 A frequent collaborator of director Ken Loach, Barry Hines was committed to
writing about the working class (particularly in his native Yorkshire) in a way
that did justice to the complexity of 'ordinary' life. Although he is best known
as the author of Kes (1969), he was also responsible for a number of notable
television dramas, including the powerful anti-nuclear piece, Threads (1984).
Hines was born on 30 June 1939 in the South Yorkshire mining village of Hoyland Common, near
Barnsley, where his father worked down the pit. He did well enough at school to
pass his 11-plus and enter Ecclesfield Grammar School, where he excelled at
sport and was picked for the England Grammar Schools' football team. Although he
left school to work as an apprentice mining surveyor and play soccer for
Barnsley, he later returned to education and trained as a PE teacher.
It was while working as a teacher in Yorkshire that he wrote his first novel,
The Blinder (1966) about an ambitious working-class footballer (called 'Lennie
Hawk'). This attracted the attention of television producer Tony Garnett, who
invited him to write a Wednesday Play (1964-70) for the BBC. Hines, however, had already
embarked on his second novel, which he promised to send to Garnett once it was
finished. The ensuing book, A Kestrel for a Knave (1968), about a young
working-class lad's passion for training a kestrel, became Hines' best-known and
most popular work.
Garnett was keen to turn it into a film, which would became the first
production for his new company, Kestrel Films, set up after his departure from
the BBC. Kes was shot in and around the Barnsley area and involved a number of
Hines' friends and family (including his brother Richard, who trained the
kestrels employed in the film, and fellow PE teacher Brian Glover). Hines also
collaborated with director Ken Loach and Garnett on the screenplay, which
simplified the novel's use of flashbacks but retained its central vision of a
life weighed down by social and economic disadvantage.
Despite some initial difficulties in securing distribution, Kes eventually
proved a success and paved the way for further work with Loach. 'The Price of
Coal', which Garnett also produced, was a two-part Play for Today (BBC, 1970-84) set in a South
Yorkshire mining village. The first part ('Meet the People: A film for the Silver
Jubilee', tx. 29/3/1977) provides a wry observation of the absurdities
surrounding the preparations for a royal visit while the second ('Back to
Reality', tx. 5/4/1977) is a moving account of a pit accident that leaves a
number of men trapped underground. Hines' novel The Gamekeeper (1975), dealing
with the experiences of a steel-worker turned gamekeeper, provided the source
for Loach's 'dramatised documentary' of the same name (ITV, tx. 16/12/1980),
while Looks and Smiles (1981), in which a school-leaver embarks upon a search
for his first job, was partly conceived as a follow-up to Kes. Although made for
Central Television, Looks and Smiles emerged as a quietly memorable film that
went on to win the prize for contemporary cinema at the 1981 Cannes Film
Festival.
Although Hines subsequently acted as script editor on Loach's The Navigators
(2001) - a film with more than a passing resemblance to 'The Price of Coal' -
Looks and Smiles was, in effect, the end of Hines' partnership with Loach (who
opted at this point to concentrate on making documentaries). Loach, however, was
not Hines' only collaborator and, prior to 'The Price of Coal', Hines had already
written two Plays for Today: an adaptation of his radio play about mining,
'Billy's Last Stand' (BBC, tx. 4/2/1971), and a school drama with echoes of Kes,
'Speech Day' (BBC, tx. 26/3/1973). A short play based on his grandfather's
experiences, 'Two Men from Derby' (tx. 21/2/1976), also formed part of the BBC's
Centre Play series.
His most famous television work, however, was Threads (BBC, tx. 23/9/1984), a
powerful documentary-drama dealing with the aftermath of a nuclear attack on
Sheffield that went on to win a Best Single Drama BAFTA. Thereafter Hines drew further inspiration
from his experiences of football. Shooting Stars (Channel 4, tx. 17/5/1990)
tells the story of a footballer kidnapped by children, while 'Born Kicking'
(Screen One, BBC, tx. 20/9/1992), produced by Tony Garnett, follows a young
woman's battle to be accepted into the male world of professional football.
Alongside his film and television career, Hines also maintained a steady output
of novels (nine in all). In 2009, the Yorkshire-based publisher, Pomona,
compiled an anthology of previously unpublished work, This Artistic Life.
John Hill
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FILM & TV CREDITS
