnbull, Argyll Stores Ltd, Meadowell Credit Union, Longebenton Peoples Centre, Tyneside Action for Benefits, North Shields Peoples Centre, North East Media Training Centre Title: Interviews with Terry Lane, Nancy Peters, Wendy Armstrong Credit: Actors (in order of appearance) Fiona Turnbull, Joe Turnbull, Pauline Moriarty, Art Davies, Joe Caffrey, Lisa Sanderson, Fiona Macpherson, Peter Axton Music Ivor Sears. Recorded at Music Production Services Title: Thanks for locations: Presto’s Shiremoor, Carol and Hylton Wark, Meadowell Credit Union, Medeline and Neil Brown, North Tyneside Housing Department Credit: Sound Graham Denman Continuity Richard Holmes Editing Colin Bone Swingbridge Video Hugh Kelly, Gev Pringle, Lynne Colton, Steve Colton, Sarah McCarthy End title: © Swingbridge Video and North Tyneside Council Advise and Information Service 1988