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Jackie Ashley

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Waiting for Work

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Factual: History

Factual: Politics

19/09/2010

BBC Four - Waiting for Work

1963 film on unemployment followed by a report on how it changed the north's politics.

Jack Ashley's influential 1963 documentary about unemployment in Hartlepool, is followed by a report by his daughter Jackie on how it changed politics in the north of England.

Waiting for Work was a documentary written and directed by Jack Ashley. Politically passionate and one of the first working class reporters at the BBC, he wanted to show the suffering caused by high unemployment in Hartlepool. With no work, no prospects, and little money, Ashley asked how the unemployed reacted to their situation in an affluent society.

The documentary caused a storm when it was first shown in 1963. The original film is followed by a report by Ashley's daughter Jackie on how it changed politics in the north of England.

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