Episode 3 The Street

This programme contains very strong language.

Sauchiehall Street is one of the most famous streets in Scotland.

By day, thousands are employed in its shops and offices.

By night, it attracts hordes of visitors to its restaurants,

bars and clubs.

And at the weekend, the street

has a reputation as one of the most buzzing places to go out in Glasgow.

If you've no' got a lumber by now,

you shouldn't be getting one in the taxi queue. Let's go down.

The Street follows the lives of a number of people

over the course of a year, as they try to earn their crust.

There was a couple of wee fucking wanks scratching their fucking dicks

for eight hours this morning.

-Hey, guys!

-Protect the public.

Well, you feel worried about what's going to happen. It could kill them.

-Make sweet music.

-Another £1. I can buy some... A loaf of bread.

I'm not a greedy person, but £1 counts.

And struggle to make a living.

I don't have a problem with closing your business down, but I don't want to do it.

On one of Scotland's most iconic streets.

So basically, they're all spineless bastards, in my view.

Previously on The Street,

busker Melo was struggling by in life,

working late nights to make some money.

But life started to get on top of him

after run-ins with the public.

You're sitting here milking our country for thousands,

you fucking black bastard, you!

Do I fucking need to get you to the hospital?

After being made homeless, he was taken in by old friend Craig.

He knows that I'd rather be by myself.

-He knows that I'm hardly delighted he's here.

-But it soon fell apart.

-He don't want to talk?

-No, why should he?

And Craig chucked him out.

If he ever touched me again, I'm going to batter him.

After staying in a cheap hotel,

he was offered a free place to stay, and things were on the up.

Expect the worst, and good things maybe happen.

But once again, his relationships deteriorated,

and he saw no other option but to move on.

In Scotland, in UK, I haven't got real friends.

If I'm spending more than 20 fucking pounds, no way.

Two months on,

and Melo has found a new place to stay with old friend Tony.

But there's a problem.

But that's no' the point. I've got to be home on Sunday.

They've been threatened with eviction

after refusing to pay the first month's rent.

What did he say?

He says we want the keys back the night. And I said,

"Where we going to go? And then we will think about it." What the fuck?

I've got one hour, one hour and a half to make me very good money.

He shouldn't be getting money for that house, anyway.

Fucking lighting through the ceiling and all that.

Doors are hanging off and everything.

He's still expecting £600. No fucking way!

But the flat isn't Melo's only problem.

He's started to fall out with the other buskers on the street.

-If I was going to threaten you...

-He's doing this deliberately.

No, no. If I was going to threaten you, I'd batter you, mate.

-You know what I mean?

-If I ever want to threaten you, I'll batter you.

I will batter you. You've got a big mouth, is your problem.

You've got a big mouth.

You see? Like a girl, man. You gay, man.

I used to be mates with this guy. He's the most abusive...

He's the most abusive busker in Glasgow.

There's not one busker in this city

hasnae had a problem with this guy,

-and he's got the cheek to call...

-You're jealous.

Jealous, you know what I mean? He's got mental health issues.

We've had a few arguments, he's come up to me drunk...

-I've got mental health issues?!

-Here he goes.

-You deserve a fucking slap!

-You're a liar, mate.

-Go on - slap me, then.

-This is actually what happens.

-You call me fucking mental?

-All the time - do you know what I mean?

-You call me mental, do you understand this?

-You are.

Yeah. It's a lie. I'm more intelligent than you, probably.

-Yes.

-You got all that, mate? Thank you very much.

And I'll bloody slap you one of these days.

Shave your dreads, mate. They look dirty, man.

What do you think about what he was saying?

He's an idiot, do you know what I mean?

They all run with this trouble about "mental", but who's really mental?

They are fucking stupid, innit?

Do I look mental in this camera, the home movies? Do I look mental?

I hate people when they start telling lies

and trying to be manipulative.

There's a problem here again. Sorry about that. Problem is...

he wants the keys back. That's my brother just phoned.

Abdul wants the keys back the day,

and you need to phone them, right now, about the other house.

He wants the keys back. He's going off his heid and all.

He'll phone later, mate. He'll phone later.

Previously on The Street...

Come on. Stop fucking hiding through the back.

..Nick struggled to get his first business up and running

after a long stint in rehab.

Cocaine was a fucking monumental problem -

basically a house and a Ferrari.

He hired school-leaver Kevin,

but had to sack him when he didn't perform.

Is there any difference with him no' being here to him being here?

But things really started going wrong

when his right-hand man Kiddie disappeared.

I fear the worst. He could be fucking hanging from a tree.

Either that or he could be in jail, I don't know.

Kiddie was struggling with depression,

and Nick feared the worst.

If nothing's surfaced by the time I've done this,

I'm going to look till I find him.

But Kiddie turned up safe.

Seriously, I don't think it's over.

Not by a fucking long shot.

-OK, then, Kiddie.

-Yes.

-Lock the fucking door.

A month on, and Kiddie is back to his old self -

arriving at work on time every day.

So you need to open the door first.

Tell them in the plainest of words.

Taste, on the other hand, has started to struggle,

the profits now slowly dropping,

but Nick has a plan to refurbish and turn things around.

I don't like the Taste. Sorry. Taste is closed.

I've got my brother here,

he's a joiner, got another joiner coming in,

about half four, and then tomorrow we've got the plumbers coming in,

and the electrician tomorrow as well.

