''Steel River Blues'' is a

British television Regular television broadcasts in the United Kingdom started in 1936 as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transmitted moving image in 1926. Currently, the United Kingdom has a collection ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

series, created by Patrick Harbinson, that was first broadcast in September 2004 on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

. Produced by

Ken Horn Ken Horn is a British television producer. He is the producer of ITV1's '' Heartbeat'' and its spin-off ''The Royal''. He is co-creator of their sister show, ''The Royal Today''. Biography Ken Horn grew up in Leicester, where he attended Wygg ...

, the series follows the working and private lives of a group of

firefighter A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...

s, known as Blue Watch, who are based in

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. Critics were quick to dub the series "Middlesbrough's Burning" or "

Teesside Teesside () is a built-up area around the River Tees in the north of England, split between County Durham and North Yorkshire. The name was initially used as a county borough in the North Riding of Yorkshire. Historically a hub for heavy manu ...

's Burning", after the popular fire-fighting drama that preceded it, '' London's Burning'', yet there were very few similarities between the two, apart from them being about the business of

firefighting Firefighting is the act of extinguishing or preventing the spread of unwanted fires from threatening human lives and destroying property and the environment. A person who engages in firefighting is known as a firefighter. Firefighters typically ...

. Like its predecessor, ''Steel River Blues'' was an ensemble drama without any single starring part, though perhaps the best-known actor was

Daniel Casey Daniel Casey (born 1 June 1972) is an English actor. He is best known for playing DS Gavin Troy, the original sidekick of DCI Tom Barnaby, for the first six seasons of the long-running television series ''Midsomer Murders''. Early life ...

, who was previously a co-star in ''

Midsomer Murders ''Midsomer Murders'' is a British crime drama television series, adapted by Anthony Horowitz and Douglas Watkinson from the novels in the '' Chief Inspector Barnaby'' book series (created by Caroline Graham), and broadcast on two channels of I ...

''. Other stars included Joanne Farrell,

Stuart Graham Leslie Stuart Graham (born 9 January 1942) is a British former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and Saloon car racing specialist. He is the son of the 1949 500cc world champion, Leslie Graham. Graham started racing in 1961 on a 125 cc ...

Daniel Ainsleigh Daniel Ainsleigh (born 8 February 1976 in Hexham, Northumberland) is an English actor and acting coach. Born in Hexham, Ainsleigh attended the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art Webber may refer to: *Webber, Kansas, a US city *Webber Town ...

and Satnam Bhogal. The series title music was an original composition performed by Middlesbrough-born singer-songwriter

Chris Rea Christopher Anton Rea ( ; born 4 March 1951) is an English rock and blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, fie ...

. It was announced in January 2005 that the series would not be recommissioned due to low viewing figures. Subsequently, the series has never been released on DVD.

Cast

— Firefighter Jeremy Lloyd * Satnam Bhogal — Firefighter Sunil Gupta * Mark Cameron — Firefighter Roger Hibbot *

— Leading Firefighter Tony Barnes *

Charles Dale Charles Dale (born 4 February 1963) is a Welsh actor known for playing Big Mac in ''Casualty'', Dennis Stringer in ''Coronation Street'', Gary "Chef" Alcock in '' The Lakes'' and Clive Eustace in '' The Eustace Bros.'' He was born in Tenby, Pe ...

— Firefighter George Barnes * Joanne Farrell — Firefighter Nicky Higgins * Nitin Kundra — Firefighter Asif Hussain *

Michael Nardone Michael Nardone (born 20 January 1967) is a Scottish actor. He was raised in Ballingry, Fife and trained in Drama at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh. He starred as Mascius in the BBC/ HBO/RAI TV series Rome and appeared as DCI Richard ...

— Firefighter Dave Tanner * Daniel Ryan — Firefighter Andy Coulson *

Kelly Wenham Kelly Wenham (born 28 November 1983) is an English actress, director, screenwriter and comedian. Life and career Wenham was born in Stockport. Her early career was spent in modelling, before answering a casting call for a bit part in '' Always ...

— Probationary Firefighter Julie Priestley * John Bowler — Divisional Commander Mick Hammond *

— Station Officer Bill McGlinchy * Steven Hillman — Sub Officer Alan Priestley *

Clare Buckfield Clare Buckfield (born 10 April 1976) is an English actress, best known for playing the role of Jenny Porter in the BBC sitcom ''2point4 Children'' for most of the nineties and Natasha Stevens in the CBBC series ''Grange Hill''. Biography From ...

— LCRO Katy Bell * Victoria Hawkins — CRO Sandra Harris * Sarah Preston – Belinda Moss

Episodes

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0423743, title=Steel River Blues 2004 British television series debuts 2004 British television series endings 2000s British drama television series ITV television dramas 2000s British television miniseries Television series by ITV Studios Television series by Yorkshire Television English-language television shows Middlesbrough Television shows set in Yorkshire Television shows set in County Durham Television series about firefighting

Cast

Episodes

See also

References

External links