Alan Clarke
Encyclopedia
Alan Clarke was a television
and film director
, producer and writer, born in Wallasey
, Merseyside
, England
.
Most of Clarke's output was for television rather than cinema, including work for the famous play strands The Wednesday Play
and Play for Today
. His subject matter tended towards social realism
, especially with respect to deprived or oppressed communities.
As Dave Rolinson's book (see 'Further reading', below) on Clarke details, between 1962 and 1966 Clarke directed several plays at The Questors Theatre in Ealing, London. Between 1967 and 1969 he directed various ITV productions including plays by Alun Owen
(Shelter, George’s Room, Stella, Thief, Gareth), Edna O’Brien (Which Of These Two Ladies Is He Married To? and Nothing’s Ever Over) and Roy Minton
(The Gentleman Caller, Goodnight Albert, Stand By Your Screen
). He also worked on the series The Informer, The Gold Robbers and A Man Of Our Times (but not, as Sight and Sound once claimed, Big Breadwinner Hog
). Clarke continued to work for ITV through the 1970s but now made much of his work for the BBC. This included pieces for The Wednesday Play (Sovereign's Company 1970), Play for Today
and Play of the Month. Distinctive work for these strands included further plays by Minton including Funny Farm
(1975) and Scum
(further details below), but also Sovereign’s Company (1970) by Don Shaw, The Hallelujah Handshake (1970) by Colin Welland
and Penda’s Fen
(1974) by David Rudkin
. He also made To Encourage the Others (1972), a powerful drama documentary about the Derek Bentley
case, and several documentaries, including Vodka Cola (1981) on multinational corporations.
A number of his works achieved notoriety and widespread criticism from the conservative end of the political spectrum, including Scum
(1977), dealing with the subject of borstal
s (youth prison
s), which was banned by the BBC
, and subsequently remade by Clarke as a feature film
in 1979 (the original television version was eventually screened after his death). His 1982 television play Made in Britain
, starring Tim Roth
(in his television debut) as a racist skinhead and his negative relationship with authorities and racial minorities
, was based on a screenplay by David Leland
. He directed the feature film Rita, Sue and Bob Too
released in 1987.
Clarke's work in the 1980s is fiercely stark and political, including the David Leland
plays Beloved Enemy (1981) on multinational corporations and Psy-Warriors (1981) on military interrogation. But he also directed David Bowie
in Baal
(1982) for the BBC, part of Clarke’s interest in Bertolt Brecht
. His film work became more sparse, culminating in Contact (1984) on the British military presence in Northern Ireland, Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire
(1985), Road (1987) and his short film (40 mins.) Elephant (1989
) which dealt with 'the troubles
' in Northern Ireland
and featured a series of shootings with no narrative and hardly any dialogue; all were based on accounts of actual sectarian killings that had taken place in Belfast. The film took its title from Bernard MacLaverty
's description of the troubles as "the elephant in our living room
" - a reference to the collective denial of the underlying social problems of Northern Ireland. His final production, The Firm
(1989), covered football hooliganism through the lead character played by Gary Oldman
, but also the politics of Thatcher’s Britain.
Clarke inspired a generation of actors, writers and directors, including Paul Greengrass
, Stephen Frears
, Tim Roth
, Ray Winstone
, Gary Oldman
, Danny Brocklehurst
and Iain MacDonald. Filmmaker Harmony Korine
has cited Clarke as a major influence on his work.
Clarke's son is Gabriel Clarke, an award-winning sports journalist with ITV.
Television director
A television director directs the activities involved in making a television program and is part of a television crew.-Duties:The duties of a television director vary depending on whether the production is live or recorded to video tape or video server .In both types of productions, the...
and film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, producer and writer, born in Wallasey
Wallasey
Wallasey is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England, on the mouth of the River Mersey, at the northeastern corner of the Wirral Peninsula...
