Coal Mining in Britain | The story of mining from the coal face to the strike
CHANNEL | BBC 2
FIRST BROADCAST | 04 January 1990
DURATION | 49 minutes
FIRSTBROADCAST
1990
Susan Ord was just two years old and her brother newly born when their father Brian and grandfather George appeared in the BBC documentary 'A Year in the Life: For Craghead'. Two decades later, Susan and young Brian join Paul Watson to review his film and talk about the changes - both happy and tragic - that their family has been through in the intervening years.
Paul Watson, the narrator and producer of this programme and the film that inspired it, created an innovative series called 'The Family', which followed the Wilkins clan of Reading and is recognised as the first British 'docusoap'. The original 'A Year in the Life: Craghead' is also available as part of this collection.
Two recordings of a Welsh male-voice choir.
How do the experiences of two miners from separate generations differ?
Remembering Tonypandy's role in the 1921 National Coal Strike.
Two mining families make the decision to move from Northumberland to Nottingham.
The story of the men who spent World War II down the mines.
A turbulent time for a mining village in the North East of England.
Exploring the culture and social history of the Durham coal fields.
Where there's muck, there's brass... and pigeons and lurchers and bingo too.
The diminishing role of animals in Britain's coal mines.
Recollections of conscription in the coal industry during World War II.
Is the ongoing miners' strike turning moderates into militants?
The miners' strike continues with both sides predicting victory.
A 'Panorama' report broadcast in the final weeks of the miners' strike.
A personal perspective on life in a 1930s mining community.

Revisiting the story of miners from a documentary made in 1969.
Scenes from a Durham mining village that featured in a 1938 radio broadcast by Joan Littlewood.
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