- Title: My Name is Joe
- Date: 17th September 2000
- Summary: Gordon, one of the lads in the team left behind after this scene was shot, was picked up by the plain clothes drug squad for running "suspiciously" down the street. "I'm in a film," he protested unconvincingly, in the absence of cameras, as the police interrogated him in the back of their van. Only the arrival of an assistant director in search of a missing member of the cast ended an uncomfortable episode.
- Description:Joe is on the wagon, but still raw after chaotic years of drinking. He is bursting with energy, determined to live life to the full and runs the worst football team in Glasgow. Sarah, private and independent, is a health visitor who lives for her work. They cross swords over a young couple, Liam and Sabine, who are struggling to maintain a semblance of family life for themselves and their little boy, amidst threats from loan-sharks and those posed by their own devils. Joe and Sarah are both committed in their own ways to helping Liam and Sabine, and are thrown together because of them. A wild romance begins, but in a life where the choices are never simple, can their love survive? THE STORY Joe is on the wagon, but still raw after chaotic years of drinking. He is bursting with energy, determined to live life to the full and runs the worst football team in Glasgow. Sarah, private and independent, is a health visitor who lives for her work. They cross swords over a young couple, Liam and Sabine, who are struggling to maintain a semblance of family life for themselves and their little boy, amidst threats from loan-sharks and those posed by their own devils. Joe and Sarah are both committed in their own ways to helping Liam and Sabine, and are thrown together because of them. A wild romance begins, but in a life where the choices are never simple, can their love survive? "I suppose I wanted to see two fiery personalities go on an adventure, and test the possibility of building a life together. Joe is still a powder keg, but with a hunger and a passion to make up for lost time and live life to the full. Sarah has a fulfilling life, good friends, her own agenda, but who can resist a few more colours in the rainbow. But what excites Sarah about Joe when she's with him, may well terrify her when she's on her own. Relationships are never custom ordered, this one less than most. Enjoying it and or destroying it seem at times perilously close for Joe and Sarah, and perhaps, for many others besides." Paul Laverty, Screenwriter JOE'S WORLD A love story full of humour, passion and danger, "My Name is Joe" was filmed in the heart of one of the poorest and most neglected neighbourhoods of Scotland's biggest city. Two street-wise but vulnerable people struggle to overcome the harsh conditions that press in upon them, leaving few choices in their lives.The details of their story reflect the reality of today's Glasgow, a divided society where options are so limited that the hair's-breadth frontier between survival and disaster is often just a matter of luck. Can these two people, from different walks of Glasgow life, emotionally hampered as they are, succeed in building a relationship in these circumstances? Screenwriter Paul Laverty says: "I spent months just walking the streets of Glasgow, talking to people, hearing their stories, before I started to write a word. The characters came first, and then the story they would tell. I lived in Ruchill (one of Glasgow's poorest districts) while I researched and wrote this story and while it was being filmed too. Time spent there fed into the script in all sorts of ways." Loach says what he admires about Laverty is "his refusal to accept anything second-hand: he goes to the source." The reality is that in one of Europe's most advanced and dynamic cities, conditions within a short walk of its most fashionable areas could be plucked from a 19th century novel by Dickens or Zola. Loach's radical political vision remains clear and unrepentant in "MY NAME IS JOE". "All this would vanish if only there were jobs," he says. "The only jobs that exist are those servicing the evils of poverty: drug rehabilitation, community schemes and counselling." But, as in all his films, the emotional lives of the characters take centre stage, and this is what draws you in. Some of the most hilarious moments in a film spiked with humour are created by the city's worst football team, some non-actors who in many cases, in a previous life were known to local police for different adventures. In one scene, where they steal a batch of football shirts from a sports depot, the acting was so convincing and the crew so unobtrusive that a passing couple took it for real and called the police.
- Broadcaster:Channel 4
- Collection: Channel 4
- Genre:Feature Films
- Producer:PARALLAX PICTURES LTD
- Programme Episode:1
- Transmission Date:17/09/2000
- Decade: 2000s