, Merseyside
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Most of Clarke's output was for television rather than cinema, including work for the famous play strands The Wednesday Play
The Wednesday Play
The Wednesday Play was an anthology series of British television plays which ran on BBC1 from October 1964 to May 1970. Every week's play was usually written for television, although adaptations from other sources also featured...
and Play for Today
Play for Today
Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted...
. His subject matter tended towards social realism
Social realism
Social Realism, also known as Socio-Realism, is an artistic movement, expressed in the visual and other realist arts, which depicts social and racial injustice, economic hardship, through unvarnished pictures of life's struggles; often depicting working class activities as heroic...
, especially with respect to deprived or oppressed communities.
As Dave Rolinson's book (see 'Further reading', below) on Clarke details, between 1962 and 1966 Clarke directed several plays at The Questors Theatre in Ealing, London. Between 1967 and 1969 he directed various ITV productions including plays by Alun Owen
Alun Owen
Alun Owen was a British screenwriter, predominantly active in television, but best remembered by a wider audience for writing the screenplay of The Beatles' debut feature film A Hard Day's Night ....
(Shelter, George’s Room, Stella, Thief, Gareth), Edna O’Brien (Which Of These Two Ladies Is He Married To? and Nothing’s Ever Over) and Roy Minton
Roy Minton
Roy Minton is an English playwright best known for Scum and his other work with Alan Clarke. He is notable for having written over 30 one-off scripts for London Weekend Television, Rediffusion, BBC, ATV, Granada, Thames Television and Yorkshire Television, including Sling Your Hook, Horace, Funny...
(The Gentleman Caller, Goodnight Albert, Stand By Your Screen
Stand By Your Screen
Stand By Your Screen was a 1968 play written by Roy Minton and directed by Alan Clarke.-Plot:Christopher Gritter John Neville revolts against the suburban conformity of his parents....
). He also worked on the series The Informer, The Gold Robbers and A Man Of Our Times (but not, as Sight and Sound once claimed, Big Breadwinner Hog
Big Breadwinner Hog
Big Breadwinner Hog is a British television thriller serial devised by Robin Chapman, produced by Granada TV and transmitted in eight parts, starting at 9.00pm on 11 April 1969 on the ITV network. It portrayed the ruthless rise through the criminal underworld of the trendy young London gangster...
). Clarke continued to work for ITV through the 1970s but now made much of his work for the BBC. This included pieces for The Wednesday Play (Sovereign's Company 1970), Play for Today
Play for Today
Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted...
and Play of the Month. Distinctive work for these strands included further plays by Minton including Funny Farm
Funny Farm (play)
Funny Farm' is a 1975 television play written by Roy Minton and directed by Alan Clarke, broadcast as part of BBC 1's Play for Today series on 27 February 1975 .Alan Wellbeck is a nurse in a mental hospital...
(1975) and Scum
Scum (tv play)
Scum is a television play written by Roy Minton and directed by Alan Clarke. It was intended to be screened as part of their Play for Today series. Instead the production was banned by the BBC after it was completed in 1977; it was not finally screened until 27 July 1991. In the meantime a...
(further details below), but also Sovereign’s Company (1970) by Don Shaw, The Hallelujah Handshake (1970) by Colin Welland
Colin Welland
Colin Welland is a British actor and screenwriter. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his script for Chariots of Fire ,,,....
and Penda’s Fen
Penda's Fen
Penda's Fen is a British television play which was written by David Rudkin and directed by Alan Clarke. Commissioned by BBC producer David Rose, it was transmitted as part of the corporation's Play for Today series.-Plot summary:...
(1974) by David Rudkin
David Rudkin
James David Rudkin is an English playwright of Northern Irish descent. Coming from a family of strict evangelical Christians, Rudkin was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham and read Mods and Greats at St Catherine's College, Oxford...
. He also made To Encourage the Others (1972), a powerful drama documentary about the Derek Bentley
Derek Bentley
Derek William Bentley was a British teenager hanged for the murder of a police officer, committed in the course of a burglary attempt. The murder of the police officer was committed by a friend and accomplice of Bentley's, Christopher Craig, then aged 16. Bentley was convicted as a party to the...
case, and several documentaries, including Vodka Cola (1981) on multinational corporations.