I can't wait. I'm going to love it, to be honest with you.

We'll have a lot more space, a lot more exciting food on.

It's going to be great.

-This is my big brother, Scott.

-Hi. How are you?

Me and my mate are doing the joinery work, yeah.

We'll get it done in three days, so.

Hopefully.

The quicker it's done, the better, eh?

You got a brush? Aye.

Deep down I'm a bit nervous about whether this is going to work or not.

That's why I'm so... Got so much energy towards this.

I don't want to fail,

I want to fucking make money, I want to succeed. This needs to work.

My mum and dad haven't got the patience

to throw another however many grand at us.

If this doesn't work, I'm back to signing on, like a fucking muppet,

which I don't want to be doing. This has got to work.

We've got to do everything we can to make this work.

Hope I'm right. Hope this is the fucking thing that I'm right about.

I fucking go through my life and I feel I'm an intelligent enough guy

and I try things and they just don't fuckin' work, you know what I mean?

Nothing ever materialises the way I thought it would.

To relaunch the new-look Taste, Nick has an ace up his sleeve.

He plans to roast a whole pig every day and serve pulled pork rolls.

I am worried, I am a bit nervous now. I have never cooked a pig.

Just put it in the fucking machine and turn it on!

-I say that the now.

-What's the temperature control?

-I don't know, mate.

-Have you seen your machine yet?

Tomorrow, Nick will get his first look at the pig,

and it's going to be a big surprise.

Up and down the length of Sauchiehall Street,

a secretive street artist has been making a mark.

Known as Bullet Beard, the artist has been postering for over a year.

And even the street's most regular inhabitants have no idea who he is.

Probably Bullet Beard, trying to get that up there.

He has probably come in to Taste, I have probably seen him.

I think this guy is an artist. I think he is making a big statement.

The person responsible for the artwork only lives a few yards

from Sauchiehall Street.

And is hard at work on his next posters that are going up tonight.

Seen these yet?

Another reclaimed space with nothing to sell.

Brought to you by Bullet Beard.

THEY CHUCKLE

-Go and put your jumper on.

-OK.

They are not like protest posters,

but it is similar to ones I have done before

that I might be wanting to target specific places with.

By doing something like this,

it is kind of taking back a bit of my own city for me,

because I live in the city and I have lived in this city most of my life.

And I'm a Glaswegian, and I'm proud of it.

And by doing this, I am kind of reclaiming space.

I don't know if I'm very successful at it,

but at least I try my best at it, you know.

Fly-postering is illegal, so Bullet goes out

with his girlfriend Alice, who watches his back.

-I'm just here for moral support.

-I don't think you would be involved.

If anyone gets arrested, it will probably be me.

But when I've been out before,

like, when Alice hasn't been there, I have said,

like, I'm taking my wallet with me, I'm taking my phone with me.

If I'm not back tonight, then...that probably means I've been arrested.

And now comes the hard part.

Bullet has never been caught, but tonight he is planning

to poster 100 yards from one of Glasgow's main police stations.

-Previously...

-Is he OK?

..the street pastors were out

looking after the inebriated and vulnerable.

The gospel really for us is all about caring for people,

loving them, supporting them.

It's just our message.

Handing out flip-flops to barefoot partygoers.

This is absolutely brilliant. You are a life-saver.

And comforting the homeless.

In Jesus' name, amen.

He was sleeping there. And we don't want you falling asleep.

The pastors are out again, helping people get home safely.

You are going to fall down... You see, you are going to fall down.

Contact Janice or Mary.

And say that you've got one of the old jackets.

Another team is just heading out, led by PhD student Brodie.

As street pastors, we're seeking to be non-judgemental.

We're not out there to particularly critique what folk are doing,

we're just out there to help

and try and make sure that,

at the end of the night, everybody is safe.

So it's not about going out and passing some kind of judgment.

They don't need any of us to lecture them.

Can you try and wake her up?

The pastors are trained first-aiders,

able to deal with a range of problems and injuries.

I have the reputation in our team

of being the one who always has to deal with blood.

So out of all the teams,

I am the one who always seems to end up with it.

So, for me, it is quite common, for the other teams it is not so common.

Brodie has his first situation to deal with.

Somebody down here who seems to need first aid.

Did he just fall over, or did something happen?

Just put this over the cut and then tie it.

Sometimes it takes quite a while for the ambulance to get here.

So if we can stop some bleeding or keep it clean or something,

you know, before they come, I would assume that is helpful.

No, no. Don't fall asleep. OK? Stay awake. Stay awake for me, OK?

Wake up.

Bullet and Alice are on their way to put up the first poster.

It's not totally like, rammed, like, mad, on this street,

but it's enough to keep the police busy.

If I was out here on my own,

then they would have nothing else to look at but me.

Bullet has chosen a new fence around a building site.

It is on the same street as Glasgow city centre's main police station.

He has to work fast, as he is never sure who is watching.

-Successful?

-Um... Taxi driver seems to like it!

So we have six posters left. I thought I had more.

But I will just put the six on the one spot.

Because I think that this Pound-Mart

has been somewhere where I've put posters up in the past.

It tells you a lot about a city

if even a Pound-Mart can't be financially viable.

For the last year, Bullet's posters have mainly been his paintings.

But recently, he has started printing slogans and phrases

that could highlight issues on the street.

It has the desired effect because of the location of it.

I don't quite know about CCTV, so maybe we should walk that way.

