Andrea Dunbar was brought up on the deprived Buttershaw Estate in Bradford, which was the setting of her three plays. She had three children by different fathers. Her first play, The Arbor, was written for a Certificate of Secondary Education drama course and found its way into the London Royal Court Theatre's Young Writer's Festival. This was followed by the play, and later film, Rita, Sue and Bob Too, which caused local controversy due to its portrayal of Bradford life. This is reckoned to have been a cause of her heavy drinking which may have contributed to her death at age 29 from a brain haemorrhage.