Produced by Trade Films and Parallax Picture, a fictionalised television news programme extoling the virtues of combined power and heating systems. Through a series of news reports, the film outlines the reasons why this system is needed, now it would work and the benefits it will bring not only with cheap heating, but also employment opportunities and saving the British coal industry. At Bates Colliery near Blyth in Northumberland several loader’s scoop up and fill large lorries with...

Produced by Trade Films and Parallax Picture, a fictionalised television news programme extoling the virtues of combined power and heating systems. Through a series of news reports, the film outlines the reasons why this system is needed, now it would work and the benefits it will bring not only with cheap heating, but also employment opportunities and saving the British coal industry. At Bates Colliery near Blyth in Northumberland several loader’s scoop up and fill large lorries with coal. Title: Trade Films and Parallax Picture present Title: Hot News The cooling towers of Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire with steam rising from some of them. Nearby electrical pylons disappearing off into the distance. In the control room of a television studio technician and producers prepare for transmission while in her dressing room the programmes female presenter puts on makeup. In the studio the Stage Manager checks everything is ready and presenter Beverly Anderson take her place at her desk. Up in the control booth a countdown to the start of the programme with people talking over each other. Title: 800 News A montage of shots from the stories featured in the programme with Beverly Anderson providing details. Beverly introduces the first story on ‘the scandal of hyperthermia’ and the death of an elderly woman; Ilene Knight. A filmed report begins with views of Mrs Knights flat and reporter Aziz Kurtha providing details on how she died and how it is linked to the flat inadequate heating system and poor insulation. Standing beside Mrs Knight’s grave Aziz talks about the numbers of people at risk each year from hypothermia. The report over the camera pans right to reveal another freshly dug grave. Back in the studio Beverly Anderson introduced the second story on how an increase in unemployment is linked to a new range of social problem. In the offices of a Tyneside loan shark a desperate mother hands over her Family Allowance book in order to secure a £30 loan. She explains to reporter Alison Leigh why she is borrowing money from this ‘obvious crook’. She explains she has no other options. Standing along the Newcastle Quayside Alison reports on the ‘return of loan sharks to Tyneside’ and how the rise in social issues is linked to the decline in prosperity in the area. At Bates Colliery in Northumberland, Alison reports on the closure of pits in the region before speaking with Ronnie Campbell, president of the local miner’s lodge who explains why this pit should remain open and how coal could be mined more cheaply. In the final part of the report Alison walking through an empty and mothballed Tyneside engineering factory explaining that two-thirds of the companies’ workforce has been laid-off due to lack of orders. She concludes by saying with so much manpower and machinery laying idol we can only look forward to more social deprivation. Back to the studio Beverly moves onto a third report on violent scenes between police and protesters who have occupied the offices of British Plutonium in West London. As more details of the protest are provided police work to eject protestors from the offices with one officer placing his hand over the camera. As the protestors chant ‘nuclear power out!’ from an upstairs window a woman throws out leaflet with them fluttering down past several large anti-nuclear banners hang down the building. Standing outside the offices reporter Aziz Kurtha speaks with a representative of the protest group, the Anti-Nuclear Alliance, about what they are protesting about. He explains that they want Britain to stop being a ‘dumping ground’ for nuclear waste. Inside a female representative from British Plutonium believe the claims made by the Anti-Nuclear Alliance are greatly exaggerated, in the background the police continue to eject protestors. Back outside Aziz ends his report by posing the question, is there any form of energy that is pollution free? Back in the studio Beverly moves onto a ‘brighter note’ and a story about the Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire. Over views of the power stations massive turbines and steam pipes details are provided by reporter Mamta Kash of how electricity is generated at the station and about away the company has found to make use of its waste heat. Standing outside Mamta explains how this waste heat is being used to heat the massive greenhouses behind her. Will we have cheaper tomatoes or cheaper electricity she asks. Back in the studio Beverly moves onto a related report about Southwick Borough Council in London’s plans to upgrade its heating schemes on many of its housing estates. Reporter Trevor Hyett walks though one of these estates of high-rise apartment blocks talking about the affordability of district heating systems. Standing in the basement where the heating pipes are fed to the surrounding housing stock, Trevor provides details on what a district heating system is and how it works. However, he asks, why hasn’t such systems caught on elsewhere? The report moves to Nottingham where Trevor speaks with a woman called Liz in her flat which is part of a district heating scheme. She complains about the many issues these systems have and the problems she has reporting them. In a high-rise apartment back in Southwick Trevor stands beside a newly installed radiator and talks about the possibility of further improvements to the system thanks to the Greater London Council (GLC) linking the district heating system to combined heat and power. In the control booth back in the television studio technicians at work changes to the studio floor where Beverly Anderson standing behind a table. In front of her a model which she uses to help demonstration how a conventional power station works, how waste energy is expelled through cooling towers and how this energy could be captures and used to heat homes, offices and factories as part of a combined heat and power system. Trevor Hyett walks along a snow-covered street in the Danish city of Odense which uses a combined heat and power system that is, unlike in Britain, controlled and managed on a local level. At nearby Fyn Power Station a large loader moves buckets of coal from one area to another while inside a large turbine in operation generating electricity. Trevor walks through the control room of the power station and explains that the room not only control the generation of electricity, but also the supply hot water for a central heating system. In another Odense suburban street engineers work to connect a home to the district heating system, Trevor speaks with the homeowner about why he chooses to convert to district heating. Inside the house Trevor shows of the system works. Standing beside a stockpile of coal at Bates Colliery Alison Leigh explains why it would be ‘economic madness’ not to exploit the country's vast deposits of coal to help support a combined power and heating system such as the one in Denmark. Both she and Trevor Hyett extol the virtues of combined power and heat and why such a system would be of value to the United Kingdom providing cheap heart and much needed employment opportunities. Back at the cemetery Aziz Kurtha joins the conversation by saying this ‘common sense heating system’ would also reduce the number of older people dying from hyperthermia. Returning to the studio Beverly Anderson reiterating many of points made in the programme in support of a combined power and heat system. The programme ends with another presenter giving a weather report on several cold fronts moving in over Great Britain and Ireland. As he is giving the report a young black cameraman moves his camera in closer on the presenter. Credit: Presented by Beverly Anderson Actors Amber Styles, Art Davies, Yvonne Riley, Alfred Hoffman, Andy Cunningham Commentators Trevor Hyett, Aziz Kurtha, Mamta Kash, Alison Leigh Model-maker Matthew Bury Researchers Martin Spence, Gary Craig Music Simon Henry, Lindsey Lowe Sound Ellie Burridge Camera Witold Stok Editor Lynda J Fowke Producer Sally Hibbin Director Maxim Ford Title: Produced for Popular Planning Unit Greater London Council Material about the film available from Trade Films, 36 Bottle Bank, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, NE8 2AR End title: An ACTT franchised workshop funded by Channel Four, BFI, Tyne and Wear and Gateshead Councils