HE LAUGHS NERVOUSLY

Open those eyes, let me see them, stay awake.

-Further down the street...

-Stay awake, that's a boy.

..Brodie is trying to keep the injured man conscious

as he waits for the paramedics to take over.

There is a lot of blood everywhere.

I'll just leave you to it, OK?

-Thanks very much for your help, pal.

-No worries.

I don't know whether somebody punched him or hit him with something.

It's the fact that he's just wanting to fall asleep as well,

means he needs to get checked out.

Yeah, we'll take a wander up the street and see what's happening.

No sooner has he moved on than there is another situation to deal with.

SHOUTING

Camera control, there is a fight outside McDonald's

on Sauchiehall Street. Over.

SHOUTING CONTINUES

Camera control, that fight has gone down Renfrew Lane. Police needed.

Over.

Hey, the police are coming, so I would get out of here if I was you.

One of the men originally fighting has stayed back to avoid trouble,

but he is about to get a shock.

SHOUTING

He bullied that fucking one guy!

ALL SHOUT AT ONCE

Yeah, no, no, he's helping him, he's just been hit.

Hey, hey, no, look, he's just been knocked out.

Are we needing an ambulance here?

Couldn't make that up. Couldn't... Here, Donald, who done that?

Him! Him! He done it!

Camera control, we need an ambulance at Renfrew Lane.

A boy has been knocked out. Over.

Before the ambulance or police have a chance to arrive,

the man's friends drag him to his feet.

I wouldn't go up that way.

Where are you going?

Camera control, about that ambulance for Renfrew Lane.

The boy has regained consciousness

and his pals are taking him away. Over.

'That's all received. The police will be attending shortly.

'We will summon an ambulance as required.'

He's taking his belt off.

See the boy with the red top?

He needs checked over by somebody medical.

It was people who were not connected to the original incident.

The big, older guy that was with the women

hit the young boy in the red top

and floored him.

I mean, he was out.

Regained consciousness, obviously, but...

kind of street justice.

Well, you feel worried about what's going to happen.

I mean, the violence of that hit that floored the guy, you know...

Yes, he was one of the original aggressors, but...

still, like, you know, it could have killed him.

We'll head up the street.

Most weeks that a team is out,

one team will see a fight or you hear them over the radio,

so there's fights happening all the time.

Some of it's...handbags, you know,

there's nothing really to it.

Others can be quite nasty,

like that one.

Obviously, one of the things, as a team,

you're slightly concerned is that, you know,

these guys know that you've radioed it in,

and the police have then been involved,

so our hope is that they now just go home.

Do you worry about that?

Erm...

A... A little.

A little.

After a late night, Bullet Beard is getting ready to go out.

He took his name from a character he created as a child

and now it's the signature that defines his art.

He's working on new pieces that he plans to put up tonight.

It's called detournement. It's basically...

It's subverting something.

It could be, like, a poster

or it could be, like, a sign of a shop

or it could be...

Anything, really, just using whatever means to change it,

either to have a humorous slant on it or something political.

Also, I do it just because some people quite like it, you know?

He's on his way to take pictures of his work from last night.

-They don't waste time, do they?

-He's just too late, though,

as his work has already been covered over.

There's some buckets here.

That's the guys prepping.

That's good. HE LAUGHS

-Do you work, basically, for the council then?

-With the council.

With the council, OK. And you guys basically maintain the...?

-Aye, but it's to eradicate fly-posting and graffiti.

-Sure.

Mainly graffiti, and just to try and keep the city a wee bit cleaner.

Sure. I know this might sound funny, but see in terms of recruitment...

-Are you looking for a job?

-Aye.

-Are you looking for a job?!

Aye, in all honesty.

-The technique you use, I'm quite good at doing that, I think.

-What?

-Doing it.

-You've never seen me doing it.

-Well, I know what it takes.

You seen me painting, you never...

-Hey, hey, hey!

-What? What, what?

No, I wasn't going to, like, fucking show you.

HE LAUGHS

It's quite... It's quite thin.

No, I'm not going to do that. Are you mad?

I think when I'm away, you're going to kid on you're a fly-poster!

BULLET BEARD LAUGHS

Nice speaking to you anyway, mate, thanks.

Kid on I'm a fly-poster!

I think that, in terms of not messing with anyone's money...

Because people pay to put these up, so I think that

if I was going to do some anyway, it would be ones that were like that.

They're not really selling anything, you know?

I just hope I didn't, like, cause that guy too much annoyance

when he came to work in the morning.

And in terms of, like, recruitment,

I probably would apply for a job doing that,

-to be perfectly honest with you.

-Really?

Well... I don't know, it's a job, isn't it?

I could work it from the inside!

Bullet's work never stays up for long,

but he will be back out again tonight.

# Everybody

# Needs somebody... #

The buskers are out in the street, but Melo isn't on his usual pitch.

He was arrested yesterday afternoon

and spent the night in Maryhill Police Station.

He is due to appear this morning in Glasgow Sheriff Court,

accused of assault and robbery.

If convicted, he could spend the next year in prison.

For now, he has been released on bail.

Freedom!

-Has anybody got a cigarette?

-That's all on that camera!

Can I have one rolly, please?

WOMAN LAUGHS

'I was walking with Tony, we'd been about, drinking.'

As we were doing that, the policewoman came and said, "You...

"You do fit a description of some guy..."

