Made in Dagenham

In 1968 a hundred and eighty-seven women sewing car seat covers at Ford's Dagenham plant walk out. The demand is not a raise: they object to their work being classified as unskilled and want to be graded like the men. When the sewing stops there are no seats, and with no seats the whole plant stops. The subject is not the strike but the demand and the outcome not matching. The women began over classification; it turned into equal pay and changed the law of the country. The film shows that the women did not expect the growth either. The form is optimistic and period-bound. Sixties colour, songs and humour lighten the narration. That choice won the film a wide audience while softening the hardness of the case; the strike caused real financial distress in those households and the film passes over it quickly. It rests on a real event. The Dagenham strike is counted among the most cited reasons for the equal pay legislation of 1970. The central character was assembled from several of the women rather than one person. Sally Hawkins plays the worker, Bob Hoskins the union official and Miranda Richardson the minister of the day. Nigel Cole directs. Who it is for: viewers who like British social comedy from real events. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a hard labour film; the production keeps its tone deliberately light.