Tony Garnett (1936 – 2020)
Producer, Writer
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Crisis – Ending Homelessness

I was brought up in Birmingham and now live in London, so I went to Edinburgh with some humility, remembering that from the great Enlightenment thinkers on, Scotland has so often led the way in thinking about social policy. But even there the problem of housing and the homeless persists. I feel privileged to support Crisis’s new policy. A novel ambition. It wants to abolish itself through solving the homeless crisis. I spoke in support at a conference this week, in Edinburgh.  read more…

Tony Blair

Blair, Milburn and Hattersley: a modern morality

Blair, the man who stole the Labour Party and delivered it to Thatcherism, is now in a different frame of mind. A Land Tax, no less. A tax proposed a century ago by the Liberals, taken up later by Labour, and defeated by the land owning Tories in the Lords. It is indeed a no brainer. read more…

Socialism without the free artist becomes Stalinism

I’ve been a trade unionist all my working life. I have always believed that in unity is strength. But for me economism, the trade unionism of not a penny off the pay, not a minute on the day, is not enough. I’ve always been on the side of revolution, by which I mean a qualitative shift in the power relations of society, so that workers control capital. read more…

More

Tony Garnett

Biography
Biography TG at the BBC
BFI Retrospective
Tracking Changes - BFI Interview 2014 In Conversation with Mark Lawson 2013
Blog Posts
Crisis - Ending Homelessness Tony BlairBlair, Milburn and Hattersley: a modern morality Socialism without the free artist becomes Stalinism Villa Winning!?! Cathy Come Home - 50 years on Donald Trump campaigningTrumpism Obesity and the NHS 3rd Draft of The Day The Music DiedWriting your story BECTUFighting exploitation in the film & TV industry Clement AttleeCorbyn and Attlee The Day The Music DiedEvents Tony Garnett - The Day The Music DiedThe Day The Music Died Tony Garnett - The BoysOn Performance Nurturing creativity in filmmaking Freelancers Fair BECTU 2016BECTU Freelancers' Fair 2016: Political Drama BBC WhitepaperResponse to the BBC White Paper R D LaingOld books, new blog post On Success and Failure Goodbye Facebook? MussoliniCBI and Mussolini Battle of OrgreaveOrgreave BING CBEEBIESCBEEBIES Junior doctors are the new miners of 1984 The SpongersThe inspiration behind 'The Spongers' Sir Arnold WeskerArnold Wesker, Jim Allen and Perdition Remembering Barry Hines Saying goodbye to Barry Hines Villa Park Kilmainham Gaol Prison Source: Wikimedia | Antonio CameloOff-Cut: Law and Order - 1916 Off-Cut: Kes - the football scene Football is about family Barry Hines 1939 - 2016 Don’t blame the old Etonians. Some of them are even good actors. Tory sale of council houses and Labour’s PFI. A connection? Sure! “Two steps forward, one step back”: Vladimir Ilyich Hunt goes into enemy territory, The Guardian, and becomes Nye Bevan. Beware a Tory with his “hurt” face on So the penny has finally dropped, eh? Get with the programme, Dave Prentis! Privatisation of the NHS by stealth started with Blair. Think these refugees are a problem? @yanisvaroufakis - find your answer to Europe vote. Remembering Jim Allen Kids Company Google Tax The Aneurin Bevan Memorial Lecture, 2060 Steve Hilton Today 'The BBC Made Me' BBC AttachmentsOff-Cut: Attachments BallykissangelOff-Cut: Ballykissangel
The BBC Files
Tony Garnett on the BBC Files The Wednesday Play: Aims and Policy Sydney Newman defends The Wednesday Play D.A.N. Jones on Sidney Newman [sic] - The Listener 1967 A Discussion with Frank Kermode "Committed" Plays in Television Huw Wheldon's near resignation over 'Up The Junction' 'Days of Hope' - going to extremes (The Listener 1975) 'Days of Hope': various BBC correspondence 'Five Women': correspondence with Huw Wheldon 'Law and Order': various BBC correspondence Control over Subject Matter in BBC Television MI5 and the Christmas Tree files - secret political vetting at the BBC

A Memoir

The Day The Music Died

The Day the Music Died

Tony Garnett has spent his life telling other people’s stories. Now, for the first time, he tells his own in his new autobiography. Honest, moving and passionate, The Day the Music Died, is a book dedicated to the truth.  It is now available to buy on Amazon.  read more…

Topsy Jane

I received a link to this extraordinary video from my son, Will, about his Mom. My first love. Topsy Jane.

