Episode 3 The Estate

This programme contains some strong language

Ballysally, on the outskirts of Coleraine,

houses close on 3,000 people.

Twice the national average are on the dole,

making it a hard place

to see out the biggest economic storm in a generation.

This is the story of a year on the estate.

Jimmy's just received news about a job he'd applied for.

Right, caretakers, Ballysally, wait till we see if I'm successful.

Right. "Thank you for your recent application.

"I'm pleased to inform you

"that you've been shortlisted for an interview!"

-Oh, my goodness!

-Bloody hell!

I was sure you hadn't even got it.

-I know.

-Or wouldn't even get an interview.

Boys in my work were talking about it, says they never bothered to apply.

There was probably hundreds in for that.

There you go!

I didn't expect that there coming through the letterbox.

Jimmy's desperate for a new job.

He works nights at a local factory and Denise works during the day,

so their time together is precious.

I always used to take Lauren to bed

and read her stories and all before I got the night job

and tucked her in, and I suppose I haven't done that in...

Even Dylan, I think I've never really tucked Dylan into bed.

Since he was only a baby when I got that job.

A day job would ease the strain on family life.

So what about that? If I do get a day job,

-that'd be good, wouldn't it?

-Yeah!

-It means I'd be able to read you stories at night!

-Yeah!

-Yes!

That's so good. It's really good that you even got an interview.

I was in the middle and I got squashed.

Did you get squashed, did you?

That would be good, if I did get it.

It would be perfect if you did get it.

Hopefully there is a job there.

It's not one of these where

they interview and the job's already bloody gone.

Jordan!

Jordan, don't jump!

Looking after five kids is a full-time job for single mum Louise.

She's unearthed an old school report

from when her 15-year-old daughter, Kelly-Ann, was a model student.

P1, 100% attendance.

"My favourite book is S Club 7!"

SHE LAUGHS

"My favourite colour is purple."

"What I am good at..."

-My writing's quite good, actually.

-"My favourite things to eat."

Oh fuck, is it any wonder I was a fat wee 'un? Food - Chinese.

So tatty. That's hairspray for you.

I'm just far happier with myself, now.

This year, Kelly-Ann has found it tough getting motivated for school.

But she did manage to make it in for an English exam.

It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be.

You had your brochure and you had to read that, so it wasn't too hard.

I knew what to do. It was easy enough.

Next year I'd rather go into school,

do what I have to and get it over with. At least I'd be finished.

I really don't want to, but I'm going to have to

so my ma doesn't get in shit.

Like, really much bother, like,

cos she was this close to getting into so much bother,

just cos I won't go to school.

Mummy!

What, Ryan?

Oh, look at you, you're bloody soaking! Get down.

Stand there and get them off.

-Mummy...

-God!

Pants.

I'll get you pants.

Pants is over here.

My ma's not old but she's not young.

I wouldn't want to be her age and sitting in the house, on the dole

like, a crowd of wee 'uns round me.

I don't want to be that type of woman.

I just want to be, like, out with a job

and doing something with my life.

Maybe I've just got the brains.

Sometimes.

This is...

Wait till you see this.

My God, they're flying all over the place.

Look, do you see them? They're staying together.

I call the two of them Bonnie and Clyde, cos they're two gangsters.

You let them out and they run all over the place.

Look, they're starting to move now.

Martin's life is a daily battle with drink.

Two weeks sober, and he's fallen off the wagon once again.

I'm not a depressed kind of person.

I just like laughing.

Cos I was sad for a lot of years in my life. You know?

And that's the way I look at it, you know?

I'd rather just be... happy-go-lucky.

I take each day at a time.

Aw, good boy.

I moved this sofa over here for a change.

Cos I was just sitting, staring out the window up at one tree.

And I was getting bored, so I changed my direction.

BUDGIES CHIRP

Look, there they go. There they go!

Aye, it's better scenery, anyway.

I've got four trees to look at now!

I have to just try and get the bare essentials, just,

try and not get too much crap.

Kyle's been unemployed for three years.

With his dole cheque in,

he's off to do the weekly shop.

I hate budgeting money,

I really do. It's crap.

