Needle paints a harrowing picture of a Liverpool overrun by drugs, charting a young man's nightmarish descent into intravenous heroin use and AIDS and a police and political leadership incapable of the imagination or courage necessary to respond to the drug problem.

Billy wants to play in a rock band with his brother Dave. This Christmas, Billy 's Angels come down to earth to help Billy find Dave, and reality, through Faith, Hope and Charlie.