A Film That Changed Society

A blistering, brutal expose of the housing crisis facing Britain in the 1960s, Ken Loach's masterful ‘Cathy Come Home’ is hard to watch even today, as we see the eponymous Cathy slowly falling down the social and financial ladder and out on to the streets.

The film is a single-handed argument for the reinstating of the single social drama on British television – ‘Cathy Come Home’ helped launch the charity Shelter, thus showing that it is possible for a film to make a difference.

In addition, the general lack of such drama on TV nowadays is robbing up and coming directors and writers in the vein of Loach, Jim Allen, Mike Leigh, and of course the granddaddy of them all, Alan Clarke. ‘Cathy Come Home’ demands to be watched - it is superbly acted, scripted and directed. The BBC should be begging directors of Loach's calibre to make films for them again. Unmissable.