The Big Flame
| The Big Flame | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Drama |
| Written by | Jim Allen |
| Directed by | Ken Loach |
| Starring |
Norman Rossington Godfrey Quigley Ken Jones |
| Country of origin | UK |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Tony Garnett |
| Cinematography | John McGlashan |
| Editor(s) | Roy Watts |
| Running time | 85 mins |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC1 |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original release | 19 February 1969 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | The Flickering Flame (1996) |
The Big Flame is a 1969 BBC television play by socialist playwright Jim Allen, produced by Tony Garnett and directed by Ken Loach.[1] The play tells the story of 10,000 dockworkers occupying the Liverpool docks in a "work-in".[2] Filmed in a gritty, realistic drama documentary style, it was first broadcast on 19 February 1969 on BBC1, at a time when unemployment was rising in Britain. The play was shown in the BBC's The Wednesday Play anthology strand, which was noted for tackling social issues.
Following its broadcast, Mary Whitehouse, president of the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association, wrote to both Prime Minister Harold Wilson and Leader of the Opposition Edward Heath, demanding that they review the charter of the BBC in light of its transmission of "a blueprint for the communist takeover of the docks."[3] Unofficial strikes were the subject of political debate at the time, and the government had proposed a ban on unofficial strikes the previous month in the paper In Place of Strife.
Last broadcast on 26 August 1971, the name of the play was later used by a revolutionary socialist organisation founded in Liverpool in 1970.[4]
Jim Allen and Ken Loach, along with many of the same cast, also collaborated on the 1971 film The Rank and File. The two films have been noted as being similar in many ways.[5][6]
In September 2011, the play was released on DVD as part of the 6-disc box set, Ken Loach at the BBC.
See also
- Upper Clyde Shipbuilders - a famous work-in at the shipyards on the River Clyde, Scotland, in 1971
- 1971 Harco work-in - a famous work-in by steelworkers in Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia, in 1971
- Workers' self-management
References
- ↑ Hattenstone, Simon (17 May 1999). "Jim Allen: Days of Hope". The Guardian. London. p. 4.
- ↑ Milne, Seumas (19 December 1996). "TV review: Loach keeps the fires burning". The Guardian. Manchester. p. 2.
- ↑ "News in Brief: BBC charter plea". The Times. London. 21 February 1969. p. 2.
- ↑ "Big Flame". Working Class Movement Library. Salford. 2 November 2011. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
- ↑ Williams, John (2003–14). "Rank and File, The (1971)". BFI Screenonline. Retrieved 14 August 2016.
- ↑ Essay on The Rank and File by John Williams, published 2003