Long before the Shelby name became a global phenomenon, the streets of Birmingham were ruled by a far more terrifying reality. This documentary takes you into the heart of the Black Country to separate the stylish fiction of the screen from the gritty, blood-stained history of the late 1800s. You will see the cramped, vermin-ridden back-to-back houses where thousands struggled to survive and learn how extreme poverty gave birth to a culture of violence.