If I've money, I spend it.

Kyle's just moved out of his mum and dad's.

Managing his money for the first time is a steep learning curve.

Normally, my ma kept my bank card

and she gave me it every time I was going shopping, just.

Cos she knows I would just go and lift money and buy drink,

or do something stupid with it.

You kind of have to grow up when you get your own place.

You have to sort of start managing your bills.

You have to learn somehow.

Mum Josie keeps him right.

-These here, I like.

-Brazilian?

I'll get a couple of these.

Euch!

Kyle has a baby daughter from a previous relationship.

Even in tight times, he puts something into the trolley for her.

Do you need baby wipes?

No. I've got half a packet.

I know, here, I've a list in my pocket you can go through

to see if we got everything.

Half an hour later, he's giving me the list(!)

I try to remember everything off my head, but...I need black bags.

They're at the very bottom of the aisle.

-I'll have the bare essentials, just.

-Pizzas, ice lollies.

Razor blades.

But there's still one aisle Kyle just can't resist.

Say no. Say no!

You may get that.

-Hmm?

-YOU may get that.

No, I'm not.

-You may.

-I'm not.

What are you getting that for? £16?

Here, you take that and get it, cos I'll not get it without ID.

When are you drinking that?

Between me and Eddie this weekend, maybe. Here.

That's not bad, for a bottle that size.

I was going to say, "Holy shit, it's down to £13-something," but it's not.

The estate is badly in need of a place for young people to go.

With funds for amenities scarce,

some parents have taken matters into their own hands.

Push you a bit. Push.

Like that there?

I don't even know why I'm looking, I can't even read.

I can't even read, like.

Noel is one of the people

transforming this disused council house into a drop-in centre.

WOOD CRACKS

Between the ages, I think, of 14

and probably...

we'll even go to 20, like.

There's nothing for them, like,

so, we're going to try and get somewhere for them.

-Them oul mirrors might be dumped.

-Aye.

Because there's nothing really to do around here.

This is my desk.

Ah!

This is the main hub.

Isn't that right? This is the main hub.

I don't even know myself why I have a desk.

Emma's alcohol support work is government-funded.

She just heard her job could go.

In a month's time, she, too, could be on the dole.

You kind of can't plan things at the minute

so you just have to take one day as it comes

and see what people need to do and that kind of thing, but...

Ah, well. It'll be over to the other side of town in a wee while.

Emma now has to break the news to Martin.

There might not be enough money to extend it, you see?

Them people would be stupid if they let you go.

They don't understand. All these alcoholics, they trust you.

You look after them, you know what I mean?

And if they let you go, them alcoholics are going to get let down

and they're going to fall apart.

They'll all end up in hospitals

and then all them 'uns' work won't mean nothing.

Without Emma, there'll be no alcohol support worker on the estate.

It's not just me that's losing a job.

They're losing support, which is hard.

You give me hope.

I'll feel lonely. I'll feel lost, you know?

Cos I know Emma. I can talk to her about anything.

The Government are wrong. Emma is doing a job to help alcoholics.

Aw, thanks, Martin!

FLUTE PLAYS

Noel has now been out of work for ten years.

His wife Mandy is happy

the drop-in centre has given him a new lease of life.

There's wee bits of skirting board hanging off I have to get nailed.

But at home, some jobs still remain half-done.

See, his idea was, he was going to do an en-suite

and then we decided, no, we'll just use this as a cupboard.

So, Noel starts the jobs and then doesn't get them finished.

I'll just let him be,

cos he only gets more frustrated,

you know, so...

FLUTE GETS LOUDER

-Aren't you happy fluting away, Noel?

-Aye, I'll just sit and beat on!

That's a tune. I'm waiting for a snake to come up out of a bucket!

Noel, his talents is wasted. He's a good joiner.

A very good joiner.

You looking for a job, Mandy?

I have one. You need to look for a job.

I haven't time to work.

You do.

Ah, I'm by the jobs.

There's no jobs in the News Letter. There's more deaths.

Jimmy's hopes of a community centre job interview

have been dealt a blow.

Hello. I got a letter there on Friday

to say I'd been shortlisted for the caretaker job in Ballysally.

