Original Release: January 12, 1998 (UK)
Directed by: John Mackenzie
Written by: Frank Deasy
Produced by: Deirdre Keir, Andrea Calderwood, Annie Rees
Distributed by: BBC Scotland
Running Time: 50 minutes
Set on an Edinburgh council estate in the bleak 1980's rising drug dealer Jo-Jo McCann is hellbent on gaining money and power at all costs.
Kevin McKidd (Basil), Ewan Stewart (Charlie McCann), David Johnston (Jamie), Jenny McCrindle (Lorraine), Aline Mowat (Christine), Julie T. Wallace (Billy's), George Anton (Steve), Patricia Brake (Doro), Kenneth Bryans (Jamie Crichton), Juliet Cadzow (Lorraine's mother), Matt Costello (Ian), Bob Docherty (Sheriff), Ron Donachie (Des), Paul Doonan (Eddie), Steven Duffy (Thingme), Gilly Gilchrist (D.C. Gordon Monk), Ellie Haddington (Mary McCann), Kathryn Howden (Sarah)
- Sighthill, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
- Was released on VHS by the BBC in 1999 after its initial showing on BBC 2 in 1998. However it wasn't available on DVD for many years. Despite this it did enjoy a cult following - especially in recent years on video-sharing websites like YouTube. In 2015 Simply Media gave it an official DVD release.
"In Trainspotting there was a heightened, almost trendiness value to it. I don't think there is anything trendy about Jo Jo. I know those people extremely well and I definitely know for sure how they are going to take it."
- Robert Carlyle"I got my jaw broken on that job. It happened during a fight sequence with Mike Nardone that went wrong. I think I conked out. It was the weirdest thing. Bobby Carlyle was sitting there – I knew Bobby from college because we shared a flat – and I remember him asking: 'Are you OK?'" I must have been completely out of it because I didn't feel any pain, but I could hear the cracking of my jaw. I should have said something. They went for a third time and that is what did it. My jaw had been broken but it [ended up] smashed. It really wasn't his [Nardone] fault."
- Kathryn Howden
BAFTA TV Awards - Best Actor - Robert Carlyle
RTS Television Awards - Best Writer - Frank Deasy