Ken Loach at the BBC (2011)

Ken Loach, one of the most admired and respected UK filmmakers of his generation began directing for the BBC in 1964. In his contributions to the BBC series The Wednesday Play from 1965-69–among them Up the Junction and Cathy Come Home–he would establish his reputation for making realistic social issue dramas. After feature film success in the late sixties, Ken Loach returned to television, directing the acclaimed series Days of Hope (1975) and the two-parter The Price of Coal (1977). In his films, Loach pushed the boundaries of television drama. He took filming out of the studio and introduced a documentary-style approach and, alongside producer Tony Garnett and writers such as David Mercer, Jim Allen, Jeremy Sandford, Nell Dunn and Barry Hines, he tackled controversial subjects from an often incendiary radical perspective.
Contains: The Big Flame, Three Clear Sundays, Days of Hope, The End of Arthur’s Marriage, In Two Minds, Up the Junction, The Price of Coal, Cathy Come Home and The Rank and File.

Ken Loach was born on 17 June 1936 in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. The son of an electrician, he attended grammar school in Nuneaton and after two years of National Service studied Law at Oxford University, where he was President of the Dramatic Society. After university he briefly pursued an acting career before turning to directing, joining Northampton Repertory Theatre as an assistant director in 1961 and then moving to the BBC as a trainee television director in 1963.

Though Loach is often characterised as having begun in television before 'graduating' to feature films, his television dramas are distinctive in their own right, not just preparation for a cinema career, although they share themes, techniques and collaborators with his films. His most famous dramas embraced the space for creativity, radicalism and the airing of neglected voices to audiences of millions offered by the BBC's The Wednesday Play (1964-70) and Play for Today (1970-84), but also intriguingly tested that space's limits when interrogating broadcasters' definition of balance.

Contains:

3 Clear Sundays (1965) (B&W)

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Taking its title from a Home Office ruling that three clear Sundays were to elapse between a sentence of death and execution, James O'Connor's "emotional autobiography" tells the story of Danny, a young prisoner put up to attack a warder by two old lags. When the warden dies, Danny is left to await and contemplate the ultimate punishment.

Jimmy O'Connor's moving, warm and, at times, humorous play was based on his own harrowing experiences. He had been sentenced to death for murder only to be reprieved two days before he was due to hang. Shown in the BBC's The Wednesday Play series in 1965, the broadcast was watched by 11 million viewers and boosted the abolitionist lobby during the then raging debate over capital punishment.

Up the Junction (1965) (B&W)

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Rube, Sylvie and Eileen are three Clapham factory girls up for a good time: flirting with the lads in the pub, practicing the twist and swapping tales with the other women at work. But will the misfortunes and tragedies that befall them break their seemingly irrepressible spirit?

This ground-breaking drama saw Loach take the filming out of the studio and onto the very streets depicted in the story. With an immediacy only ever seen in current affairs programmes, the portrayal of ordinary people's lives had an authenticity seldom witnessed in television drama.

The End Of Arthur's Marriage (1965) (B&W)

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In this off-beat musical - a satire that combines fantasy, social observation and songs - a working class man goes to put a deposit on a new house only to find he prefer spending to saving and is happy to spend his money on a few hours of happiness rather than a lifetime's conventionality.

Written by poet and Private Eye contributor, Christopher Logue, with music from Stanley Myers (best known for Cavatina, the signature theme for the 1978 film The Deerhunter), the film features songs from Samantha Jones, Long John Baldry, and Lesley Wood amongst others and locations ranging from Fortnum and Mason to a strange gas-works in the East End of London.

Cathy Come Home (1966) (B&W)

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Cathy and Reg have everything to live for: he has a well-paid job, they have three healthy children and a modern home. But when Reg loses his job, they find their life spinning out of control. Evicted by bailiffs, they face a life of poverty, illegally squatting in empty houses, sleeping in hostels and fighting to keep their family together.

