A special edition of the Tyne Tees Television current affairs programme ‘Briefing’ about two independently made films both produced by two different Swiss television companies about the current state of the region. Edited versions of both films are shown followed by an in-studio discussion about the issues raised led by the programme’s presenter Michael Rudd. Title: Tyne Tees Over the opening titles a montage of clips taken from a film produced by Samuel Plattner that will feature in this...

A special edition of the Tyne Tees Television current affairs programme ‘Briefing’ about two independently made films both produced by two different Swiss television companies about the current state of the region. Edited versions of both films are shown followed by an in-studio discussion about the issues raised led by the programme’s presenter Michael Rudd. Title: Tyne Tees Over the opening titles a montage of clips taken from a film produced by Samuel Plattner that will feature in this programme. Title: Briefing The Swiss Connection In the Tyne Tees Television studio in Newcastle, presenter Michael Rudd introduces the programme which will feature two very different films both produced for Swiss television about the North-East. Due to their original lengths both have been shortened but retain in edited versions the themes these individual films develop. Turning to a television screen the first of these two films begins produced by Samuel Plattner for Swiss German television that includes English subtitles. Underground inside the Mahogany Drift Mine at Beamish Museum former miner Bob Whipps pushes a coal wagon being pulled by a pit pony towards the drift entrance. They appear from the mine into the sunlight. Along a nearby railway line a steam train appears through a cloud of steam trundling along the track. On the footplate the driver pulls the whistle as it passes the signal box at Rowley Station. Inside the signal box the Signalman pulls several leavers, as he works he talks about being employed at the museum but without much chance of finding permanent employment there. He explains why. The train departs Rowley Station pulling several coal wagons. In the 1900s Town visitors looking around the Co-Op Store while nearby the bandstand inside Redman Park and a tram passing along Ravensworth Terrace. At the controls is tram driver Bob Page, in voiceover he talks about his fears of not being able to find permanent work due to his age. Inside the tram cabin a conductor take passenger fares and gives out tickets to tourists. In a recording studio in the town of Consett a local pop group rehearse the song ‘I’m Not Going to Work on Maggie’s Farm’. An aerial showing the site of the former steel works which closed six years previous now a large empty space with no trace of the works left. Archive footage of Consett before closer with the steel works dominating the skyline changes to a woman walking along a terraced street passing a piece of open ground on which once stood part of the steelworks. Sitting around a table a group of former steelworkers talk about their future prospects and life after the closer of the works as well as what they believe is meant by unemployed. In Middlesbrough the gondola of the Transporter Bridge crosses the River Tees. A local television crews speaks with Conservative MP Kenneth Clarke, then Employment Secretary who is on a visit to the town. He is asked about the issues of unemployment affecting the region. Samuel Plattner then speaks with Mr Clarke about youth unemployment in the area and the work being done to get the long-term unemployed back to work. In Durham City Framwellgate Bridge crossing the River Wear with the towers of Durham Cathedral and battlements of Durham Castle above. Sitting in a library the Right Reverend David Jenkins Bishop of Durham talks about living in a ‘new society’ where full-time or permanent employment is not possible. He sees the possibility of violence and unrest if the country continues to be divided into the haves and have nots. Returning to Kenneth Clarke, he disagrees with Samuel Plattner who comments that the long term unemployed should be allowed to find an alternative lifestyle away from work as he believes people in Middlesbrough do want to find employment and careers. Returning briefing to David Jenkins who talks about alternative project that are available for the long-term unemployed he mentions the work of Cannon Hall. Two young men entering an IMPASSE unemployment centre in Middlesbrough. Inside a slide show about the work of IMPASSE which is to create a better society and give purpose and direction without paid employment. Following the slide show and interview with the founder of IMPASSE Cannon Bill Hall who is asked what relevance does centres like this have outside this area of high unemployment such as Cleveland? On board a coach heading to London unemployed men and women from Consett on their way to a concert at the Royal Albert Hall. As the journey south continues Samuel Plattner ends his film by asking with 19 million unemployed in Western Europe should these radical ideas about how the long-term unemployed should fill their time be taken more seriously? Back in the Tyne Tees studio Michael Rudd leads a discussion on the points made in this film with Samuel Plattner himself, the Right Reverend David Jenkins Bishop of Durham, Reary Atkinson Chairman on the newly formed Northern