The miners’ strike of 1984-5 had a profound impact on Britain’s politics, economy and society. For those on strike, and their families, it felt like an existential struggle to save not only their jobs, but their communities, and the life they knew.
Jonny Owen was just 13 and growing up in Merthyr Tydfil when it began. As it was kicking off, his parents told the family that they were going to give a substantial share of their wages to the striking miners for the duration of the dispute. His father and grandfather had worked underground.
Jonny couldn’t understand how anyone could argue with the decision to strike – after all, they just wanted to keep their jobs.
The miners lost their fight, and today, the South Wales Valleys suffer deep-seated problems – low skills, unemployment, and high sickness rates.
Jonny, a filmmaker, now lives in Nottingham – an area that could not have been more different from South Wales during the strike, with nine out of ten miners going to work throughout the dispute. His friendships cross the divide between the men who went on strike and those who didn’t – and the scars are still deeply felt forty years on.
In this series, he talks to people who were at the heart of the strike – on both sides – as he tries to make sense of what happened and why.
The conflict was bitter, the battle lines were stark, but the old certainties seem to shift like sand beneath his feet. Join him on his journey into the heart of one of the most tumultuous events in 20th-century Britain.
Strike is a Bengo Media Production for BBC Sounds.
Presenter: Jonny Owen Series Producer: Clare Hudson Executive Producer: Steve Austins Assistant Producer: Ffion Clarke Development Producer: Branwen Davies Sound Designer: Meic Parry Sound Editor: Adam Whalley Composer: Richard Llewellyn Series Consultant: Dr Ben Curtis Commissioning Editor: Bridget Curnow
The miners’ strike of 1984-5 had a profound impact on Britain’s politics, economy and society. For those on strike, and their families, it felt like an existential struggle to save not only their jobs, but their communities, and the life they knew.
Jonny Owen was just 13 and growing up in Merthyr Tydfil when it began. As it was kicking off, his parents told the family that they were going to give a substantial share of their wages to the striking miners for the duration of the dispute. His father and grandfather had worked underground.
Jonny couldn’t understand how anyone could argue with the decision to strike – after all, they just wanted to keep their jobs.
The miners lost their fight, and today, the South Wales Valleys suffer deep-seated problems – low skills, unemployment, and high sickness rates.
Jonny, a filmmaker, now lives in Nottingham – an area that could not have been more different from South Wales during the strike, with nine out of ten miners going to work throughout the dispute. His friendships cross the divide between the men who went on strike and those who didn’t – and the scars are still deeply felt forty years on.
In this series, he talks to people who were at the heart of the strike – on both sides – as he tries to make sense of what happened and why.
The conflict was bitter, the battle lines were stark, but the old certainties seem to shift like sand beneath his feet. Join him on his journey into the heart of one of the most tumultuous events in 20th-century Britain.
Strike is a Bengo Media Production for BBC Sounds.
Presenter: Jonny Owen Series Producer: Clare Hudson Executive Producer: Steve Austins Assistant Producer: Ffion Clarke Development Producer: Branwen Davies Sound Designer: Meic Parry Sound Editor: Adam Whalley Composer: Richard Llewellyn Series Consultant: Dr Ben Curtis Commissioning Editor: Bridget Curnow
There are efforts behind the scenes to get a deal between the National Union of Mineworkers and the Coal Board to bring the strike to an end. It’s a dark time for Labour leader Neil Kinnock as he tries to persuade both sides to agree on how proposed pit closures should be assessed. He is appalled at Arthur Scargill’s apparent refusal to negotiate.
Meanwhile, the law is being used to weaken the NUM’s ability to run the strike – injunctions are brought by working miners who say the dispute is unofficial because there has not been a ballot. Neil Kinnock is clear that the lack of a ballot is the union’s Achilles heel. But that is not what grassroots members in South Wales say: they remain loyal to their leader Arthur Scargill, who, as they see it, is defending their communities.
David Hunt MP gets a phone call from his Prime Minister – and within hours he goes on television as the new Minister for Coal. He promises there will be no power cuts on his watch.
And there is what looks like some good news: the colliery overseers’ union NACODs has voted to strike which would bring the whole industry to its knees within days. But that is another false dawn for the NUM.
Presenter: Jonny Owen Series Producer: Clare Hudson Executive Producer: Steve Austins Assistant Producer: Ffion Clarke Development Producer: Branwen Davies Sound Designer: Meic Parry Sound Editor: Adam Whalley Composer: Richard Llewellyn Series Consultant: Dr Ben Curtis Commissioning Editor: Bridget Curnow