Bread is a British television sitcom, written by Carla Lane, produced by the BBC and screened on BBC1 from 1 May 1986 to 3 November 1991. The series focused on the devoutly-Catholic and extended Boswell family of Liverpool, in the district of Dingle, led by its matriarch Nellie through a number of ups and downs as they tried to make their way through life in Thatcher's Britain with no visible means of support. The street shown at the start of each programme is Elswick Street. A family called Boswell had also featured in Lane's earlier sitcom The Liver Birds and Lane admitted in interviews that the two families were probably related. Nellie's feckless and estranged husband, Freddie, left her for another woman known as 'Lilo Lill'. Her children Joey, Jack, Adrian, Aveline and Billy continued to live in the family home in Kelsall Street and contributed money to the central family fund, largely through benefit fraud and the sale of stolen goods.

Cast & crew

Carla Lane

Creator

Jean Boht

Nellie Boswell

N

Nick Conway

Billy Boswell

Jonathon Morris

Adrian Boswell

Kenneth Waller

Grandad

R

Ronald Forfar

Freddie Boswell

Victor McGuire

Jack Boswell

Bryan Murray

Shifty Boswell

G

Giles Watling

Oswald

H

Hilary Crowson

Julie

Peter Howitt

Joey Boswell

Gilly Coman

Aveline Boswell

Eileen Pollock

Lilo Lill

G

Graham Bickley

Joey Boswell

Melanie Hill

Aveline Boswell

P

Pamela Power

DHSS Clerk

Deborah Grant

Leonora Campbell

Peter Byrne

Derek

J

Joanna Phillips-Lane

Roxy

Caroline Milmoe

Julie Jefferson

J

Jenny Jay

Carmen

Seasons

74 episodes

Season 11986 · 6 episodes

Season 21987 · 6 episodes

Season 31987 · 13 episodes

Season 41988 · 14 episodes

Season 51989 · 14 episodes

Season 61990 · 11 episodes

Season 71991 · 10 episodes