She disappeared. What happened? My memoir, The Day The Music Died, painfully explains….

New Content

The BBC Files
Tony Garnett on the BBC Files The Wednesday Play: Aims and Policy Sydney Newman defends The Wednesday Play D.A.N. Jones on Sidney Newman [sic] - The Listener 1967 A Discussion with Frank Kermode "Committed" Plays in Television Huw Wheldon's near resignation over 'Up The Junction' 'Days of Hope' - going to extremes (The Listener 1975) 'Days of Hope': various BBC correspondence 'Five Women': correspondence with Huw Wheldon 'Law and Order': various BBC correspondence Control over Subject Matter in BBC Television MI5 and the Christmas Tree files - secret political vetting at the BBC

Latest interviews and articles online

'The BBC should explore the world beyond London' - article by Tony Garnett :The Observer - 17/04/2016A back street abortion killed my mom and changed my life - Article in The Irish Times 09/07/2016Advocacy and the union representative - Blog piece on PCS Union website 06/05/2016Article on Broadcast Now website (Subscribers only) - 26/04/2016BBC Breakfast - TV Interview 08/07/2016BBC iPlayer Radio 3 - Free Thinking with Matthew Sweet: 'Tony Garnett' 45m (broadcast 29 June 2016 10pm)BBC Radio 4 - Unforgettable - Tony Garnett/Mary WhitehouseBBC Radio London Robert Elms - Listed Londoner 04/07/2016BBC West Midlands - Short interview with Adrian Goldberg (starts 1h: 47min into clip)Putting our class on the screen - Interview in Socialist Worker 06/05/2016Saints of Somewhere (Audio blog) 'Tony Garnett' 13/07/2016Tony Garnett: The backstreet abortion that destroyed my family - The Guardian 02/07/2016‘Sixties television was utter rubbish. The same is true now’ - Article by Andrew Billen in The Times 11/07/2016

Recently Added

A Message For Graduates – Creatively Disrupt

  •  Archive • Speeches
  • 14 / 07 / 2017

Screenplay

  •  Archive • Speeches
  • 13 / 09 / 2016

MI5 and the Christmas Tree files – secret political vetting at the BBC

  •  Tony Garnett • The BBC Files
  • 30 / 07 / 2016

Tony Garnett on the BBC Files

  •  Tony Garnett • The BBC Files
  • 29 / 07 / 2016

D.A.N. Jones on Sidney Newman [sic] – The Listener 1967

  •  Tony Garnett • The BBC Files
  • 29 / 07 / 2016

‘Five Women’: correspondence with Huw Wheldon

  •  Tony Garnett • The BBC Files
  • 29 / 07 / 2016

‘Law and Order’: various BBC correspondence

  •  Tony Garnett • The BBC Files
  • 29 / 07 / 2016

Screen Credits

BBC

Five Minute Films
The Birth of the Goalie of the 2001 F.A. Cup Final Old Chums Afternoon A Light Snack Probation Youtube
Up The Junction
Details YouTube
Cathy Come Home
Details "We need drama people believe in" Grace Wyndham Goldie Article 1967 Cathy Come Home - 50 years on Gallery Cathy Come Home left out in cold by BBC row ‘Cathy Come Home’ and ‘Accuracy’ in British Television Drama Youtube (not free)
The Little Master Mind
Details
The Lump
Details
In Two Minds
Details Youtube
The Voices in the Park
Details
Drums Along the Avon
Details
An Officer of the Court
Details
The Golden Vision
Details The Golden Vision FilmOff-Cut: The Golden Vision Youtube
The Gorge
Details
Some Women
Off-Cut: Five Women Details Correspondence with Huw Wheldon Ken Tynan Article 1968
The Big Flame
Details Gallery Youtube (not free)
The Parachute
Off-Cut: The Parachute Details
The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui
Off-Cut: Arturo Ui Details
Hard Labour
Details Youtube (scene)
Blooming Youth
Details Youtube
Steven
Details
The Enemy Within
Details
Days of Hope
Details Youtube
The Price of Coal
Off-Cut: The Price of Coal Details YouTube
The Spongers
Details The SpongersThe inspiration behind 'The Spongers' Youtube
Law and Order
Details Kilmainham Gaol Prison Source: Wikimedia | Antonio CameloOff-Cut: Law and Order - 1916

