TONY GARNETT
The Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign are deeply saddened by the death of eminent Producer, Writer, Actor and Activist, Tony Garnett.
In 2016 Tony published his memoir ‘The Day The Music Died’. He had a tremendous track record, producing memorable television dramas for the BBC Wednesday Play: Up the Junction (1965), Cathy Come Home (1966); films: Kes, (1969) and Family Life, (1971), and TV series: Between The Lines (1992) and This Life (1996).
Tony’s work has always been radical and confrontational, engaging with controversial social and political topics. He worked with Jim Allen and Ken Loach on the four-part historical drama Days Of Hope (1975).
Tony Garnett discussed his memoir, and talked about his life and the influences and ideas which shaped his career in film and television production at an event in Wakefield and Sheffield and at With Banners Held High in 2016. His book is packed full of personal details of his early life in Birmingham as well as the clashes with the BBC as he battled to make films thought too controversial, and then get them transmitted. The 1977 BBC drama Meet The People, the first part of The Price of Coal, written by Barry Hines, directed by Ken Loach and produced by Tony Garnett, was filmed in the disused Thorpe Hesley pit, near Rotherham, South Yorkshire.
In September 2019, the OTJC invited Tony to be part of a panel discussion at our 35th Anniversary of the miners’ strike event From Peterloo to Orgreave in Sheffield. His kindness, solidarity, generosity and support for our campaign will never be forgotten. Thank you Tony. Rest in Power.
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