Bread was a television programme, written by Carla Lane which focused on the lives of an extended family in Liverpool. It was broadcast on BBC One between 1986 and 1991.

The Boswell family was led by its matriarch, the staunchly Catholic Nellie Jean Boht 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.

Nellie's feckless husband had left her for another woman known, for reasons never fully explained, as 'Lilo Lil'. Her, by the end of the series rather elderly, children continued to live in the family home and contributed money to the central family fund, largely through benefit fraud and the sale of stolen goods.

Comedy mostly came from a number of catchphrases and a diluted version of the fabled Scouse wit. Lane mixed this with a high proportion of home-spun philosophy, social commentary and generalised triumph over tragedy.

Eldest son Joey (Peter Howitt) was Nellie's lieutenant to his siblings including Adrian (Johnathon Morris) who aspired to be an actor, Aveline (Gilly Coman) who attempted to become a model, and many more. The large cast and the regular cast changes mean that any attempt to catalogue the multitude of characters and actors associated with the programme would require effort outweighing any final academic benefit.

The colourful, sprawling, cross-generational nature of Bread gave it overtones more befitting a soap opera or airport novel. Its move to a 50 minute Sunday evening time slot in 1989 betrayed its true nature and it can be considered as being on the fringes of the situation comedy genre in which it is usually categorised.

Bread belongs to a peculiar subtype of British sitcom which repudiates any explicit effort to produce jokes and instead exists in a kind of timeless, hyperreal world where a scatter of catchphrases and minor slapstick are sufficient to engage the audience and induce them to laugh. Similar examples include Birds of a Feather, Just Good Friends, and the complete oeuvre of Roy Clarke.

Bread was criticised for perpetuating the stereotype of lazy, criminally minded Scousers, despite this, the programme was enormously successful and at its peak obtained viewer figures of more than 20 million. Linda McCartney appeared in one episode.

Escapology is the practice of escaping from restraints or other traps. Escapologists escape from handcuffs, strait-jackets, cages, steel boxes, barrels, bags, burning buildings, fish-tanks and other perils, often in combination.

Escapology in its purest form is generally related to ropework, and problems are set with rope, cord, or string. However, professional escapologists' tricks will include anything from handcuffs (rigged or otherwise) to chains, mailbags, or even, in the case of Harry Houdini, escape from a prison cell. Items such as strait-jackets are a staple feature in any show, either in "rigged" or official versions.

Although many cuffs sold in toy stores or adult stores don't even need a key to release, similar types can be opened with any thin, rigid object, such as a watchmakers' screwdriver, by pushing 'up' from the keyhole towards the chain. Spare keys are easy to find, and useful to carry. A shim—a flat metal strip which can be pushed into the 'bow' of the cuffs to release the lever holding the cuffs in position—might also be useful.

There are methods used to secure a pair of handcuffs from these attacks. Hinged handcuffs are designed to prevent twisting the wrists. The keyholes can also be put facing upwards, towards the captive's elbows (this works best in conjunction with hinged or rigid cuffs). Putting the person's hands into thick gloves or mitts before applying the handcuffs inhibits the use of fingers.

One of the best ways to prevent a bound person from escaping is to secure his thumbs together; another good way is to secure his elbows. When thumbs are bound, the hands are effectively turned into paws, and cannot be used to untie knots or handle keys. Thumbcuffs are available which secure the thumbs with a key, or thread may be used for this task.

With ropes, there are secure ways to tie people, and there are safe ways to tie people: rarely can both be managed! Especially when someone is struggling, slippy knots can cut off circulation, and perhaps even strangle if the rope is around the neck (it shouldn't be).

One way to make a rope-tie inescapable is to start with a hangman's knot (Jack Ketch's knot), and pull the loop tight around whichever part of the captive's body which needs to be secured. This knot is solid, self-tightening, and difficult to undo. However, care should be taken when tying, showing, or describing this knot, as it has some very negative associations: people may think the knot is intended for the escapist's neck, or they may associate it with the Ku Klux Klan and lynching, even where the planned use of the knot is benign.