Yesterday, I got another letter

to say that the criteria of it had been changed.

The goal posts have indeed been moved.

He's now being told he needs GCSE Maths and English to be eligible.

-'OK?'

-That'll do. OK, that'll do.

Right, bye.

She said she was sorry. She says, "Don't let it put you off.

"You never know, another job like that might come up."

She says they had to go like that because there was hundreds in for it.

That's why they went for it. For the GSEs.

She says I'd have had to have took something the equivalent of that,

which I haven't got.

I'm just a wee bit gutted.

Like, getting on the shortlist and then turning around and changing,

telling you you had to bring GSEs, maths and English, with you...

There's more to life than jobs, so there is.

Back to the drawing board now, so. Just keep looking, you know?

Just keep looking and see if any other jobs comes up, so...

Kyle's finding it hard to fill his day

now that he's living on his own and on the dole.

My life consists of...

Not much to do.

Ah, sometimes you worry about it.

Sometimes you think you have no life.

Half the shit happens through drink,

so it's maybe about time I got off drink.

That would settle me down.

It was my daughter that sorted me a couple of years ago.

Whenever I'd depression and stuff,

I sorted myself out for her.

Aye, I used to self-harm years ago.

I've got tattoos to cover them all.

Chucky the doll.

Because I used to self-harm with a knife and stuff,

I thought it would be funny to put Chucky on it with a knife.

I let him tear away. And I kind of like evil clowns and stuff too.

It's stuck with me for life,

so you have to get used to it!

Since Kyle moved out,

Rab's been worrying his son won't cope on his own,

that he might fall back into his old ways.

Two and a half years fighting with him,

working with him cos of drugs.

The way that fella has went from working from Monday to Saturday

and then to end up putting a rope round his neck.

And the rope had burned actually an inch into his neck.

It was a nylon rope he'd hung from the rafters in my garage.

It wasn't a very nice thing to see,

your own son hanging by the neck.

He's tried to commit suicide nine times after that.

Cutting his arm, the main artery out of his arms.

Nine slashes on his arms. And now, I say, the big, big one on his leg.

One minute he'll be OK, the next minute,

he'd just go in, lift the knife out of the drawer and just cut himself.

And when you see that there,

it's hard to take in. I wouldn't like to go through it again.

At the minute, he seems to be coping all right.

But it's always in the back of your mind, worrying about him.

You don't know what he's going to do or what he's at at night.

You don't know what tomorrow brings.

Emma's fears have been confirmed.

Hello.

With no sign of new funding, she's just received a month's notice.

Oh, look. There's the rain on. It must be just a wee shower.

Her clients rely on her as much as ever.

I haven't even been out the door in about a week and a half. Not really, just in taxis.

Your money should be in today, should it not?

Aye, it should be in. I'm not sure.

I keep on forgetting when it's coming or what.

Can you check it in the Post Office or do you have to go to the bank?

Aye. But I don't like going out the door until I'm ready.

You just have to get back in the way of it.

The past week and a half, I've just been sitting.

-I don't know what the hell is wrong with me.

-Martin...

This is desperate. I don't know what to do about it.

There's nothing that can stop me.

-Rehab's no good.

-Even, as I say, just cut down gradually, Martin.

Even a glass less.

Oh, Emma. All I'm doing's smoking my brains out and drinking my guts out.

Say bye-bye!

I suppose if you didn't have wee 'uns,

if you didn't have all this here to do, you'd be sitting bored

or probably out drinking or something

if you didn't have the wee 'uns to keep you going in the house.

It's approaching the end of the school year

and Kelly-Ann is taking stock.

Having missed most of last term, she has come to a decision.

I've missed out on most of this year

so they'll probably keep me back a year.

Which I hope they don't, because

fuck, I'll go out of my head.

But Jesus Christ, I hope they don't.

That's why next year, I'm just going to go and get it over and done with

instead of going through all the crap that I went through this year.

You know? Like, with meetings

and, you know, all that there.

So next year, I'm just going to start and

go and try to do better at my GCSEs.

Well, try, like.