"Of some guy that was wearing your clothes and everything."

I was like, "Are you mad or something?"

"You... You stole someone in Crescent..."

Some crescent, cos we did pass that, you know?

I was like this, "Robbery?!" "Yeah, assault and robbery."

I say, "Who the hell...? Who the hell is this?"

Tony was saying, "Melo was with me the whole time,

"Melo has done nothing, man.

"What's wrong with you people?"

And now I need to go for... I need to go... I've got this bail...

I've got these bail conditions

and I need to go down there again and the guy needs to single me out.

Don't know... I don't know when that is going to be, but I...

Am I going to go to jail for no reason, you know what I mean?

Melo is convinced that someone from the street

is setting him up for a fall.

This... This dude must not like me or something.

I'm thinking it must be one of these people who want to...

burn me down.

They want to see me in jail for no reason.

In Taste, it's the day before the grand reopening,

when Nick will find out

if his plan to sell hundreds of pulled-pork rolls will work.

-Oh!

-Fuck! Right at the end and all!

-Oh, no!

It's all right. It's cool, I can just paint it again.

Christ, I can't believe I done that there.

-That's its hoof.

-Upstairs, the pig has arrived...

Have a look at that, then.

..and it's not what they were expecting.

It just looks a lot more than what I thought.

I thought it was going to be like a wee pig that size.

Why did you not get a smaller one to start?

Because we will sell all that tomorrow,

I've got that many people wanting to come.

That many people phoning up the day, coming by, checking it was happening.

I just know it's going to sell.

When we put that on, it's going to fucking...

It's going to fly out the door.

You're stressing out. Don't. Leave the stressing to me.

I'm stressed enough, don't need you to stress for me.

-OK, I'm away. I'll be back later on.

-See you later on.

Can you make sure that tray's going to be ready for us, then, yeah?

'I'm worried that he won't be able to sell all that tomorrow and...'

I think he should have got a smaller pig,

but if he thinks he's going to be able to sell it, then that's fine.

That's up to him. He's the boss.

This is a fucking nightmare of a thing.

It's going to be a hard thing to have on every day. It's fucking...

You need to be totally and utterly on top,

so I need people who are fucking on the ball and not just come in

and be fucking one-day superstars, you know what I mean,

fucking four-day jakies. So I need some fucking...

I need them to know it's fucking make-or-break time now.

There's no more pissing about,

coming in with three hours to prep up and that's it.

There's a big... There's a lot riding on this.

With a bigger pig than he was expecting,

Nick will now have to sell a lot more rolls

if he wants to make a profit.

-Hello?

-And no sooner has he gone, than Scott is back on the phone.

What you want me to do? What would you have me do, Chef?

Ordered too much pig. There you go, I've ordered too much pig.

What the fuck do you want me to do? So what are we going to do?

Are we going to fucking

serve the arse one day and the head the next day?

Oh, fuck off, you f...

He says I've bought too much, the pigs are too big,

we should have fucking ... The pigs are too big and...

I don't know what he's worried about.

I really don't know where the fuck this has come from.

This is the time I should be calm and opening my wee place and having fun.

Instead, I get this fucking dick leaving his tools all over the place

and talking to me like I'm a fucking two-year-old again.

I fucking start getting scared at bits like this.

This is where I'm supposed to be fucking positive about this,

not fucking starting to go, "Oh, we fucked it." We don't even have a fucking...

He doesn't have a clue.

-What is it?

-He wants to speak to you.

What is it, Scott?

Listen to the fucking mood! Listen to you!

You are actually being mental, Scott, you need to sort this!

Bullet is getting ready for another set of posters

to go up on Sauchiehall Street.

When I stand in front of the projector,

I can see it for what it really is and it's just pretty crap.

But...

That's pretty crap as well, so...

No, maybe it looks all right.

Ready to go?

Tonight, he's planning to go out without Alice,

who normally watches his back.

-Is there a bit of you that wants to get caught?

-Erm...

Maybe, like...

Maybe when I first started doing it, there might be some kudos

in getting caught and being able to brag about being caught,

but anyone that is involved in street art

will tell you that it gets to a point where, if you've done so much...

If you've done a certain amount of work... It is...

Being caught is not an option.

People in the police force and stuff like that might, you know,

be recording what you do, so you might have a...

A back catalogue of work that they are looking to prosecute you for.

So, now, I've done it too many times that the...

The punishment is too high, so...

I would never...tell them the truth,

or let them catch me.

In the darkness! Right, I'll see you soon.

All right.

Let's do it! Lead on!

Oh, dear.

-I've got a bad feeling about this.

-SHE LAUGHS

-Sierra Papa one. Over.

-The pastors are out on the street.

-There is a guy lifting a big metal object.

-Andy is heading up a team...

Sauchiehall Street, at the corner...

..that have encountered their first situation of the night.

There's a guy with a white shirt.

He is carrying what looks like a big metal cylinder,

maybe a beer keg or something like that. Over.

'That's all received.'

I'm not going to go down on my own and do it

even though I could potentially disarm him and whatever,

but I'm just going to say to the guy.

Mate?

Mate? Are you all right?

-Aye, mate, I'm cool, I'm cool.

-What's this?

-Nothing in it, mate.

-There's nothing in it? Are you wanting to keep this?

-Please.

-Are you sure?

-It's... It... It's...

It's an achievement for me if I get that home, so...

I know it is, but I'm talking about... It will be a real one.