Development Company and Chris Tighe Northeast correspondent for the Daily Telegraph newspaper. Title: End of Part One Part Two The second part of the programme begins with Michael Rudd introducing the second film made about the region by Matteo Bellinelli from Swiss Italian television. Again, Michael advising that the film has been edited to a quarter of its originalunemployment with a translated commentary in English. Tyne Tees cameras catch up with Matteo Bellinelli while filming in Hebburn, he is asked what he is hoping to achieve. He responds by saying that he is trying to show to Swiss audience’s different realities of what is happening in the Northeast with the death of a certain industrial era and the lack of preparedness for a transition from an industrial to a post-industrial society. He believes these changes will have significance to the rest of the continent. Matteo directs his small camera crew as they shoot a group of young men leaving a shipyard, in voiceover he talks about wanting to capture a different view of England than those in Switzerland or Europe are usually exposed to. A class of schoolboys from The Chorister School wearing cloaks and mortarboard hats make they’re through the cloisters of Durham Cathedral into their classroom inside the Monks Dormitory. In voiceover Matteo talking about the class and how England is a divided country. Title: Inghilterra Reale With the schoolboys singing a hymn the film changes to the back alley of a row of terraced houses where a small girl is skipping, and a boy plays on his BMX bicycle. They and other children pose artistically for the camera with one boy standing on the roof of a garage. Two small blonde-haired girls sit in the corner of a yard while a third girl sits on the alley outside. On a school cricket pitch a game being played with classmates watching on, applauding and changing the scoreboard when a run is made. The film changes to a rowdy comprehensive school playground with children crowding around the camera with some pulling faces and laughing. From one of the classrooms at The Chorister School in Durham, Headmaster Raymond Lawrence states that if you have the money, you can send your children to the school of your choice or move to an area with a good state school. He goes into further detail on England educational system. An Inter-City 125 passenger train cross the High-Level Bridge into Newcastle, in the foreground the Swing Bridge also crossing the River Tyne. Other bridges crossing the Tyne with road traffic passing between Newcastle and Gateshead and a cargo train passing in the distance and a second local passenger train crosses the High-Level Bridge. Along the Newcastle Quayside a fishing trawler and a second larger vessel moored in front of it. At a local shipyard workers come down a set of steps changes to a boat on the Tyne passing the Titan II floating crane. In the foreground other large cranes possibly at Swan Hunters naval yards at High Walker. As the boat continues along the river scaffolding surrounds a ship under construction in dry dock and the bow of another naval vessel moored along a quayside during fitting out. Three men watch from the deck of the tanker Regent as the camera passes. The initial F98 are stencilled on the side of the frigate HMS Coventry as the camera passes by. A shipyard worker stares at the camera, sitting behind him out of focus his wife. The film cuts between the two of them talking about how much money they earn, their fears for the closure of the yards and the bitterness they feel towards the government for not supporting the shipbuilding industry. From the Tyne Bridge traffic passing by and shipyard crane along the banks of the Tyne in the distance. Sitting in the Quire inside Durham Cathedral pupils from The Chorister School singing a hymn. In voiceover one of the boys talks about wanting to get a better report card next term changing to him sitting on his Union Jack duvet inside his school dormitory talking about wanting to be a pop star when he leaves school. The Wildon Brothers from Durham perform a song about the miner’s struggle. The song ends and two members of the group comes forward to the microphone to talk about their music and why it is so political. On a television screen Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher makes a speech about the 18 million people in Britian who’s earnings are at or below average male earning, she explains it is only the Conservatives who can give them a fair deal and keep more of what they earn. The film ends on a model Inter-City 125 passenger train travels along a track passing a cargo traing travelling in the opposite direction. Once again, the programme returns to the Tyne Tees studio and Michael Rudd leads a discussion on the points made in Matteo Bellinelli with the guests featured earlier. The programme ends with Michael Rudd providing details on next weeks edition. Over the closing credits another montage from Matteo Bellinelli film. Credit: Zeit Spiegel Arbeitslosigkeit from Swiss German TV Zurick Director Samuel Plattner Inghilterra Reale from Swiss Italian TV Lugano Director Matteo Bellinelli Translation Douglas Sharp, Silvano Levy Italian Narration Simonetta Manfredi VT Editor Kevin Tait Associate Producer Ian Krause Director Bernard Preston Producer Phil Martin In slow-motion a girl skipping in a back alley. End title: Tyne Tees. © Tyne Tees Television Ltd. MCMLXXXVI