Dennis (Tim Healy), Neville (Kevin Whately) and Oz (Jimmy Nail) are three unemployed bricklayers living on Tyneside in the early 1980s.
They decide to travel to West Germany to find work in the booming German construction industry. They end up working on a building site in Dusseldorf, sharing a Nissen hut with Barry (Timothy Spall), Wayne (Gary Holton), Bomber (Pat Roach) and Moxey (Christopher Fairbank).
The seven are reunited for the second series, working for Tyneside hoodlum Ally Fraser (Bill Patterson). They start off renovating an old country house, then move to Spain to do some work on Ally's holiday villa.
A further series was made in 2002. This featured the same main cast as the original programme, with the obvious exception of Gary Holton. The boys got together again to dismantle a transporter bridge in Middlesborough and move it to Arizona.
A fourth series was transmitted in the UK early in 2004. After a disastrous trip to Russia, the boys find themselves in Cuba, refurbishing an embassy building.
It wasn't possible to carry out location filming in Cuba, so series 4 had to be filmed in the Dominican Republic.
Series: 4
Episodes: 40
Transmitted: 1983-2004
Channel: ITV / BBC1
Central Television
WitzEnd Productions
BBC Television