NEWSLETTER

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BY JAMES KNIGHT
PHOTOS BY BEN RAYNER



Television movies are rubbish, right? Well, if you were watching TV in Britain in the 1960s, the opposite would be the case. Play for Today was a series of one-off dramas that dragged television into uncharted cinematic territory via the emerging use of 16-mm on-location filming and a rejection of the limits of a conservative studio system.

The series acted as a blooding ground for a generation of British directors who went on to define English cinema. Mike Leigh, Alan Clarke, Stephen Frears, Ken Loach and Stephen Poliakoff all cut their teeth on Play for Today.

It wasn’t just the quality of production or standard of direction that the series is best remembered for. Play for Today dealt with controversial contemporary issues with an unprecedented degree of social realism, which sometimes was a bit TOO real for the BBC.

Alan Clarke’s Scum and Dennis Potter’s Brimstone and Treacle were mired in controversy before being banned prior to transmission for their hyper-real depiction of the brutality of the borstal system and, latterly, showing the devil raping a disabled, comatose girl. The show constantly fought a running battle between reflecting the social freedom and reality of the 1960s tempered by the occasionally reactionary nature of the institution they were operating within.

The social and cultural concerns and tone of the series were defined by its great producers. Tony Garnett, Kenith Trodd and Margaret Matheson hold unassailable places in the pantheon of British screen greatness. It was their determination and uncompromising output that saw Play for Today regularly average audiences of 12 to 13 million viewers, a quarter of the UK population at that time. When Ken Loach’s brutally moving Cathy Come Home was shown in 1969, it immediately caused debate on public housing in the House of Commons, and the housing charity Shelter was founded days later.

Play for Today revolutionised the possibilities of drama and how it could exist in the spaces between stage, cinema and television, as well as establishing a legacy of talent and crusading spirit that lives on in flashes even in today’s climate of vapid, apathetic cinematic consumption. Tony Garnett, ever the rebel, recently accidentally (on purpose) leaked an email that attacked the current state of the BBC and offered reformative measures that you would do well to read. It found its way onto the Guardian’s website so it shouldn’t be too hard to find.

While many of those involved in the series have passed away, we managed to catch up with a few of the men and women who were at the centre of it all.

Ray Winstone as Carlin, Stewart Harwood as Greaves and Davidson Knight on their way to having a not-very-good time in 1977’s Scum.

RAY WINSTONE

Ray Winstone was a 19-year-old ex-amateur boxer when he played Carlin in Scum, one of only two episodes of Play for Today to be banned by the BBC. Scum, which was directed by Alan Clarke and written by Roy Minton, dealt with the brutality and systematic abuse of young inmates within the British borstal system during the 1970s. The film takes in male rape, countless brawls, gay relations between the all-male borstal population, and a couple of suicides for good measure. The film had public morality serial soapboxer Mary Whitehouse crapping chickens and the borstal system itself was reformed not long after its release.

Vice: Had you done much acting prior to your role as Carlin in the Play for Today version of Scum?
Ray Winstone: Not really. I’d done one or two things the year before—an episode of The Sweeney and a few other bits—but Scum was my breakthrough. The movie industry in Britain at the time was just collapsing in on itself. They were totally failing to build a box office but what they were doing at the BBC then was good stuff and I feel lucky to have been a part of it.

Carlin maintains a strong sense of what’s fair and what’s not and that ends up getting him in trouble. That sounds a little like the tale of what you went through at drama school. Is there any truth behind the story of you getting kicked out?
Yeah. I wasn’t invited to the Christmas party and I got the hump. I was always thought of as a bit of a threat to the other kids—not physically, but in the way that I spoke. In that profession, at that time, they still weren’t used to working-class kids and I think the powers that be thought they might all start talking like me. I guess I was the black sheep of the school all the way through, then I didn’t get invited to this stupid party so I sabotaged the wheels on the gaffer’s car. It was a stupid thing to do but I thought I wasn’t being treated right, and then someone grassed me up and that was it. I was gone.

So you went from being thrown out of drama school to working with Alan Clarke?
That was my teaching right there. I learned a hell of a lot from Alan. I didn’t realise it at the time—it takes until you’re older for you to begin to work out what you can use from what you learned back then. He was great. He just showed me around the place and introduced me to the other actors. He placed a lot of faith in me and I appreciated it. I’m sure there are other people like him around, but I feel lucky to have worked with him. He was something special.