A number of his works achieved notoriety and widespread criticism from the conservative end of the political spectrum, including Scum
Scum (film)
Scum is a 1979 British crime drama film directed by Alan Clarke, portraying the brutality of life inside a British borstal. The story was originally made for the BBC's Play for Today strand in 1977, however due to the violence depicted in the film, it was withdrawn from broadcast...
(1977), dealing with the subject of borstal
Borstal
A borstal was a type of youth prison in the United Kingdom, run by the Prison Service and intended to reform seriously delinquent young people. The word is sometimes used loosely to apply to other kinds of youth institution or reformatory, such as Approved Schools and Detention Centres. The court...
s (youth prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
s), which was banned by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, and subsequently remade by Clarke as a feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
in 1979 (the original television version was eventually screened after his death). His 1982 television play Made in Britain
Made in Britain
Made in Britain is a 1982 British drama film directed by Alan Clarke, and written by David Leland, about a 16-year-old white power skinhead named Trevor, and his constant confrontations with authority figures. It was originally broadcast on ITV as the fourth in an untitled series of works by...
, starring Tim Roth
Tim Roth
Simon Timothy "Tim" Roth is an English film actor and director best known for his roles in the American films,Legend of 1900, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Four Rooms, Skellig, Planet of the Apes, The Incredible Hulk and Rob Roy, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for...
(in his television debut) as a racist skinhead and his negative relationship with authorities and racial minorities
Minority group
A minority is a sociological group within a demographic. The demographic could be based on many factors from ethnicity, gender, wealth, power, etc. The term extends to numerous situations, and civilizations within history, despite the misnomer of minorities associated with a numerical statistic...
, was based on a screenplay by David Leland
David Leland
David Leland is a director, screenwriter and actor who came to international fame with his directorial debut Wish You Were Here in 1987.-Life:...
. He directed the feature film Rita, Sue and Bob Too
Rita, Sue and Bob Too
Rita, Sue and Bob Too is a 1986 British film directed by Alan Clarke about two West Yorkshire teenaged schoolgirls who have a sexual fling with a married man. It was adapted by Andrea Dunbar, based on two of her stage plays; Rita Sue and Bob Too and The Arbor...
released in 1987.
Clarke's work in the 1980s is fiercely stark and political, including the David Leland
David Leland
David Leland is a director, screenwriter and actor who came to international fame with his directorial debut Wish You Were Here in 1987.-Life:...
plays Beloved Enemy (1981) on multinational corporations and Psy-Warriors (1981) on military interrogation. But he also directed David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
in Baal
Baal (play)
Baal was the first full-length play written by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. It concerns a wastrel youth who becomes involved in several sexual affairs and at least one murder...
(1982) for the BBC, part of Clarke’s interest in Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
. His film work became more sparse, culminating in Contact (1984) on the British military presence in Northern Ireland, Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire
Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire
Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire is a 1985 British musical film starring Phil Daniels and Alun Armstrong. The film was directed by Alan Clarke and written by Trevor Preston.-Plot:...
(1985), Road (1987) and his short film (40 mins.) Elephant (1989
1989 in film
-Events:* Batman is released on June 23, and goes on to gross over $410 million worldwide.* Actress Kim Basinger and her brother Mick purchase Braselton, Georgia, for $20 million...
) which dealt with 'the troubles
The Troubles
The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...
' in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
and featured a series of shootings with no narrative and hardly any dialogue; all were based on accounts of actual sectarian killings that had taken place in Belfast. The film took its title from Bernard MacLaverty
Bernard MacLaverty
Bernard MacLaverty is a writer of fiction. He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on 14 September 1942, and lived there until 1975 when he moved to Scotland with his wife, Madeline, and four children...
's description of the troubles as "the elephant in our living room
Elephant in the room
"Elephant in the room" is an English metaphorical idiom for an obvious truth that is being ignored or goes unaddressed. The idiomatic expression also applies to an obvious problem or risk no one wants to discuss....
