The film was released on video (both PAL and NTSC) in July 2002. ABC fans will be excited to see clips of Vice Versa (with Mark White handling vocal duties), an early ABC live performance as well as ABC's first appearance on Top Of The Pops with the song Tears Are Not Enough. There are interviews with Stephen Singleton, Phil Oakey, Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh amongst others. Gary Flanagan's article about the movie is below.

Made in Sheffield" is a documentary that details the evolution of the fertile Sheffield music scene as it unfurled between the late seventies and mid eighties. Sheffield, best known as an industrial, blue collar city famous for its steelworks and mines, also gave birth to some of the most exciting and innovative bands of the past two decades. Groups like ABC, Human League, Cabaret Voltaire, Pulp, Heaven 17 and Artery all came from the northern British city.

This film is an absolute must-see for anyone who has a serious interest in the early 80s British new wave scene. It captures the spirit of that time flawlessly, primarily through interviews, archival photos and ultra rare  video footage. What's most intriguing is how much the interviewees seemingly have not changed. The majority of them still seem to retain the youthful spark of creativity that was so omnipresent in their work twenty years ago.

Indeed, those being interviewed provide the element that really makes this documentary so special. Phil Oakey comments about the Human League being "the punkiest band in Sheffield" and Chris Watson of Cabaret Voltaire explains the excitement and peculiar nature of early Cabaret Voltaire performances (some apparently held in public toilets!) and Ian Craig Marsh of Heaven 17 sums up the goal of the movement. "We wanted to kill off rock and roll". Stephen Singleton shares a comical anecdote about how he couldn't show up for work one day because he had to appear on Top of the Pops! Indeed, this film is loaded with endearing moments such as this, giving us a humanic glimpse behind the revolutionary music.

Another great facet of this film is the extremely rare footage, particularly of a Vice Versa appearance (they were an early incarnation of ABC), the Human League performing "The Path of Least Resistance" on BBC TV, and amateur footage of ABC's first live show. Afficianados will think they've died and gone to new wave heaven.

Eve Wood must be commended for directing such an important document of an all too brief period in pop history. The film succeeds in pulling us directly into the Sheffield underground, complete with zines, night clubs, weird bands, record labels operated from somebody's bedroom and all the ambition and creativity that really made that period so special. So many films have focused on the rise and fall of punk, yet this film captures the essence of the seldomly explored aftermath of punk. A great achievement.

By Gary Flanagan, editor of Nightwaves.
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