Antonia Bird

In this new documentary, Susan Kemp explores the life and work of the great British director Antonia Bird, who died in 2013. Bird blazed a trail from the radical hotbed of the Royal Court Theatre in the 70s, via the groundbreaking early days of EastEnders and Casualty in the 80s, all the way to Hollywood in the 90s and back again. She always had something urgent to say, but her career was a long struggle to get her voice heard. Featuring many of her close collaborators, including Robert Carlyle, Irvine Welsh, Kate Hardie and Mark Cousins, this documentary is the first to examine Bird’s legacy, and to place her where she belongs – among the most important British film, TV and theatre directors of her era.

Playwright Trevor Griffiths' Oi For England, originally set in Moss Side, was first screened by Central TV in April 1982. It was then staged at The Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, directed by the late, then resident director Antonia Bird and featured Paul McGann, Robin Hayter, Dorian Healy, Peter Lovstrom, Paul Moriarty, and Beverley Martin in the cast. The play toured youth clubs and community centres across London in a bid to engage young people in the social and political issues of the day and to unite them against racism and fascism. This film replete with exclusive interviews from Griffiths, musical director Andy Roberts and guests Alan Gilbey (east end writer) and Micky Geggus (Cockney Rejects) looks back at the tour by way of a reunion of the play's original cast and crew almost 30 years later.

Upon receiving reports of missing persons at Fort Spencer, a remote Army outpost on the Western frontier, Capt. John Boyd investigates. After arriving at his new post, Boyd and his regiment aid a wounded frontiersman who recounts a horrifying tale of a wagon train murdered by its supposed guide – a vicious U.S. Army colonel gone rogue. Fearing the worst, the regiment heads out into the wilderness to verify the gruesome claims.

Ray is an aging ex-socialist who has become a bankrobber after seeing the demise of socialism in 1980s Britain. Teaming up with a gang of other has-beenish crims, he commits one bank job too many. The gang dissolves in a murderous flurry of recriminations.

The deeply held religious convictions of an idealistic young priest are challenged when he must face extraordinary events within his own congregation.

Matt falls for Casey, the new girl in school. She's fun-loving and eccentric, but there's a darkness to her whimsy that Matt can't begin to comprehend. When Casey attempts to commit suicide, her parents place her in a mental institution. Matt springs her out, and together the young lovers head on a road trip. They believe their love can "cure" Casey's problems. Matt starts to wonder, though, if are they inspired or misguided.

A fictionalized account of the September 11 hijackers.

Antonia Bird's first feature length film; "Safe" from 1993, focused on the plight of the homeless in London.

TV drama - following Adam Bishop, a petty criminal, as he leaves prison for a drugs rehabilitation programme in order to turn his life around.

A documentary directed by Antonia Bird.

A documentary directed by Antonia Bird.

A man struggles to piece together his life after suffering years of abuse in a children's home - a personal battle made doubly difficult by crusading reporters determined to expose the scandal.

Set in a commercial radio station in an enterprise zone called ‘Riverside’, Thin Air involved property development on a massive scale, the disruption and forced exodus of a local community, the stripping away of local authority powers, left-wing activism, designer drugs, media hacks.

TV drama - following Adam Bishop, a petty criminal, as he leaves prison for a drugs rehabilitation programme in order to turn his life around.

While English professor Loretta Lawson is attending a conference in Paris, she stays the night in the flat of a friend's acquaintance. She discovers a sleeping man in one of the bedrooms, and the next morning finds the man gone, but the bed soaked with blood. Returning to Cambridge, she begins to suspect her friend's acquaintance, and others on the staff of the college, are involved with the missing (murdered?) man, and decides to investigate for herself.

Play by Tom McClenaghan, about a routine patrol in the submarine HMS Superior. Strange, near-farcical take on tensions, eccentricities and sexuality among the crew of a Polaris submarine, on a six-week tour of duty off the coast of Faslane in Scotland. Among their number, Neil Pearson is the wily, mascara-wearing, cross-dressing messhand AB Seaman ‘Cock’ Roach, using his Bilko-esque charm to scale the naval pecking order and positively thrive in this tiny, cloistered world

A gripping story of love, deceit, betrayal and survival set against the backdrop of the Miners' Strike of 1984-85. Michelle is married to Gary, a young miner who goes on strike as soon as the dispute between the Thatcher government and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) begins. Meanwhile, her sister Linda's husband Paul is a local policeman. Paul becomes more and more voluble in his opposition to the strike, while Linda looks around her and witnesses the women of her community suddenly find a voice and independence. The scene is set for political and personal conflicts which would change their lives forever.

Playwright Trevor Griffiths' Oi For England, originally set in Moss Side, was first screened by Central TV in April 1982. It was then staged at The Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, directed by the late, then resident director Antonia Bird and featured Paul McGann, Robin Hayter, Dorian Healy, Peter Lovstrom, Paul Moriarty, and Beverley Martin in the cast. The play toured youth clubs and community centres across London in a bid to engage young people in the social and political issues of the day and to unite them against racism and fascism. This film replete with exclusive interviews from Griffiths, musical director Andy Roberts and guests Alan Gilbey (east end writer) and Micky Geggus (Cockney Rejects) looks back at the tour by way of a reunion of the play's original cast and crew almost 30 years later.

After living in Australia for the past decade, Fitz and Judith return to Manchester in 2004 for their daughter Katie's wedding. Drinking too much at the reception, Fitz stumbles through a rambling toast, which only embarrasses the bride. Instead of spending time with his grandson, son of his married son Mark, Fitz opts to join in the investigation of a serial killer who has an apparent dislike of Americans in the wake of the U.S. Invasion of Iraq.