Cinema

Kes
Gallery Details 'A typical reaction was a snigger... I was making a film about the wrong kind of bird' Football is about family Off-Cut: Kes - the football scene Saying goodbye to Barry Hines Youtube
Family Life
Details Youtube
Black Jack
Details Youtube
Prostitute
Details Prostitute 1980Off-Cut: Prostitute
Handgun
Details Youtube (trailer)
Follow That Bird
Details Youtube (trailer)
Earth Girls are Easy
Details Youtube (trailer)
Fat Man and Little Boy
Details Youtube (trailer)
Beautiful Thing
Beautiful ThingOff-Cut: Beautiful Thing Beautiful ThingDetails Youtube (trailer)

World Productions

Born Kicking
Details
Between the Lines
Details Off-Cut: Between The Lines
Cardiac Arrest
Off-Cut: Cardiac Arrest Details
Ballykissangel
BallykissangelOff-Cut: Ballykissangel Details Youtube
This Life
Details This Life + 10
The Cops
Details Youtube
Attachments
BBC AttachmentsOff-Cut: Attachments Details
Buried
Detail
Lilies
Details Youtube (Episode 1)
Rough Diamond
Details

Acting

The Boys
Details Youtube (excerpt)
The Birth of a Private Man
Details 1963 Radio Times Article
An Age of Kings
Details Youtube (Documentary with TG)

Other

In Black and White
Off-Cut: Save the Children Fund Details
After a Lifetime
Details

Archive

Articles
TV Cathy's sons plead for video Drowning By Numbers - New Statesman Jim Allen Obituary Production Notes from Beautiful Thing Doyen attacks “poison” in TV industry Ken Loach Variety Dec 15, 1997 The Observer - TV's Secret Godfather Cathy Come Home left out in cold by BBC row Kes It's a Cop Out ‘Cathy Come Home’ and ‘Accuracy’ in British Television Drama When This Life entered our lives... Dot.com drama starts up on BBC2 Welcome to seethru INTERFERENCE - CV: Tony Garnett In Praise of the Great Unknowns Autumn 2000 BBC 2 Season The Cops call it a day after three series Setting sites on the Net The beat goes on... (Bafta 2000 magazine) Attachments article AfterLife (circa 2000) World Champion It’s a Big World After All Research by Karen Shepherdson (2001) How to kill creativity while claiming to help it grow.
Interviews
"We need drama people believe in" Tracking Changes - BFI Interview 2014 'A typical reaction was a snigger... I was making a film about the wrong kind of bird' On BBC Radio 3 'Free Thinking' with Matthew Sweet On BBC News 'HARDtalk' with Stephen Sackur Podcast - BBC Radio 5 Live Afternoon Edition - July 11 Theatre Quarterly, Vol. II, No. 6, April-June 1972 THIS LIFE, THIS ART KICKING OVER THE TRACES – Interview with Tony Garnett Extracts from an Interview August 2000 A REAL BOBBY Meet the producer
Speeches
Tony Garnett talks about THE COPS - November 1998 Recipe for a dust-up (Drama Forum) Sydney Newman Memorial Service - 5th February 1998 Performance With Banners Held High - the BBC and miners strikes Screenplay A Message For Graduates - Creatively Disrupt Crisis - Ending Homelessness Notes from the Raymond Williams Memorial Lecture, 1996 Reading University Speech 1998 For the love of it: in praise of the amateur

On Facebook

On Facebook

The Villa

The Villa

 

"Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it."

- Bertolt Brecht

 

"I've tried to tell the truth. But I would say that, wouldn't I? In any case it has to be my truth. What other truth could I possibly know?"

- TG

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