Tag Archives: kitchen sink drama
When Cathy met Ken: Revisiting Cathy Come Home in Brexit Britain
The other night I watched Ken Loach meet Cathy – or rather the young actress Elle Payne, playing Cathy in a Cardboard Citizens’ staging of his 1966 landmark TV play Cathy Come Home. The production featured many actors with experience of homelessness. … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, History, journalism, Media, Politics, TV, Uncategorized
Tagged 60s, BIG ISSUE, cardboard citizens, Cathy Come Home, culture, Ken Loach, kitchen sink drama, London, media, politics, tv
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A Smashing Time: Murray Melvin on busting taboos in the 60s
This is one of the most read pieces on my website but the link had stopped working so I’ve re-posted it here. The interview is still available to listen on the iplayer One to One link just below. For the … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Film, Media, Radio, Theatre, Uncategorized
Tagged 60s, A Taste of Honey, Alfie, cinema, culture, Damn The Defiant, Dirk Bogarde, elitism, FTW, HMS Defiant, Joan Littlewood, Ken Russell, kitchen sink drama, michael caine, Murray Melvin, oliver reed, Rita Tushingham, The Devils, Theatre Royal Stratford
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The curious idea of museums
This article originally appeared in The Big Issue magazine. Journalism worth paying for. What are museums for these days? Are collections passé? Northampton City Council’s decision to sell off an ancient Egyptian statue to fund a museum extension, after striking … Continue reading
Billy Liar, Bradford and the birth of the dollybird
“A lazy, irresponsible young clerk in provincial Northern England lives in his own fantasy world and makes emotionally immature decisions as he alienates friends and family.” Everyone loves Billy Liar. Apart from whoever wrote imdb’s current bizarrely censorious plot summary … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Comedy, Film, Uncategorized
Tagged 60s, books, Bradford, cinema, culture, feminism, film, Helen Fraser, John Schlesinger, Julie Christie, kitchen sink drama, Peter Handford, tom courtenay
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Poor Cows and Angry Young Men: 50 years of Kitchen Sink Drama
The director Ken Loach and the theatre critic Michael Billington remember the dawn of the 60s well. “The 50s weren’t bleak and depressing,” spluttered Loach, listening to art critic Rachel Campbell-Johnston explain the grim postwar era that spawned the new … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Film, Theatre, TV, Uncategorized
Tagged 50s, 60s, British social realism, cinema, culture, elitism, feminism, film, FTW, Ken Loach, kitchen sink drama, music, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, tv
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In Hulme: a stately Hippodrome decree’d
There is a grand Victorian theatre house where Laurel and Hardy once performed, Nina Simone sang and the Beatles made their first radio recording. If it were in Stratford-Upon-Avon or central London, the rich paintwork and red plush seats and … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Design, Politics, Theatre, Uncategorized
Tagged beatles, cinema, culture, kitchen sink drama, music hall, politics, shakespeare, Victorian
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A Smashing Time: Murray Melvin on busting taboos in the 60s
For the third of my One to Ones for Radio 4 I wanted a Missing Angle on the golden age of British theatre and cinema — from the late 50s to the early 70s. You can listen to it here. … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Film, Radio, Theatre, Uncategorized
Tagged 60s, Alfie, cinema, culture, Dirk Bogarde, film, HMS Defiant, Joan Littlewood, Ken Russell, kitchen sink drama, michael caine, Murray Melvin, Stanley Kubrick, The Devils, Theatre Royal Stratford, Victim
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A Taste Of Honey: 50 years on
I’m an extraordinary person! There’s only one of me, like there’s only one of you. We’re unique! Young! Unrivalled! Smashing! Bloody marvellous!” (Jo and Geoff in A Taste of Honey) “Now? We’d probably have to make it via reality TV.” … Continue reading
Posted in Children, Culture, Film, Theatre, Uncategorized
Tagged 60s, A Taste of Honey, cinema, culture, Doctor Who, elitism, film, kitchen sink drama, Murray Melvin, Rita Tushingham, Shelagh Delaney, Smashing Time, Theatre Royal Stratford, Torchwood
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The Girl From The Black Country: An interview with Julie Walters
UPDATE May 19th 2014: Julie Walters was awarded the 2014 BAFTA fellowship last night for her lifetime achievement in acting. In the interview I did with her in 2011 she spoke with real passion about her fear for whether a … Continue reading
Posted in Children, Culture, Education, Film, Politics, Theatre, TV
Tagged 60s, 70s, 80s, babyboomer, billy liar, cinema, culture, elitism, everyman theatre, film, FTW, julie walters, kitchen sink drama, liverpool, malcolm x, michael caine, politics, smethwick, suffragettes, tom courtenay
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