Mukesh Agarwal sits alone in the Black Eagle pub unaware that a riot is brewing or that Billy his youngest son is still out on his bike A mile away in the family home in Church Street Anila one of the three Agarwal girls is reading Smash Hits & listening to Radio One as she sprawls across the bottom bunk oblivious to the monumental tragedy that is about to hit her family It is 1981 & Handsworth is teetering on the brink of collapse Factories are closing unemployment is high the National Front are marching & the neglected inner cities are ablaze as riots breakout across Thatcher's fractured Britain The Agarwals are facing their own nightmares but family pop music protest unexpected friendships & a community that refuses to disappear all contribute to easing their personal pain & that of Handsworth itself THE HANDSWORTH TIMES is a story of loss & transition & pulling together because ultimately there is such a thing as society