Rita, Sue and Bob Too

Alan Clarke’s screen adaptation of playwright Andrea Dunbar’s uninhibited portrait of working-class life caused outrage at the time and reset the debate about class and representation on screen.

One of the key impacts of the arrival of Channel 4 on the filmmaking landscape of the 1980s was the surfacing of new regional voices; none more so authentic and abrasive than young Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar. Her plays about her working-class experience of growing up and living in the then notorious Buttershaw estate in Bradford had been staged at the Royal Court.

This film adaptation written by Dunbar which combined the original play and The Arbor was championed by legendary producer Sandy Lieberson (Performance 1970) and directed by radical and uncompromising television director Alan Clarke. The subject matter - two 15-year-old friends and their sexual relationship with a married man - delivered as defiant comedy - divided critical opinion and with the tag line “Thatcher’s Britain with her knickers Down” sparked debates about the film’s politics, representation and morality.

Revisiting Rita, Sue and Bob Too in a post MeToo and grooming scandal world can make for uncomfortable collision of realities. At the core of the film though is the creative voice of Andrea Dunbar which still challenges us to face the realities of her experience.

With thanks to Park Circus and Channel 4.

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