Days of Hope (1975)

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Ken Loach: This was a four part series for the BBC written by Jim Allen and produced by Tony Garnett, whom I worked with over a long period and whose partnership is immensely valuable to me. Days of Hope was the story of the beginning of the labour movement from the First World War to the General Strike, a period when all the problems that are inherent in the labour movement first emerged.

All the people in this picture played an important part in the film but Paul Copley, second on the left and Alun Armstrong on the right, emerged strongly in the films.

This is a scene where Nikolas Simmonds, who is a conscientious objector, is talking to another conscientious objector played by Peter Armitage and at this point is saying one of the best lines that Jim Allen ever wrote, "The only war worth fighting is the class war".

The quality of Jim's writing, obviously I am biased, has a depth of analysis to it, which is just on a different level.