Barry Hines has observed: âMy political viewpoint is the mainspring of my work. It fuels my energyâ (2009: v). Such a comment will not surprise readers of Hinesâ novel A Kestrel for a Knave and viewers of its ï¬lm version Kes (1969). This was the ï¬rst of many ï¬lms written by Hines and directed by Ken Loach which include The Price of Coal (BBC, 1977), The Gamekeeper (ATV, 1980) and the feature ï¬lm Looks and Smiles (1981). Among Hinesâ other works are Threads (BBC, 1984), his television ï¬lm about a nuclear strike against Britain, as well as the BBC Plays for Today Billyâs Last Stand (1971), about the coal industry, and Speech Day (1973), about school-leavers. Given this preoccupation with politics as they affect everyday life, and the fact that all of Hinesâ work is set in his native South Yorkshire among its working-class communities, it seems surprising that none of these plays is about the minersâ strike of 1984â5. The Price of Coal, a pair of Plays for Today, is set in 1977; with hindsight it is ï¬ttingly prophetic that in the ï¬rst play, Meet the People, the daubing of Arthur Scargillâs name on a wall threatens
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