See if you walk by the cops and they see that,

you'll maybe have to explain where you got it from.

I'm not just... I'm not kidding you on. I'm trying to save you grief.

It's my friend's. Like, "I bet you can't get that home."

-Your mates are not doing you a favour.

-Aye, mate. It's up to you.

You can take it off me if you want.

Do you want me to do that, then?

I promise you I'll not do anything bad with it,

but it's better that you get home safe rather than get lifted.

You get up the road safe, mate, and I'll hand it in.

-Thank you very much.

-OK? Cheers, mate.

Cheers.

I don't know which pub he got it from,

so I'm going to maybe see if I can speak

to some of the guys on the door and say,

"Can you hold on to this and maybe plank it?"

I don't know what we're going to do.

Or maybe take it to the scrappy and get 50 quid for it.

Who knows? I doubt it.

REGGAE MUSIC

Bullet's stopped to listen to Melo.

After his trouble with the police, he's back busking to earn money.

God bless, I'll see you soon.

But that's what's making this city have a bit more heart,

you know what I mean?

Things like that, cos otherwise it would just be shops here,

shops there, nightclubs, bars here.

That's all good, but it doesn't give anything to the city.

That's enriching... That's enriching the city.

Music and art, you know?

But he doesn't get far.

The police now seem to have their eye on him.

With the police nearby,

he decides to wait.

Has all that happened quite recently?

Andy's been with a homeless man for half an hour.

I said, "Does everyone talk to you and all the rest of it?",

And he says, "Aye, all the street pastors are really good."

I asked him then about how other people treat him

and he says he gets into a lot of trouble

because people were spitting on him and treating him really badly,

just because he's homeless,

and you don't have a magic wand to wave and just say,

"Right, all your problems are going to get resolved here."

But you can ask him for help, you know?

MELO CALLS OUT Sorry.

You. You, come forward.

Right.

So, who are you in this place?

-Street pastors.

-So...

-I see you nearly every month.

-No, no, you don't see me.

-I do.

No, you don't see me, cos you never saw me.

-I did. I see you every month.

-You don't know me, you don't know me.

-I do.

-I think you take the mockery of the Bible

and the whole Jesus Christ.

-In what sense?

-In what sense?

Well, I need somewhere to fucking stay

from when I've been...

When I was... Who the fuck are you when I was here in the...?

Where did you come from?

-I come from Scotland, I come from Glasgow.

-All right, that's good.

-Do you know the Bible?

-Some of it.

-You know some of it?

-Yep.

How dare you to be a pastor?

-In what sense?

-The man of the mountains.

The whole literacy of life.

You think you can sort me out?

You can fucking sort out yourself, man.

-I've never tried to sort you out. All I've ever done...

-No, no, no.

Hold on, hold on.

Wait a minute, I've listened to you...

-In my street...

-This is everyone's street.

-No, it's not everyone's street.

-Yes, it is.

No, it's not everyone's street.

In my street you appeared, in my face,

and making a mockery of all my fucking people, man.

Why, when I'm standing over there, am I in your...

-You're a mockery of the church.

-OK.

-Cheers, take car.

-You go tell that to the Queen.

-OK.

-The Queen.

Get fit for real.

Otherwise, don't come around me.

Actually, when we spoke to him, he was OK.

Quite incoherent, but over the time,

he steadily became more and more aggressive,

so that's how I generally don't bother him,

cos I think he's probably trying to make some money,

so let him make some money.

But there's a very, very strong sense of alcohol on his breath

and stuff like that...

and he's not necessarily wanting to reason with you.

-It's a diatribe, sort of thing.

-Don't come around me no more.

With the charges hanging over Melo's head,

any further arrest could put him straight back behind bars.

Bullet is still on the street and he's putting up his last poster.

But he's about to get more attention

than he was expecting from a passer-by.

-Hiya.

-What's occurring?

-Sorry?

-What's occurring?

Just street-art stuff, just posters.

So where's the art?

Erm, I don't know.

Do you not think it's art, no?

-It's just words.

-Yeah, it's words.

-So where's the art?

BULLET SIGHS

I don't know you can find it or you can not,

and you clearly don't, so it's OK.

-I don't understand your statement.

-Exactly...

-There isn't a statement.

Look, there is not a...

If there was an explanation or something

to be behind and support...

To be honest with you, I'm not really wanting to engage with you too much.

I don't know you and I'd love to have a chat with you,

but right now, it's just not the time and the place.

I cannae really be fucked with it, to be honest with you.

You seem like a nice guy...

You're not trying to bring down the government,

-you're not against political stuff.

-No.

You're not against anything, but you're just putting posters up?

That don't question anything?

Yes.

Run with it.

Have a good night, guys.

I feel kind of shit.

Because I should have...

rhetoric, I should have a dialogue with people in the street...

but...

the time and place just wasn't right

and I kind of feel like an idiot,

to be perfectly honest with you.

It's kind of like the high you get

from actually doing the posters and stuff

can be broken very, very quickly

in the space of, like,

a few words. "Why?", "What does this mean?", or "Why are you doing this?"

I feel as if I've had my fucking arse kicked, to be honest with you,

you know what I mean?

I feel kind of dumb.

But it's just stupid, what I do, anyway.

I'm just going to go and have a few beers.

Anyway, happy days.

HE CHUCKLES

It's 5am on the street,

and it's the day of the grand reopening of Taste.

