This was Jim Allen's last broadcast television play, it featured in the Jim Allen retrospective at Manchester Home this month (January 2016). It has a familiar ring to it, because it features a central government hell bent on cutting funding for public services and the effects this has on a particular town. Unlike any council in the present austerity-infected era, though, this town's council refuses to implement the cuts. Every councillor then gets barred from holding office and a central government-appointed commissioner is sent in to run the town. Meanwhile, the local politicians form a council-in-exile and with the help of council tenants and trade unionists, set out to obstruct and oppose the commissioner. This ultimately leads to central government trying to criminalise them, and open warfare with the police. This play has resonance for me because it foreshadows what nearly happened in Liverpool a few years later, when Militant Tendency took over the city council, refused to set a rate that would have involved spending cuts, and 47 of their councillors were barred from office; and there was talk of sending in a commissioner to run the city. As a depiction of small people battling for the things important to them against those in power, and nearly succeeding, this play is inspiring. And there are comic scenes where the ordinary people use their ingenuity to foil those in power. But from the perspective of 2016, the politics are wishful thinking. The few councillors who have actively opposed spending cuts in the present era have had their Labour Party membership revoked, and the chances of large numbers of public housing estate residents manning the barricades is remote. But if you prefer to set aside the politics, this TV play is worth watching for its authentic dialogue and characters and the careful plotting that builds steadily to a gripping climax.
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