A long forgotten TV show about a schoolboy desperate to become a Liverpool FC player featured Kop legend Kenny Dalglish's acting debut.
Following on from his critically acclaimed 'Boys from the Black Stuff', writer Alan Bleasdale's 'Scully' – broadcast on Channel 4 in 1984 – was a surreal TV comedy about a Liverpool lad with big dreams of making it at Liverpool FC.
Although largely consigned to the graveyard of British TV history, 'Scully' was a hit with viewers and in some ways ahead of its time.
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The show's central character was a 15-year-old schoolboy called Francis Scully, played by Kirkby born actor Andrew Schofield.
Set in Huyton, the central plot concerned the efforts of Scully's teachers to persuade the schoolboy to realise his talent and appear in a school pantomime with the promise of a trial at Liverpool FC.
Scully dreams of becoming a Kop legend like his hero Kenny Dalglish, but battles to retain hope against the bleak struggles of unemployment, crime, and despair that was the reality of Thatcher's Britain for those living in the city.
As well as the trials and tribulations of school and life for a 15-year-old, Scully and his dopey mates (one played by Mark McGann) would roam the streets upsetting neighbours and generally having close shaves with the law.
One particular nemesis of Scully was the school caretaker whose nickname was Dracula. He would frequently appear in waking dream sequences as the vampire to torment the schoolboy.
These moments were reminiscent of the surreal cut sequences in pioneering TV sitcom 'The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin' which first aired in the late 1970s.
Further aspects that took it away from more traditional sitcoms included Andrew Schofield breaking the fourth wall and addressing the viewer directly, a technique heavily employed in the critically acclaimed TV comedy Fleabag decades later.
But perhaps the strangest part of the show was Scully's recurrent vision of Dalglish who seemed to come to him during his darkest moments to offer words of encouragement.
It's only when the real Dalglish appears at the touchline of Scully's disastrous try out for Liverpool FC that the schoolboy's dreams come crashing down, realising he just have what it takes to play for the club.
In this memorable scene, he is seen to manhandle the kop hero, berating him as to his real presence at the trial - watching Scully's long-held hopes of football stardom fall apart.
As well as the rest of the Liverpool squad appearing in the title sequences, Elvis Costello, who wrote the show's theme tune 'Turning the Town Red', stars in the show as Scully's brother, Henry.
Despite only making one series and now largely forgotten, time has judged the show favourably with 'Scully' amassing an impressive 7.9 out of 10 rating on online film and TV database IMDB.
It also has achieved 4.5 out of five stars from reviewers on Amazon. One reviewer posted: "Looking back it's really captured how grim it was in the early 80s both in the environment/school and people with a lack of opportunities. The humour is both dark and hilarious."
Another said: "Warm and funny [...] Alan Bleasdale at his best."
While another called it a "classic" and commented: "I'm a Toffee and I still loved it! In fact, I was in the away end at the game when the opening sequence was filmed."
In fact, despite the show being fixated on the main character's desire to play for Liverpool, many Everton FC fans have said they were fans of the show.
Do you remember watching Scully? Let us know in the comments section below.
So it may not get the acclaim of writer Alan Bleasdale's other work such as 'GBH' or 'Boys from the Black Stuff', but 'Scully' still holds a place in the hearts of those who remember looking forward each new episode back in the 80s.
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