-Kiddie's in early to get the place set up...

-Right, cool.

Cool, cool.

..while Nick is preparing to roast a 60kg pig for the first time.

It's quite obvious, really, how it's done. Just sit the pig in that,

take these things away, turn the thing on, shut the door,

and then just keep an eye on it as it goes.

But it's easier said that done.

Is that turned on, aye?

-That's it open now.

-Oh, is it?

I don't think this fucking gas bottle's working.

Why the fuck is this not turning on? It should be simple!

Did you swat the instructions?

No, they didn't fucking gie us any instructions, the cunts.

HE GROANS IN FRUSTRATION

-Right, see here, Nick?

-Uh-huh.

Is this a wee bit here?

Ah, you fucking dancer!

-You need to hold that down.

-I know you do.

Yay!

Thank fuck for that!

I was going to phone the guy who sold me it,

"Hey, you, fucking mug, you saw me coming, didn't you?

"Fucking down here and sort this."

After a slow start,

time is running out to have the pig cooked for the lunchtime service.

Right.

Bye! You'll be all nice and cooked.

Just a case of fucking sitting waiting, isn't it?

All last night was just fucking apprehension,

not knowing what's fucking ahead of us.

We took a dive and we were just fucking

still in the process of falling, know what I mean?

I just really fucking hope it sells today. I don't fucking...

All this hassle, I'll just look like a total twat

if this doesn't work, you know what I mean? I don't want that.

Just off Sauchiehall Street...

..Bullet and Alice are looking over some of his old work...

You're such a knob-end. What would your mother say?

I don't know quite what it means, but in this context,

it's just me being a bit of a wido, really.

..and talking about last night's bad review.

-INTERVIEWER:

-What do you think his reasons for doing it are?

Erm...

Cos he's bitter and didn't get into art school.

That's the crux of the entire situation.

From what I've done and the amount of art-school training I've had...

and the way that I think about things, if you're doing something,

you should be doing it to improve the space and make it better.

You don't need to always make a statement with it.

I've been called a lot of names by people, such as, like...

..a "fucking art-school twat"...

..a "pretentious art-school wanker",

a "shite Banksy", I get that quite a lot.

There's more this perception that I must be an art student

if I'm a street artist.

A lot of people were saying that.

I guess a lot of people think that the character Bullet Beard

is an art-school graduate.

But I like the way...

You know, there's plenty of people that go to art school

and they'll do drawings and they'll sit them in the room,

but you just go out and you put them on the streets for people to see

and they're there, and whether people like it or not,

you've done it.

Have they done it? No.

For the time being,

Bullet's taken a decision to hang up his brushes.

Fingers crossed, fingers crossed.

Nick's back to pick up the pig,

with only an hour left until service.

Ho-ho-ho! Look at that.

That's it ready, aye. Perfect, exactly what I wanted.

His mum and brother, Scott,

have stopped by to see the finished product.

I'm just glad it's cooking.

It looks really good, aye.

Aye, did a good job of it.

What's that?

-High-five.

-Let's go.

-Right, OK. Bye!

What's happening with the pizza?

Have we got it working?

Back in Taste, Kiddie and Maureen are getting ready.

Hopefully, it goes smoothly today.

I'm not saying it won't, but you never know.

Could be a lot of swearing and tears later on.

And somebody in the pub.

Are you going to get it? Can we get some fucking help?!

Come on!

Fucking hell!

I know yous are, but we're fucking struggling here.

Right, one, two, three...

-NICK GROANS

-Got it?

Oh!

Look at the crackling, that's amazing.

That looks fucking amazing, man.

We have got about...

40 minutes to go now.

The final countdown.

The only problem is...

It's still a wee bit undercooked.

Kiddie, quickly.

Fucking hell, man!

Oven.

We've no' cooked it long enough.

I've not actually been... I've never cooked one before.

I don't know how long you're meant to give it.

I was told four and a half hours,

so I went with that and it's no' been enough, so...

Just stick it in the oven.

Just cut off big shards of it and fire it into the oven

and cook it out a wee bit more.

These cunts are a shower of fucking messy bastards.

Just leave everything at their arse, man.

Right...

With the clock ticking and the meat far from cooked,

Nick has his work cut out.

Spank them. "Spank them" means fucking spank them right up.

And the pig head in the window is provoking some comment.

Oh, my God. That's vile, isn't it?

Want the honest truth? I don't like it.

Well, tell it to stop!

Fucking customers are about to start walking in.

Harry's bum keeps falling out the fridge.

I can't start work when this place is a fucking junkie's den, man.

A couple of wee fucking wanks scratching their fucking dick

for eight hours this morning.

Look at this, man.

Patrick, jump through. Get they dishes done.

The first customers are coming through the door.

How're you doing, mate? Gie us a wee second.

Right, come on.

Fucking full of people out there. Full of fucking people.

No' even got fucking soup cups or fuck-all out yet.

Taste is now filling up fast...

and Scott has come in to see how it's going.

Busy, isn't it?

Hopefully, he sells all that pig.

I want him to prove me wrong.

It's the first time I'm actually looking forward

to getting proved wrong.

Burritos coming up, guys.

Everybody on them, yeah? You having a burrito, yeah?

That's yours at the front, then, mate.

But Nick's pig plan isn't taking off.

Fucking too much pig, we've no' sold it.

Stupid. We fucking changed it about and all they order is burritos.

