The Thatcher Years: Hard Times, Interesting Times

The British cinema industry during the 1980s – the Thatcher years – enjoyed a Renaissance. Indeed, early on in the decade even Hollywood helped to celebrate its rebirth: Oscars for CHARIOTS OF FIRE (Hugh Hudson, 1981), the appointment of its producer, David Puttnam as Director of Production at Columbia Pictures, and more Oscars for Gandhi (Richard Attenborough, 1983). The 1980s also saw notable hits on the art cinema circuit with LETTER TO BREZNEV (Chris Bernard, 1985) and MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE (Stephen Frears, 1985), recognition for auteurs like Peter Greenaway, John Boorman, and Nicolas Roeg, plaudits in Berlin for heretic iconoclasts like Derek Jarman, and commercial successes for international directors like Stephen Frears, Ridley Scott, Adrian Lyne, and Alan Parker. A more hard-bitten, controlled professionalism among directors eclipsed the volcanic and fizzing talents of a Ken Russell and a Lindsay Anderson from the previous decades. This group, by and large, opposed the ideological rigidities of Thatcher, matching the Iron Lady's temperament with an equally steely determination not to whine or indulge in left-wing romanticism.

During the decade, more British films were made than at any time since the 1950s, or at least more British films attracted international awards and coverage. In Britain, the cinemas were filling up again, albeit for American blockbusters; but whatever the attraction, a revival of audience interest might just, in the long run, be good for British movie business as well. One could begin to talk of a “British film culture” without having to invoke François Truffaut's famous quip about “British” and “cinema” being a contradiction in terms. Movies were also helped by the lively interest television took in the cinema, thanks to a popular preview program like Barry Norman's Film on BBC1, the retrospectives on BBC2's “Film Club” and “Moviedrome,” the South Bank Shows devoted to filmmakers, the “Media Show” on Channel Four, and the co-production/co-financing or in-house filmmaking of television, especially BBC's “Screen Two” and Channel Four's “Film on Four” series, with a helpful hand from the BFI Production Board.