I was saying to my ma that whenever I leave school,

to go to tech and do, like, catering or whatever,

and then leave tech

and then go for a job

and save up money and then buy my own restaurant or something.

That's what I want to do, but I know it won't happen.

But that's what I want to do.

It's Emma. I'm just ringing up to check about this funding,

just if yous have any notion at all about whether it'll be continued?

You can't say? Yep, I know.

It's just, I received my months' notice.

You know, that kind of thing? So...

Yeah. OK, thank you, now. Bye, bye.

They still don't know, really.

Just have to stay positive, I think.

No news is good news.

The drop-in centre is coming together.

Noel's joinery skills are a godsend.

I hate this. When everything is wrong.

That's what I did for a living.

I don't do it now, really. I just do it for...

An odd man, I would do bits and pieces for, you know?

I haven't the qualifications that,

half the building sites, you need, you know?

All the oul health and safety crap, like. I'm oul school.

I served my time when there was none of that oul health and safety stuff.

I left school and I had no qualifications. None at all.

You don't need to read or write to hang a door, like.

You just need to know how to hang it.

Aye, it's harder now.

You have to do your education now.

I'm going to close you out a minute.

HE LAUGHS

One down!

Emma's coming to the end of her month's notice.

They're going to work as hard as they can to find a way to bring me back.

She's preparing Martin for the worst.

-Does everybody know that you're leaving?

-Yeah, most, yeah.

-What'd they say?

-I have to ring round

and make sure everyone knows tomorrow for definite.

-What did they say?

-They're just wondering what will happen now.

-Probably not very happy at the minute.

-No, not really.

-That's crazy.

-I have that all for you...

I don't understand why they're doing that.

I don't think it's a good idea.

I think the government are all...

She's doing a job for alcoholics

and alcohol is the thing that's killing people.

So, I think that there's wrong.

HE WHISTLES

-What do you call her?

-Bonnie.

-Say hello to Bonnie.

-Bonnie?

-Here.

Bobby! Come on!

I give him a wee piece of chocolate every so often, just.

-Just a wee treat.

-Here, son.

-Bobby, come on.

-Bobby, here!

-Bobby Lee.

-Where are you from?

-I was born in Ballycastle, grew up in Ballymena,

-then I was homeless nine years.

-I was a policeman in Ballycastle.

I've been all over the country.

-I slept rough down south and everything.

-Did you?

-You don't look too bad.

-Aye, I'm doing alright.

Well, I'm doing so-so, you know?

I'm still an alcoholic.

Are you not getting any help for the alcoholism?

I'm trying, I've got an alcoholic councillor, but she's finished.

-They're sacking her.

-Everything's all being cut.

Aye, the government are cutting...

They're sacking her and she's doing a good job, dealing with alcoholics.

What's all them alcoholics going to do without her? They depend on her.

There was a time when I was dependent on the likes of diazepam

and things like that.

So I can understand where the alcohol's just another drug.

-Alcoholism's a disease.

-Aye, it is.

-Which happens to some people.

-Thank you for saying that.

-Aye, but it is. I do know it.

I'm not ready yet to get off it.

I tried there, I was off it for a while.

I think you're trying to escape a little.

-That's what it is. You don't want to face reality.

-No.

As long as you don't do anybody else any harm...

But I'm not sad or anything, cos I'm doing well for myself now.

I've got my wee flat all tidied up and all that.

My dog is the best-looking one on the beach.

Here, look at that boy, there. He's out jogging.

He must be mad.

No, he'll not touch you! You're all right.

Look at my dog, he's not even on drink and he's happy.

I want to know what's going on with him.

I'm going to start eating dog food instead of ordinary food.

Aw, no, don't do that!

No! Jesus.

But I'm not going to die, don't worry.

I know what I'm doing.

I think.

Next time on The Estate...

It's not the first time I've lost someone I was working with

but it's the first time in this job I've lost someone.

If I took someone their dinner and they said it was wrong,

I'd be like, "Fucking eat it, you bastard."

SHE LAUGHS

And what's that big word there say?

-"The members of the band cordially invite you..."

-Accordingly?

These little days are our memories, when they're growing up.

That was awesome!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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