G.B.H. was a seven-part British television drama written by Alan Bleasdale, made by independent production company Cinema Verity and shown in the summer of 1991 on Channel 4. The central characters were Michael Murray (played by Robert Lindsay), the far-left Labour leader of an un-named City Council in the north of England, and Jim Nelson (played by Michael Palin), the headmaster of a special school. The series was controversial partly because the character of Murray appeared to be based on Derek Hatton, the real-life former Deputy Leader of Liverpool City Council.

Plot outline

In the opening scene, we see the newly-elected Murray going back to his old primary school where he burns copies of his school records which describe an attempt to have him sent to a special school. Later he uses his position to force the headmaster, Mr. Weller, to work in the same school as Nelson. Murray, a member of a far-left organisation, is persuaded by its leaders to call a 'Day of Action' to protest against government policies, but due to the incompetence of his supporters Nelson's school is not picketed and remains open, so that the press use the failure to ridicule Murray. For his part, Murray tries to intimidate Nelson (who is a moderate member of the Labour Party) to join the strike, and when this fails, his thuggish supporters terrify the children in the school.