Jim Allen

James Allen was a socialist playwright from Miles Platting Manchester Lancashire best known for his collaborations with Ken Loach Allen began to write during his time as a miner In 1958 he was involved in the launch and publication of The Miner In 1964 he submitted a script to Granada TV and was taken on as a scriptwriter for the soap opera Coronation Street 196567 a series for which he had little sympathy His later play The Talking Head 1969 recounts the experience of a talented writer driven to a nervous breakdown by the pressure of episode delivery dates Allens first play The Hard Word 1966 directed by Ridley Scott was broadcast as part of the ThirtyMinute Theatre series on BBC 2 It was followed by The Lump 1967 the first fictional work directed by Jack Gold who had begun his career on documentaries and broadcast as part of The Wednesday Play drama anthology series Both plays were based on his experiences in the building trade and The Lump features an activist worker who frequently quotes Lenin and Jack London establishing the political nature of Allens work which was to continue throughout his career Allen was introduced to Ken Loach in 1967 by Loachs regular collaborator at the time producer Tony Garnett who had produced The Lump The first of Allens plays to be directed by Loach was The Big Flame 1969 again for The Wednesday Play series The play depicts a strike among the dockers of Liverpool led by a Trotskyite docker against the wishes of the established union the strike is violently broken by the army and police In 1975 Allen wrote Garnett produced and Loach directed Days of Hope Allens bestknown work A serial of four episodes it tells the story of the British Labour movement between the Great War in 1916 and the General Strike of 1926 The series depiction of the British Army was the subject of much hostile criticism in the press at the time Allen also wrote five plays The Rank and File 1971 A Choice of Evils 1977 The Spongers 1978 United Kingdom 1981 and Willies Last Stand 1982 for the BBCs Play for Today drama series and several episodes of the Granada series Crown Court 197576 With Loach as director Allen wrote the screenplays for three featurelength films Hidden Agenda 1990 which portrays the murder of an American civil rights activist in Belfast Raining Stones 1993 a kitchensink tragicomedy set in Middleton near Manchester and Allens final dramatic work Land and Freedom 1995 telling the story of an idealistic young Communist from Liverpool who joins the Government forces in the Spanish Civil War Allen was diagnosed with cancer in February 1999 and died the following June