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Provoking questions in parliament and helping to launch the housing charity Shelter, this is one of the most famous British TV plays ever made. Nick Riddle finds it as powerful as ever.

The sixties were in full swing when this television play landed in the national consciousness. And what an impact it must have made on the 12 million people who watched it: a story of homelessness and downward spiral, showing a side of London that was jarringly at odds with the city’s popular image as a colourful playground for bright young things. Cathy (Carol White) is both bright and young, but when she meets and marries the born optimist Reg (Ray Brooks), a run of bad luck delivers them into a welfare system as antiquated and absurdly callous as the institutions in a Dickens novel. Jeremy Sandford’s script and Tony Imi’s nimble 16mm camerawork create a documentary-style immediacy that has been imitated many times, and the use of vox-pop interviews as voice-overs for certain sequences is brilliantly effective, conveying ambiguity as well as irony. Cathy caused an outcry and is credited with prompting changes in housing and welfare legislation; and Ken Loach’s transition from journeyman TV director to hugely influential auteur was under way.

 

Nick Riddle on 21st July 2011
View all 48 of Nick Riddle's reviews

Under the heading of 'provoking realism', I penned for an australian newspaper in 1967, a review of 'Cathy Come Home'. I was at the time twenty eight years old. Now, ... more >

Under the heading of 'provoking realism', I penned for an australian newspaper in 1967, a review of 'Cathy Come Home'. I was at the time twenty eight years old. Now, unfortunately, many years older, I am of the opinion, that its honesty has transcended the years and it remains as thought provoking as it was when it was first released. I reprint the last paragraph of my 1967 review. 'It is a stark thought provoking piece of realism that examines in depth, a problem that could spread to all countries of the world like an epidemic unless it is checked.' Ken Loach has had a wondrous career as a director in the years since 'Cathy Come Home' was originally released. How I wish the irreplaceable Carol White, the Cathy of the title, was still with us. She set the screen ablaze with her naturalistic style of acting. She and Ken Loach had one more stab at screen immortality with 'Poor Cow' and with this too, they achieved ten out of ten. Too soon she was gone, but, fortunately 'Cathy Come Home' and 'Poor Cow' remain to show us the depth of their combined talents. Long may Ken Loach reign! I cannot recommend 'Cathy Come Home'more highly. It is a definite must see. < less

View all 5 of Prudence Eely Bond McGuire’s reviews