British TV series or programme
Shoulder to Shoulder
|
---|
Title card
|
Created by
| |
---|
Directed by
| |
---|
Starring
| |
---|
Theme music composer
| Ethel Smyth
|
---|
Opening theme
| "
The March of the Women
"
|
---|
Composer
| Stanley Myers
|
---|
Country of origin
| United Kingdom
|
---|
Original language
| English
|
---|
No.
of episodes
| 6
|
---|
|
Producer
| Verity Lambert
|
---|
Running time
| 75 minutes
|
---|
|
Network
| BBC2
|
---|
Release
| 3 April
(
1974-04-03
)
?
8 May 1974
(
1974-05-08
)
|
---|
Shoulder to Shoulder
is a 1974 BBC television serial relating the history of the
women's suffrage movement
, created by script editor
Midge Mackenzie
, producer
Verity Lambert
and actor
Georgia Brown
. It was broadcast on
BBC2
between 3 April and 8 May 1974.
Development
[
edit
]
The drama series grew out of discussions between Mackenzie and the actress and singer
Georgia Brown
, who was dissatisfied at the lack of decent roles for women in TV drama. Brown enlisted the producer
Verity Lambert
in the project she and Mackenzie were devising to dramatise the struggle for women's suffrage, and the three women presented the idea to the BBC, which gave approval for the series. Originally they had hoped to use only female script writers but this proved impracticable. Male writers were used and the three female originators of the project later said they needed to remove from their scripts a number of 'innuendoes, misconceptions and untruths' indicative of what Georgia Brown termed "the male point of view".
[1]
The series, directed by
Waris Hussein
and
Moira Armstrong
, dramatized the fight for the right to vote for British women. It covered the period from the 1890s to 1919 and followed the suffrage movement as it was influenced by the Pankhursts:
Richard
,
Emmeline
,
Christabel
and
Sylvia
, and
Annie Kenney
.
[2]
[3]
The series was written by Douglas Livingstone,
Alan Plater
,
Ken Taylor
and
Hugh Whitemore
. The series was made in association with
Warner Bros. Television
.
[4]
The designers were Susan Spence, Evan Hercules and Eileen Diss; costumes were by Joan Ellacott. Emmeline Pankhurst was played by
Sian Phillips
; her daughters Christabel and Sylvia by
Patricia Quinn
and
Angela Down
.
Michael Gough
played Emmeline's husband, Dr
Richard Pankhurst
. Georgia Brown played
Annie Kenney
, a mill worker who joined the cause and eventually became a dynamic speaker for the movement.
Lady Constance Lytton
, an upper class activist for women's suffrage who underwent force feeding in prison, was played by
Judy Parfitt
. Sally Miles played
Flora Drummond
;
Sheila Allen
,
Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence
.
Fulton Mackay
played the socialist leader
Keir Hardie
,
Robert Hardy
was
Asquith
and
Bob Hoskins
played Jack Dunn.
[1]
[5]
Repeat broadcast
[
edit
]
After an extensive period of critical neglect,
[1]
Shoulder to Shoulder
was rebroadcast on
BBC Four
in April 2024 to mark both its 50th anniversary and the 90th birthday of Phillips, as well as being added to
BBC iPlayer
. A retrospective conversation between Phillips, Hussein and Armstrong was also shown.
[6]
Tie-in book
[
edit
]
The book
Shoulder to Shoulder
documents the lives and works of some of Britain's leading suffragettes. It includes many excerpts from their speeches, diaries, letters, memoirs, other writings and various newspaper cuttings, photographs, and cartoons.
[7]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
Basic topics
| |
---|
By country
| |
---|
Events
| |
---|
Women
(memorials)
| |
---|
Related
| |
---|
Popular
culture
| |
---|
|
---|
Founder
| | |
---|
Events
| |
---|
Honors
| |
---|
Depictions
| |
---|
Family
| |
---|
Related
| |
---|