with Isla St Clair Life in the Smoke
In the early 1800s England was the workshop of the world. Today it's hard to imagine what life must have been like in the early boom towns, for conditions were appalling. The streets abounded with children who had run away from the factories unable to stand the noise, the long hours and the harsh discipline. But amid all the grime and unrelenting work and poverty, people still sang, and what stories these songs tell.
MUSIC RICK KEMP
Costume design LAURA ERGIS Make-up VANESSA POULTON
Photography MARTIN PATMORE Film editor PETER BARBER
Written and directed by DAVID TURNBULL