The Price of Coal کن لوچ Ken Loach 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 episodes of BBC films, Loach was reunited with playwright Barry Hines and producer Tony Garnett for the first time since they worked together on Kes. Filmed on location at the disused Thorpe Hesley pit, Part One saw the unusual casting of several northern comics including Jackie Shinn, Duggie Brown, Stan Richards and Bobby Knutt. https://youtube/watch?v=AHDWivEEddo The Price of Coal is a series of television plays first broadcast in 1977, written by Barry Hines and directed by Ken Loach. The plays are set in the fictional Milton colliery, near Barnsley, South Yorkshire. The plays contrast the efforts made to cosmetically improve the pit in preparation for a royal visit (part one) and the target-conscious safety shortcuts that precipitate a fatal accident (part two).[1] The plot bears some similarities to the Lofthouse Colliery disaster of 1973. The first part, Meet the People, is a comedy-drama dealing with the preparations for an official visit to the colliery by Prince Charles. The humour revolves around the expensive and ludicrous preparations that are required when there is an official visit from a member of the Royal Family. The workers recognise this and cannot take it seriously. Management recognises it but has to play the game. Special toilets must be constructed just in case and then destroyed after the visit. A worker is instructed to paint a brick holding up a window. On the eve of the visit the slogan Scargill rules OK is painted on a wall. The manager comments When I find out who did that Ill string him up by his knackers. It is a surreal situation for many of the miners who obviously bear no love for Royalty. The second part, Back to Reality, takes place one month after the events of the first and deals with an underground explosion at the colliery which kills several miners and follows the attempts to rescue others that remain trapped. Production Several of the cast were stand up comedians from the Yorkshire working mens club circuit, including Duggie Brown, Bobby Knutt, Stan Richards and Jackie Shinn.[2][3] The plays were filmed around the disused Thorpe Hesley colliery near Rotherham, South Yorkshire. Hines grew up in the mining community of Hoyland Common, Barnsley, and had himself been a coal miner when he first left school. He later recollected that when a neighbour saw him at the coalface and chided him Couldnt tha find a better job than this? he was inspired to return to full-time education and trained to be a teacher.[4]
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 10:42:44 +0000
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