Fucking weird.

Nick can cope with making a loss off one pig,

the problem is,

he's paid for another eight that are waiting at his butcher.

If he can't shift them,

it's going to bankrupt Taste.

Melo and Tony are back on the street.

Later this afternoon, they have an appointment with a lawyer

to discuss the charges facing Melo.

It's crazy.

There's nothing... It's out of my hands, you know?

Imagine I'm going to spend... How long is robbery?

How long is that?

-Hmm?

-How long is there for assault and robbery?

-First time...

..they could do you 12 month.

Second time it could be up to two year.

But...

we don't want to see this happening, going to the jail.

I don't want to see this happen.

Don't want to see him...

And he's a person, he's never done it anyway.

I'm guaranteeing he never done it,

cos he's been with me all day and all night and I've got proof.

Yeah, man, I'm not sleeping right.

I'm having bad dreams and just...

This is the worst I've ever seen my life in.

Melo and Tony head off to see the lawyer.

-Wee brother's coming home.

-So he's all right?

-Aye.

-He's been saved? So he needs to go back again?

I worry in case he does go up the road.

Cos he's not used to this kind of business.

He's got a calm lifestyle and he goes about his own business.

He's going to get his life wrecked just cos of a poxy six month?

Fucking bitches, man.

Serious, at this moment,

I've lost all my faith for the fucking police, man.

And another thing!

Ask me to strip me and to open my butt

so he can see my fucking butt! That's fucking disgusting, mate!

Do you know what I mean.

The two of them, I've asked them, "Are you serious?"

They go, "Yes, we're serious."

And they stand there looking at your butt.

"Show us your balls." Fucking hell, man, it's disgusting!

If his lawyer has bad news, Melo will have to prepare for the worst.

In Taste, service is over...

and the pig did not sell well.

No, I completely agree with you. I completely agree with you.

Don't think this is all easy for me either.

And Nick's dad's on the phone to find out how it went.

You're telling me I've got a fucking machine that can take a 60 kilo pig.

I get a 60-kilo pig and it doesn't fit in it!

Well, I didnae ask him to bring me in a fucking nearly 70-kilo pig.

Right, you phone him then. You phone him the now,

I can't be fucking dealing with this.

He's going off his fucking nut about the size of the pig

cos we've no' sold it all.

He said we should have started off with a smaller one.

We should have started off with a smaller one.

Don't know what I was thinking, a fucking 60-kilo one.

It's too big, eh? As much as you fucking like to say,

"We're ready. Aye, we've got it done and all that,"

I got a bunch of fucking bullshit wee fucks working for us at times, man.

What is it, you wee cunt?

What is it?

Nick's reaching boiling point...

Can I have yous both through here as well, please.

Two of yous.

..and his frustration is starting to come out on the team.

-I can't deal with this...

-I know that.

-..shit.

I'm running about like a complete twat!

Fucking frozen stacked up fucking burritos.

We sold 50 burritos and they're fucking all frozen.

I'm ripping them apart looking like a complete fucking twat, man.

Just fucking let's get it dealt with, get the place cleaned.

I don't know. I can't do any more than I do in here.

So, I'm sorry if I'm not doing good enough, I'll just fucking leave,

cos I don't think I can do any more.

If I'm no' good enough, then fuck it, it doesn't bother me.

The thing is, see that pig,

that pig should have been cooked for eight hours.

Melo and Tony are out of the lawyer's.

We just went down there to just tell all that happened.

He asked a lot of questions

that a lot of things that the cop suppose to be doing

and they didn't do it,

like go and search the house for starters,

see if they can find a phone and shit, you know what I mean?

Or whatever they were trying to fucking find.

It's not good.

Melo going about his own business, doing a bit of shopping,

minding his own business

and the police are coming up saying he's robbing people.

To me, that's no good.

They should be after somebody who is doing serious crimes

instead of pulling two young guys going about their own business.

They're not even doing nothing about it.

It's not good.

If you want to kill somebody slowly, that's how you do it.

You pound something on his heart.

Imagine I go to jail for no reason.

Who's going to say no? This is bullshit.

A man is put on the spot with them two stupid cops.

Do you think you will go to jail?

I don't know, man. I don't know.

I don't know.

In Taste, it's been two days since the pig plan fell flat.

Nick's out of ideas, so he's going to try it one more time.

He picked me up this morning

and basically we drove all the way in here

and nobody said a word in the van.

It was silence the whole way in.

Never really a good sign,

but I think he's really worried

and a bit depressed, to be honest with you.

How worried are you?

I'm extremely worried to be honest with you.

I don't want it to get to the point where there just comes a day

where we're not making money, so it's a case of,

"Right, everybody just go home and don't come back."

That's the one thing I'm worrying about now.

Just done a couple of breakfasts, aye?

-What?

-Have we just done a couple of breakfasts?

-Aye.

Tired, just a bit fucked, man.

I think if I had made a lot of money I wouldn't really be caring,

I'd be in here like, "Whoa," but it's fucking disgraceful, man.

You work that fucking hard and you think something's a good idea

and then it's just no' really, and people are more interested

in taking a fucking picture with the pig than fucking eating it.

People want to taste it and then fucking walk away

once they've tasted it, do you know what I mean?

You're like that... Fucking joke, know what I mean?

Hopefully this one works out, man.

If it doesn't, I fucking don't know what to do.

