In contrast to the sort of stuff I’ve been showing in the film slot of late, this Friday’s show will conclude with a sojourn into the gritty world of late sixties social realism with two Ken Loach films.

In the first film of the night, Kes (1969), we get a glimpse into the life of Billy Casper (played by David Bradley in his first ever acting role). Billy is a teenage boy suffering an abusive upbringing in a deprived mining town on the outskirts of Barnsley, with little to look forward to than a life of brutal drudgery at the local pit. Upon taking a kestrel from a nest, he develops a life-changing relationship with the bird and finds solace in training it, but the harsh realities of his situation are never far behind him. Also starring Brian Glover (also in his debut role) and Collin Welland in supporting roles as teachers at Billy’s school.

The evening concludes with Poor Cow (1967), in which Carol White stars alongside Terence Stamp. Featuring a Donovan soundtrack, the film was forged in Loach’s unorthodox, improvisational filmmaking style. Joy, a cockney working class woman on the cusp of adulthood, leaves the family home to marry and start a family with her recidivist boyfriend. The abusive relationship is cut short when he ends up in prison again, and Joy is left to care for their child alone. This triggers her descent into a seedy underworld of chancers and prostitutes which threatens to separate her from her son. Can the experience reveal something valuable to her?

4.00 Flouncer’s Music Show

TV Block
6.00 Cowboy Bebop – Session 6: Sympathy for the Devil
6.25 Minder – S04E09 Windows
7.15 The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer – S01E03 Brass
7.45 Alexei Sayle’s Stuff – S02E03
8.10 The Mark Thomas Comedy Product – S02E01 Campbell, Fayed and Straw
8.35 Ads Infinitum – S01E02 QVC and Other Shopping Channels
8.45 Peep Show – S05E05 Jeremy’s Manager

Ken Loach Double Bill
9.15 Kes (1969)
11.05 Poor Cow (1967)