This light-hearted teen drama charts the unsteady progress of two school-leavers suddenly forced to decide what they are going to do for a living. As their efforts to avoid the dole queue land them a succession of disastrous jobs, 4 Idle Hands wryly details the seemingly unending difficulties of adolescence in the '70s. Phil Daniels and Ray Burdis star as the unlucky youngsters.

Mike Dudds and Pete Sutton are typical school-leavers – neither has a vocation to follow or any demonstrable skills. Their sense of responsibility is slowly maturing, but they are the despair of the careers officer and find themselves drifting from job to job – with Mike reluctant to use his keen intellect and Pete's head filled with romantic but highly unlikely ambitions.