" - a reference to the collective denial of the underlying social problems of Northern Ireland. His final production, The Firm
The Firm (1988 film)
The Firm is a 1989 British drama film directed by Alan Clarke and written by Al Ashton for the BBC, starring Gary Oldman as Clive 'Bex' or 'Bexy' Bissel. The film is based on the activities of the Inter City Firm, football firm of West Ham United during the 1970s and 1980s although in the film the...
(1989), covered football hooliganism through the lead character played by Gary Oldman
Gary Oldman
Gary Leonard Oldman is an English actor, voice actor, filmmaker and musician.A member of the 1980s Brit Pack, Oldman came to prominence via starring roles in British films Meantime , Sid and Nancy and Prick Up Your Ears , with his performance in the latter bringing him his first BAFTA Award...
, but also the politics of Thatcher’s Britain.
Clarke inspired a generation of actors, writers and directors, including Paul Greengrass
Paul Greengrass
Paul Greengrass is an English film director, screenwriter and former journalist. He specialises in dramatisations of real-life events and is known for his signature use of hand-held cameras.-Life and career:...
, Stephen Frears
Stephen Frears
Stephen Arthur Frears is an English film director.-Early life:Frears was born in Leicester, England to Ruth M., a social worker, and Dr Russell E. Frears, a general practitioner and accountant. He did not find out that his mother was Jewish until he was in his late 20s...
, Tim Roth
Tim Roth
Simon Timothy "Tim" Roth is an English film actor and director best known for his roles in the American films,Legend of 1900, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Four Rooms, Skellig, Planet of the Apes, The Incredible Hulk and Rob Roy, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for...
, Ray Winstone
Ray Winstone
Raymond Andrew "Ray" Winstone is an English film and television actor. He is mostly known for his "tough guy" roles, beginning with that of Carlin in the 1979 film Scum and as Will Scarlet in the cult television adventure series Robin of Sherwood. He has also become well known as a voice over...
, Gary Oldman
Gary Oldman
Gary Leonard Oldman is an English actor, voice actor, filmmaker and musician.A member of the 1980s Brit Pack, Oldman came to prominence via starring roles in British films Meantime , Sid and Nancy and Prick Up Your Ears , with his performance in the latter bringing him his first BAFTA Award...
, Danny Brocklehurst
Danny Brocklehurst
Danny Brocklehurst is a BAFTA and International Emmy -winning English screenwriter. Brocklehurst worked as a journalist for several years before becoming a full-time screenwriter.He has written acclaimed television drama...
and Iain MacDonald. Filmmaker Harmony Korine
Harmony Korine
The story is told from the perspective of a young man suffering from untreated schizophrenia, played by Ewen Bremner, as he tries to understand his deteriorating world. Julien's abusive father is played by Werner Herzog...
has cited Clarke as a major influence on his work.
Clarke's son is Gabriel Clarke, an award-winning sports journalist with ITV.
External links
- Biography and filmography from the British Film InstituteBritish Film InstituteThe British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
's ScreenonlineScreenonlineScreenonline is a Web site devoted to the history of British film and television, and to social history as revealed by film and television. The project has been developed by the British Film Institute and funded by a £1.2 million grant from the National Lottery New Opportunities Fund.Reviews... - Senses of Cinema profile
- Village Voice article (09/2004)
- "The Hallelujah Handshake" from "Play for Today website"
- My Hero Alan Clarke Paul Greengrass tells of his unexpected encounter with Clarke at a court martial
Further reading
- Alan Clarke, Richard Kelly (editor), London: Faber, 1998
- Alan Clarke, Dave Rolinson, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2005
- Andrea Grunert, "Alan Clarke: Die unglaubliche Energie der Rechtlosen"; in: Lexikon des Kinder- und Jugendfilms im Kino, im Fernsehen und auf Video, Meitingen: Corian, November 2003 (p. 1-7)