Watched by 12 million people - a quarter of the British population at the time - on its first broadcast on 16 November 1966, Cathy Come Home was a defining moment in British television history. Controversial, moving and brilliantly acted, it provoked major public and political discussion and challenged the accepted conventions of television drama.

In Two Minds (1967) (B&W)

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Kate, a young girl under psychiatric examination, suffers from a lack of confidence, self-esteem and self-control. She tells her doctor about the "bad Kate" who commits immoral acts. Could the hypocrisy, selfishness and weakness of those around her have led to this state of mind or can Kate simply be diagnosed and dismissed as schizophrenic?

In a drama told in Loach's convincing documentary style, writer David Mercer questioned the accepted condition of schizophrenia. The film, broadcast in The Wednesday Play series, led to heated discussions on television and in the press, while Mercer won the Writers' Guild Award for the Best Television Play on 1967.

The Big Flame (1969) (B&W)

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In response to plans to mechanise the docks which directly threaten jobs, the dock workers take industrial action. As the striking workers' families struggle with poverty, they realise the odds are against them. But is there another way? Former strike leader Jack Regan suggests the dockers occupy the docks and run the operation themselves: a resolution the state cannot afford to succeed…

This was writer Jim Allen's second Wednesday Play (after The Lump), and his first with Ken Loach, who would deem it to be Allen's "definitive script". The BBC twice postponed showing it, but eventually it was broadcast with a predictable reaction - the Daily Mail calling it a "Marxist play presented as a sermon", while a new revolutionary socialist organisation took the name 'Big Flame'. The reaction however would put pressure on a new regime at the BBC, who would become increasingly less inclined to produce drama documentaries.

The Rank and File (1971) (B&W)

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The Wilkinson glass factory in the Midlands believe they are a caring employer - even providing a bag of coal as a Christmas bonus - and have always had a good relationship with the local trade union. But their workers see things differently when faced by a management offensive and form a Rank and File Strike Committee. The committee expect harassment from management but surely their union leaders in London will stand by them. Won't they?

Jim Allen's script was inspired by the Pilkington Gass strike in St.Helens and closely follows the events that had taken place there in 1970. It was written at a time when the Labour government was proposing legislation to make unofficial strikes illegal and when trade union leaders were seen to be too close to the government.

Days of Hope (1975) (Colour)

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Four feature-length period dramas follow three young members of a Yorkshire farming family from the First World War to the General Strike of 1926: Ben, who volunteers for the army; his sister, Sarah and her husband, Philip, a Christian Socialist and conscientious objector. As both men become scarred by their wartime experiences, Ben joins the Durham miners in a bitter struggle, while Philip becomes a Labour MP. As the General Strike looms, the family find themselves at the heart of a pivotal moment in British politics.

Broadcast in 1975, Days of Hope was Ken Loach, Jim Allen and Tony Garnett's most ambitious and successful television drama yet - provoking an immediate outcry from some for its critical portrayal of the army, government and police. Through the story of a fictional family and real historical events, it not only looked at a critical time in history but also reflected on the contemporary political landscape, as conflict between the miners and the government erupted once again.

The Price Of Coal (1977) (Colour)

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Two linked dramas look at the lives of those living in a Yorkshire colliery community. The first part, Meet the People, takes a look at preparations for a visit by Prince Charles, as management try to enlist the miners' help in sprucing up the pithead. Completely different in tone, Part Two, Back to Reality, is set one month later as an underground explosion has disastrous consequences - above and below ground.

For these BBC films, Loach and Producer Tony Garnett were reunited with playwright Barry Hines for the first time since working together on Kes. Filmed on location at the disused Thorpe Hesley pit, the films saw the casting of several Northern comics including Jackie Shinn, Duggie Brown, Stan Richards and Bobby Knutt.

Extras

Cathy Come Home Commentary with Ken Loach featuring extracts from Jeremy Sandford's memoirs read by James Fox.

Housing Problems Documentary.

Exclusive Interview with Ken Loach.