While you were shooting Scum, did you feel you were making something that would be banned, have Mary Whitehouse up in arms, see the country drawing up sides and, finally, prompt serious questioning of the borstal system?
I didn’t really have a clue what we’d done, to be honest. I think the first time that it really dawned on me was when I came back from my honeymoon and came straight to the premiere of the film version in Leicester Square, at the Prince Charles Theatre. The original had been banned and never shown so despite all the chatter about it, it was only then that it all hit home. I thought it was a bit of a fucking liberty that the original got banned. At the time we were doing Scum the BBC was also making Law and Order. They were both about institutions, and in their way critical of the government. It felt like they couldn’t throw both of them out, so they tossed Scum out and Law and Order went through. It just goes to show that the government did have a certain amount of control over the BBC and over the media.

Did you have any actual run-ins with Whitehouse yourself?
I tell you what, she done me a right favour because, by banning the TV version, people wanted to see it and so when we made the film it was a smash. Really that was down to Mary Whitehouse, I’ve got to hand it all to her.

Do you feel there is anything being made today that compares to Play for Today in terms of portraying that level of social realism they achieved in films like Scum?
That was when the BBC was still teaching people, you know? There were just great writers, directors, producers and technicians working on that stuff. Plus, it was a time when the lower classes came out into that world. You’re talking about people like Mike Leigh, [Tony] Garnett, Dennis Potter, who could talk about that stuff genuinely and you were always working and always learning from people like that. I’m not sure that’s there now.

Carlin kind of set the mould for a lot of characters that you’ve ended up playing since. Do you ever get bored of playing the hard nut with a heart?
Well, I’ve played all sorts. I really enjoyed playing Henry VIII but I guess he’s the biggest gangster of all, eh? I’m not going to sit here and moan. I’ve had some pretty alright opportunities.

Did you ever imagine when you were playing Carlin that you’d end up working with Scorsese, Spielberg and Jack Nicholson?
Of course not. It was terrific working on all that stuff. You had to pinch yourself every morning, you know? I think what makes Scorsese a great director is that he makes you feel like you’re making the film with him, instead of making a film for him. Everyone gets a chance to bring something to the table so you feel like you’re in the process of making a film, and everyone’s part of that process. I think that’s the way it should be. It’s nothing new, but there are a lot of directors out there who make a film their way, and you end up feeling like you don’t even want to fucking be there. Jack was a bit of a weird one at the start. Maybe we got off on the wrong foot but we didn’t really get on at the beginning, then after spending a lot of time working together we began to hit it off and now we’re OK. It’s not like I go out for a drink with the guy but he ain’t an arsehole either. I got a lot of respect for him.

You came up with English actors such as Gary Oldman and Tim Roth? Did you ever feel like you were a little gang who came out of the Play for Today era drama to take on Hollywood?
I guess we were all working at that same time but I didn’t know Gary until I worked with him on Nil by Mouth. I’d met him at Alan Clarke’s funeral, but I didn’t know him properly until we worked together. The same with Tim. I didn’t know him until I worked with on The War Zone. Sometimes I think I end up nestled in the palm of that arty-farty film thing that they are quite at home in. I’m an actor, but some people probably think that’s a rather flattering term for what I do. Gary and Tim though, and I’m great mates with both of them now so I can say this, have probably always wanted to be a part of that from the start. They’ve always surrounded themselves with those kind of people. We’re mates now, but I suppose I never thought that we would be.

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Comments

Anonymous, on Oct 20, 2009 wrote: "I never know what British mean when they say BBC???" Hang on, what? It’s the national public service broadcaster (Channel 4 and ITV techinically are too but have different remits; hence a different style and variety of programmes, e.g. ITV = Mass entertainment, C4 = Cutting Edge, Niche, etc.)... Has to comply to a set of ’rules’, has to appeal to niche as well as mass audiences, is meant to be unbiased and fair... all that. And free from commercial influence. It’s a really interesting idea and can have some really good concequences. But the BBC needs to get its act together. It’s a really interesting thing to look into if you’re interested in the TV industry (especially the UK one).
Anonymous, on Sep 23, 2009 wrote: yes he is - his sister is in eastenders. big mo.
	hi fructose, on Sep 21, 2009 wrote: wait, gary oldman is english???
Anonymous, on Sep 21, 2009 wrote: I never know what British mean when they say BBC. I think of the channels and radio and everything as one big organism, so I think they have put out some great things. John Peel, The (real!) Office, etc.
Anonymous, on Sep 21, 2009 wrote: The BBC doesn’t suck. It’s way better than most American networks.
	komodo, on Sep 21, 2009 wrote: if i didn’t know better i’d think the black kid was trying to be eddie murphy trying to be buckwheat.
Anonymous, on Sep 17, 2009 wrote: great to see a piece that gives alan clarke his due.
Anonymous, on Sep 16, 2009 wrote: 16mm for on-location shooting?! thats pretty sweet
Anonymous, on Sep 16, 2009 wrote: just another reason why BBC sucks
Anonymous, on Sep 16, 2009 wrote: banning certain episodes is just going to draw more attention to it in the end.