The Price of Coal

The Price of Coal: Meet the People
Genre	Comedy-drama
Written by	Barry Hines
Directed by	Ken Loach
Country of origin	UK
Production
Producer(s)	Tony Garnett
Running time	75 mins
Release
Original network	BBC1
Audio format	Monaural
Original release	29 March 1977
Chronology
Related shows	Play for Today

The Price of Coal: Back to Reality
Genre	Drama
Written by	Barry Hines
Directed by	Ken Loach
Country of origin	UK
Production
Producer(s)	Tony Garnett
Running time	95 mins
Release
Original network	BBC1
Audio format	Monaural
Original release	5 April 1977
Chronology
Related shows	Play for Today

The Price of Coal is a two-part television drama written by Barry Hines and directed by Ken Loach first broadcast in 1977. Set at the fictional Milton Colliery, near Barnsley in South Yorkshire, the episodes contrast "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 a disaster at Houghton Main Colliery in 1975, after which the Energy Minister Tony Benn said, "It might remind people, as it reminded me, that there is still a very high price in human life to be paid, for the coal we get in this country."^[2]

Characters almost entirely use Yorkshire dialect, and both episodes have been shown with subtitles even when broadcast in England. One character has a north-eastern accent, a reference to the large-scale migration of displaced colliers from the run-down coalfields in Durham and Northumberland to the richer Yorkshire coalfield in the 1960s. The first episode has an instance of the word "shit", which was very rare on the BBC at the time.

The first episode, Meet the People, is a comedy-drama dealing with preparations for an official visit to the colliery by Prince Charles. The humour revolves around the expensive and ludicrous preparations required for an official visit from a member of the Royal Family. Some 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 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 I'll string him up by his knackers". In another scene, an argument takes place in a pub between colliers opposed to the expenditure on the visit and who think the colliery was chosen because its union officials were relatively conservative and other colliers who are looking forward to the visit.

The second episode, Back to Reality, takes place a month later and deals with an underground explosion that 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 men's club circuit, including Duggie Brown, Bobby Knutt, Stan Richards and Jackie Shinn.^[3][4] The drama was filmed around the disused Thorpe Hesley colliery near Rotherham in South Yorkshire.

Hines grew up in the mining community of Hoyland Common near Barnsley, and had been a coal miner when he left school. He recollected that when a neighbour saw him at the coalface and chided him "Couldn't tha find a better job than this?" he was inspired to return to full-time education and trained to be a teacher.^[5]

References

1. Bruce, Keith (11 June 2005). "A quick skim through the rest". The Herald (Glasgow). p. 6.
2. "The human price paid for nation’s coal". Yorkshire Post (Leeds). 18 March 2014.
3. Church, Michael (30 March 1977). "Mining a rich seam". The Times (London). p. 12.
4. French, Philip (21 April 2002). "Review: Screen". The Observer (London). p. 9.
5. Midgley, Carol (5 November 2005). "A Yorkshire boy still working close to the coal face". The Times (London). p. 15.

External links

• IMDB entry for part 1