I'm fucking trying my hardest, it's only ideas I'm getting...

so I just hope it works. I hope it works out.

Bullet's on the street.

After last week's encounter he's got something to prove

and is going to poster in broad daylight.

My plan is to do a bit of detournement

outside the Gallery Of Modern Art.

It's not actually involving the Gallery of Modern Art

or anything like that,

they have signs outside it, I don't know...

See like that, where it says "Pedestrian Zone".

There's a red ring, but I think that when they've bought them

there's no graphic for skateboarding or rollerblading.

So basically it's like a blank canvas.

I have... I made these up a while ago.

Basically they're like nice plastic letters that spell the word fun.

I've did this exact one before. When I was up the ladder,

two police officers just happened to stop by

and asked me what I was doing.

I basically just made up some excuses and I took it back down for them.

And then I left.

The worst thing you could say

would be that you're doing it cos it's street art,

cos as soon as you say street art

that's when bells start ringing, you know?

And that's when you start getting fines and stuff like that.

If you say it's something to do with, like...

college or uni,

if you say it's some part of a project you're doing for uni,

that's always a good way to start.

Cos everyone loves students, you know?

I'm just thinking about what one I'll do.

Probably that one.

He's only got a few minutes to get his sign up.

And it's hard not to draw attention to himself

working right next to Glasgow's most famous piece of street art.

Good. Very good. Very easy.

I'm glad it's back up.

I like that the best out of a lot of stuff I've done in the past.

It's quite good.

And I didn't get caught.

Back in Taste, people are flocking around the pig again.

But they're not just taking pictures...

this time they're buying.

Can I just pull you guys down, if that's all right, just a wee bit,

so we can pull everyone in here. Thank you.

I didn't expect to see a hog sitting there.

It was like, "Yeah, I've got to have some of that."

It was quite scrumptious. Lots of crackling, which I like.

-All-round great, I guess.

-Don't speak too soon, aye.

Everything seems to be going all right the now.

Just get another bit of gravy into that as well. Sold a lot, didn't we?

Yeah, quite a lot.

Close to running out of what we've got there today. Thank fuck.

So that just shows to me that there's enough people to buy a small pig.

The pig plan seems to have come good.

Jesus Christ, that was fucking busy, wasn't it?

Aye, mate, that was really good. Happy about that there.

Yeah, sold half a pig today.

That whole bit there was about that deep full of meat.

Sold a good lot today.

Fucking sold about 35 kilos of pig today.

And it's the last Monday of the month,

no cunt's fucking got any money and we've cleaned up today.

Swallowing my heart before, but now I'm fucking cool.

It's brilliant. Exciting. I've got that buzz back.

I was fucking starting to feel down

like I wasn't going to get past

that fucking mark that we were making before,

but now it's fucking easy, man.

Nick has proved that the pig can work.

But he has a long way to go to sell the rest of his pigs.

Two months on, and Melo's still awaiting trial.

I'm not the same Melo. I'm scared of people and shit.

Serious, man.

It's getting worse.

Somebody to accuse me, do you know what I mean?

He just has to wait until he can clear his name

or face going to prison.

They all need taken down here. Need to start getting served for lunch.

Two months after Nick introduced the pig to Taste,

the business is now flourishing and the pork has been selling out.

It's been going well. Really, really well.

We done £600 yesterday which is a massive improvement.

It's probably up at least 40% of what we're doing before we changed,

so it's looking good.

That's it, we're smashing it every day, and it's brilliant.

It's a lot better, everybody's a lot happier, it's a lot calmer,

everybody knows what they're doing and it's fine.

It's very pleasing after a lot of hard work over the past year

to finally... I think we've started doing good.

It's pleasing. It gives you a lift. It gives you a boost.

It gives you a bit more drive, it gets the passion back into you.

Aye, it's good.

That's it. There's no problem with it getting shut or anything like that.

We're doing enough money to cover us,

we can pay the rent, we can pay the wages.

Getting a wee bit extra profit on top.

Once we get our new pigs in, we should be doing a bit better as well.

Aye, it's really good. Fucking brilliant.

Thank God. Aye, I'm very happy. Finally.

Bullet's still postering on the street.

Can the police not give him into trouble for doing things like that?

He's trying out new ideas...

We'll wait and see now, eh? Hi, how you doing?

..and trying his hardest not to get caught.

It's for the HMV shop. It's reopening in a week's time.

Oh, right, no bother.

It's a bit of visual merchandising, you would call it.

And still getting away with it.

See you after. Thank you.

I'm happy just to call it a day...

..after that.

I don't want to push my luck too far.

A year on since filming finished,

the pastors are still out every weekend

doing their bit to keep the streets safe.

You definitely get pleasure out of doing it.

You know you've made a difference to someone. Why else would we be here?

Melo's court case was resolved without him having to go to jail.

He's still playing and entertaining people on the street.

I'm not going to stop believing

until I get what is supposed to be for me.

This is my budget at the moment, I'm still having fun.

I'm not going to be miserable, no, no, no.

Then I'll not be Melo, you get me?

Bullet's now been employed to use his talents in other ways.

He's moved to the East End of Glasgow

so doesn't poster as much on the street,

but if you look closely, some still remain.

And Taste's doors are now permanently shut.

he pig became a best-seller and Taste finished on a high.

Nick has now opened a successful restaurant just round the corner.

Kiddie is still his right-hand man and they remain great friends.

I think you remember that wee mug up there.