The North East Film Archive is one of a network of regional film archives established to collect, preserve and show film made in, or about the North East of England. Our collections are non-fiction, and date from the early 1900s to the present day, providing a rich record of life in the region over the 20th century. Many of our films are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.
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Fishermen
A gripping ballad of fishermen aboard the Ben Torc trawler chasing the cod shoals on the black night seas to bring the catch back to North Shields.
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Overview
With their nets and cable winches, their boxes and their creels. Theyre the lads that bring the harvest into Shields. An epic in miniature set into sea-faring song by radical folk musicians Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, fishermen aboard the Ben Torc diesel trawler battle rain and sleet squalls and black nights on the North Sea, risking their lives for little reward to bring home the fresh catch to market in North Shields.
As Head of Features in the early years of Tyne Tees TV, Herbert K. Lewenhak produced two little-known ballad films, written, scored and performed by MacColl and Seeger, under the title The Way We Live. These documentaries heroize the working lives of men in the North East and dramatize the tension between tradition and modernity. The Ben Torc was built in 1959 for Richard Irvin & Sons, a new diesel trawler with radar that replaced the old steamers. Along with radio producer Charles Parker, MacColl and Seeger were creators of the critically acclaimed BBC Radio Ballads, first broadcast in 1958, which broke the mould of radio programmes and deeply influenced Lewenhaks television ballads.
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