Writer – director Paul Hills grew up in the new town of Stevenage and its his teen life there that he drew on heavily for what is a semi biographical film Boston Kickout (the name given to a game of hopping over back garden fences and causing all manner of damage in the process). And he landed a great cast that were just on the turn of stardom led by John Simm who had started to catch the attention in a flurry of TV series and films from 1992 and the film would cement his reputation as an actor of note going on to appear in the excellent Robbie Coltrane led police drama ‘Cracker’ immediately afterwards. Joining him would be Andrew Lincoln in what would be his first film along with Marc Warren in almost demonically destructive role as a violently villainous brother.
In the ‘80s Phil’s father up-and-moved the family from an inner-city slum to Stevenage, in the hope of a brighter future. Now it’s the early ‘90s and that dream has crumbled. Phil (Simm) and his friends have left school and find themselves falling into a bewildering world of unemployment, violence and drug abuse. Then, Ted (Andrew Lincoln) disappears, Steve (Richard Hanson) is trying to live up to his parents’ expectations with a proper job and loved-up Matt (Nathan Valente) gets engaged, leaving Phil out on a limb. Alienated from his friends and unhappy with his life, Phil gets involved with Steve’s wrongun’ brother Robert (Marc Warren), a dangerously incompetent villain who is forever planning his one ‘big job’ that’ll change his fortunes. Now he’s trapped between two worlds – the criminal and the banal. When his cousin Shona (Emer McCourt) turns up, it gives Phil the kick up the butt he needs. It’s time to make big changes, but on the horizon there’s momentous decisions to make…
The film preceded the similarly themed Trainspotting and Human Traffic that also celebrated a certain, and arguably better, time in British youth culture when social media did not exist and mobile phones were not recording everything its owners saw.
Shot on a shoe string in Stevenage the production was reviled by the town council who hated how the town was being depicted and his low budget crew would often shoot things on the hoof occasionally without permission. And all the onscreen mayhem was matched by a terrific soundtrack that included Oasis. primal Scream and Joy Division amongst many others and quite how such a low budget film afforded such acts is another small miracle of how the film came to be. The film has been lovingly restored by Paul Hills with a whole load of bonus features that includes:
- Director’s Commentary 2004 (with John Simm)
- Director’s Commentary 2025 (with Marc Warren)
- Deleted Scenes
- Deleted Scenes with Commentary
- Making of Boston Kickout
- Storyboard Comparisons
- UK Trailer
- US Trailer
- 2025 Restoration Trailer
- Stills Gallery
- Mad in Tokyo
- Director’s Biography
- Limited to 2000 Copies
- Poster
related feature : Trainspotting – 4K UHD /BLU-RAY steelbook
related feature : Tamzin Outhwaite tells us about the brutal British film, ‘Bull’….
We chatted to Paul Hills & Marc Warren about the making of the film here….
At a special big screening of the film Paul Hills along with actors John Simm, Richard Hanson and Nathan Valente did a Q&A about the stress, turmoil and what went on behind the scenes of the film….
Here’s the Boston Kickout trailer……
Boston Kickout 30th Anniversary Release on digital 27th October and on Limited Edition Box Set & Standard Edition out on 3rd November 2025
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