IN the summer of 1986, Buttershaw estate was the backdrop to a new film - a raunchy comedy about two teenage babysitters having a fling with a married man.

It was written by local girl Andrea Dunbar, whose talent was spotted with a play she wrote, aged 15, for a school project. The Arbor, a largely autobiographical account of life as a pregnant teenager, was premiered at London’s Royal Court Theatre, and Andrea was hailed as a genius by playwright Shelagh Delaney. Its success led to a commission by theatre director Max Stafford-Clark and the result was Andrea’s second play, Rita, Sue and Bob Too. The film, directed by Alan Clarke, was released in 1987 and was a box office hit. "Thatcher's Britain with her knickers down" was the memorable promotional blurb.

Not everyone was happy. In 1987 the T&A reported that many Buttershaw residents resented their neighbourhood portrayed as a shabby sink estate with sofas rotting in weed-choked gardens and slanging matches spilling onto tatty streets. “That might be Andrea Dunbar’s life, not the lifestyle of most people here,” said one woman, at a protest meeting prior to the film’s Bradford premiere.

But Andrea, who grew up in Buttershaw, simply wrote about what she knew. Pregnant at 14, she was a teenage mother living on an estate in the grip of unemployment. In contrasting the lives of two Buttershaw girls with Bob’s comfortable existence in a suburban newbuild, Rita, Sue and Bob Too blends bawdy laughs with astute social commentary. Thirty years on, and newly restored by the BFI, the film is released on Blu-ray for the first time, with extras including a documentary and a booklet featuring Andrea Dunbar’s writing.

Next month actor George Costigan, who famously played Bob, will be at Bradford Literature Festival talking about his experiences making one of the most controversial films of the 1980s. Other guests on the panel, hosted by Bradford-based writer Michael Stewart, are Rev Dr Claire MacDonald, reflecting on time spent with Dunbar at Keighley Women’s Aid, and writer Adelle Stripe, whose debut novel, Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile, is inspired by Dunbar’s life and work. They will examine how Dunbar captured the humour, humanity and hope of one of Bradford’s most deprived areas, without shying away from its problems.

Earlier this year George returned to Buttershaw estate with his co-stars in the film, Siobhan Finneran and Michelle Holmes. “I wondered if someone re-shot the movie today (apart from ubiquitous mobile phones) how much has actually changed,” said George. “Well, the Beacon’s shut down. And the tagline would be ‘Theresa May’s Britain with her knickers down...’ But the values, deprivation, despair, humour, survival - they’re all in good working order.”

It was over 30 years ago when George met Andrea Dunbar at quiz night in Buttershaw’s Beacon pub. “She was in her early 20s, with three kids. She was quite a force,” he recalls. “We rehearsed for a fortnight before shooting the film. I’d seen enough of Alan Clarke’s work to know I was in luck. I’d never read a script like it.

“Andrea wrote about her life, what she knew. That’s what the producer tried to tell a bunch of southern journalists when the film came out. They didn’t quite get it.”

George’s successful career on stage and screen has seen him work with the likes of Sally Wainwright, Willy Russell and Clint Eastwood, who directed him in US TV drama Hereafter.

His list of TV credits is endless, among them are stand-out performances in acclaimed dramas such as Happy Valley, Unforgiven, Line of Duty, and Scott & Bailey. His films include Shirley Valentine and Calendar Girls.

It starts, he says, with the writing. “I have a soft spot for writers. Initially, it was a case of we have three children and they need shoes, so acting was going out to work. Now the kids have grown up and if a script is good enough, I’ll do it,” he says. “I’m incredibly lucky to work with people like Sally Wainwright, who’s not afraid to show the hard edge of her beloved Calder Valley.”

Born in Portsmouth, much of his TV work has been in Yorkshire and we tend to think of him as a northerner. He has no time for the London-centric arts scene. “It’s all about beaming culture from London. Meanwhile, ‘we’ll steal your photos from your National Media Museum because we’re not coming to Bradford to see them’.

“Why this trend of showing National Theatre productions live to regional cinemas - as if we all have to be grateful for it? Why not the other way round? The National Theatre shouldn’t even be in London, but don’t get me started on that...”

He’s vocal too about the future for working-class actors. “Rip-off drama schools calling kids who can’t afford to travel back to London for auditions again and again, up to five times in some cases. Not exactly accessible and affordable.”

A patron of the Square Chapel for the Arts in Halifax, he has spoken passionately against arts cuts but remains optimistic about local theatre. “People will always make theatre, in strange, wonderful places. Our need to tell stories is as old as the hills. Theatre will still happen, but it will be more ‘guerilla’,” he says. “You can make a film on an iPhone.”

George’s own storytelling unfolds in his debut novel, The Single Soldier, set in France during the German occupation.

He was inspired by a house near the French village where he lives with his wife. “Someone took me to this house which had originally stood in a village, but the owner dismantled it and moved it brick by brick to a nearby field. There’s nobody alive now who remembers it or knows the story behind it. I became fascinated by it so I decided to write my own story about it.”

Described as a warm, emotive novel about love, secrets and redemption, it is set in war-torn rural France where, amidst the devastation of German occupation, a man decides to move his house, and painstakingly re-builds it by hand.

George has written scripts and enjoys the solitude of writing. “Nobody was forcing me to do it, there was no deadline. It took me 15 years, I kept leaving it and going back to it,” he says. “I lost the first 200 pages in a thunderstorm! It’s been a long adventure, but a labour of love."

* George Costigan will be reflecting on Rita, Sue and Bob Too on Saturday, July 1, at 1pm, and talking about The Single Soldier on Thursday, July 6, at 7pm. Both events are at City Hall, Bradford. Visit bradfordlitfest.co.uk

* The Single Soldier is published by Urbane Publishers and available via Amazon (paperback and Kindle) priced £8.99. 

* Rita, Sue and Bob Too is newly released in dual format on DVD/Blu-ray by the BFI, at £19.99.