What image does Yorkshire conjure up for you? Rolling green hills
and desolate moors, or gritty, industrial cities? The eclectic Yorkshire
landscape, so full of contrasts, has long been a favourite for filmmakers.
From Billy Liar to Calendar Girls, Yorkshire has played host to many
famous films.
In a recent poll by the Film Distributors Association on the most atmospheric
use of location in British cinema, four of the top ten films were set
in Yorkshire, proving that Yorkshire has a rich and recognisable heritage
in film. Despite Leeds being the chosen location for the first moving
image film by Louis le Prince in 1888, it was perhaps the 1960s New
Wave that really put Yorkshire on the cinematic map.
Room at the Top (Jack Clayton, 1958), based on local boy John Braine’s
Bradford-set novel, and starring Lawrence Harvey as the ambitious Joe
Lampton, used authentic locations as it aimed to show the north of England
as it really was. Billy Liar (John Schlesinger, 1963) was also shot
on location in Bradford. Adapted from Keith Waterhouse’s own novel
and starring Tom Courtenay as Billy, this warm, witty film blended northern
realism and fantasy. Instantly recognisable, the city of Bradford is
such a feature of the film that it can perhaps be seen as much a star
as the actors. Both films showed Yorkshire as a place of change and
transition, capturing the mood of prosperity and recreating the reality
of life in a northern industrial town.
This Sporting Life (Lindsay Anderson, 1963) is seen as the film that
brought the British New Wave to a close. From the novel by David Storey,
set in the tough and uncompromising world of northern Rugby League and
filmed in Wakefield, this was more a film about people than location.
Intelligent and intense, with real passion shown in the relationship
between the two leads Richard Harris and Rachel Roberts, the harshness
and authenticity that would long be associated with the grittiness of
life up north was a powerful presence.
Kes (Ken Loach, 1969) also showed the harsh reality of life in a Barnsley
mining village. Ken Loach’s seminal film starred David Bradley
as Billy Casper, who escapes the grime and grit of life through his
relationship with a wild kestrel. Using real people and real locations
to add to the authenticity, this moving adaptation of the Barry Hines
novel A Kestrel for a Nave provides an unsentimental and very genuine
picture of life with no prospects in a northern town.
However, The Railway Children (Lionel Jeffries, 1970) showed a different
side to Yorkshire as it captured the beauty of the Keighley and Worth
Valley Railway and its lush and peaceful surroundings, harking back
to the more simple times of the golden Edwardian days. The rural side
of Yorkshire life, the green valleys and rolling, magical hills and
moors has long been a staple of cosy tea-time viewing, in stark contrast
to the industrial landscape familiar to us from the British New Wave.
The mid 1980s saw a continuation of Yorkshire in extremes. Both Malcolm
Mowbray’s A Private Function (1984), a comedy of post-war austerity,
manners and social aspiration set in a small Yorkshire town in 1947
and scripted by Alan Bennett, and Alan Clarke’s Rita, Sue and
Bob Too (1986), which captured the rough side of contemporary working
class life on a rundown Bradford estate, were made within the period.
The 1990s saw a continuation of the gritty, issue led cinema whose
legacy lay in the new wave of the 1960s. But this time the industrial
landscape no longer provided economic hope and prosperity. Films such
as Brassed Off (Mark Herman, 1996) filmed in Barnsley, Doncaster and
Halifax, and the Sheffield based The Full Monty (Peter Cattaneo, 1997)
blended comedy and politics to show the harsh realities of life in post
Thatcher Britain and its effect on the Yorkshire towns and cities that
once boomed. Industrial wastelands and broken dreams became synonymous
with Yorkshire.
The often bleak and uncompromising reality of these political films
can be seen in sharp contrast with the cosy image that has often been
projected into living rooms across the country through television programmes
such as Last of the Summer Wine and Heartbeat. It was this more saleable
picture of Yorkshire, full of harmless whimsy that emerged in the era
of New Labour.
Blow Dry (Paddy Breathnach, 2000) and Fanny & Elvis (Kay Mellor,
1999) provided some light hearted northern wit amidst the cobbles and
charm of their Yorkshire setting. But it was Calendar Girls (Nigel Cole,
2003) the cheery and heart-warming britcom which tells the tale of the
Rylstone and District Women’s Institute who bared all for a charity
calendar, that successfully blended the uplifting mass appeal of The
Full Monty’s strippers and the beauty of the Yorkshire Dales.
The popularity of Yorkshire-set films such as Calendar Girls shows
that the public are keen to enjoy a slice of Yorkshire life. And now
there is perhaps more of an opportunity to see something other than
industrial grit or chocolate box sentimentality, as the richness and
diversity of the region is finally being shown. My Summer of Love, (Pawel
Pawlikowski, 2004) brought us a tale of intense teenage love in the
picturesque Calder Valley, showcased by a sun-lit, endless summer.
The Yorkshire landscape has never looked more stunning, but this off-beat
and intelligent tale, which won the Alexander Korda Award for Best British
Film at the 2005 BAFTAs, proves that filmmakers can use the splendour
and complexity of the Yorkshire landscape as fitting backdrop for cinema
with a contemporary edge.
Yasmin (Kenny Glenaan, 2004) an absorbing, realist drama made on digital
camera, again with the writing talent of Simon Beaufoy (The Full Monty,
Blow Dry) brings Yorkshire bang up to date with a culturally relevant
and challenging story of a young British Muslim woman dealing with alienation
and crisis of identity in Keighley.
Yorkshire is proving a popular location choice for filmmakers. Forthcoming
productions include Gregory Read’s Like Minds, starring Toni Collette,
Penny Woolcock’s Mischief Night, shot entirely on location in
Leeds, and filming has recently begun on an adaptation of Alan Bennett’s
History Boys, using locations around the region.
There were seven feature films in production in Yorkshire in summer
2005 alone, bringing over £1 million investment into the region.
There are also a number of initiatives to encourage and support new
local talent, including Screen Yorkshire’s annual Caught Short
project and the Low Budget Lottery Shorts film award to help first time
directors.
Filmmakers drawn to the region are now looking beyond the kitchen sink
or the reliance on picturesque location, looking instead for contemporary
themes and using Yorkshire as an ambient backdrop with universal appeal.
Yorkshire can be both charming and relevant; ensuring the future for
Yorkshire film is as bright and eclectic as its heritage.
