The Yorkshire Film Archive collects, preserves, and shows film made in, or about Yorkshire. Our collections are non-fiction, dating from the 1890s to the present day, and providing a rich and visually compelling record of all aspects of lives, cultures, landscape, industries, major events and everyday activities, many of which are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.
This film is part of Free
Manor People
A rare chance to see people at the sharp end of the Thatcher revolution speaking about their lives without leading questions or commentary.
From the collection of:
Overview
A Yorkshire Television documentary from 1987 that allows residents of the Manor area of Sheffield to talk at some length about their experiences of living on the large and impoverished council housing estate. The interviews reflect the affection that many residents felt for the estate, despite the neglect of the houses and terrible lack of facilities. They also reveal both the feelings of community, and where this breaks down.
This is the third of a series of four themed programmes that were aired in August 1987, and later re-edited into a single shorter programme broadcast on Channel 4, this time naming those residents who are interviewed. As so often with similar housing projects, the Manor Estate started out with idealism and as an improvement on the slums it replaced, but which by the late 1970s had a reputation that made many steer well clear of it: it was once dubbed by Roy Hattersley (a former chair of Sheffield’s Housing Committee in the sixties) “the worst Estate in Britain”. By 1987 adult unemployment reached almost 30% – 50% on some streets – with a quarter of the unemployed jobless for ten years or more.
Related
Fighting Back Fighting Back
Documentary 1987 27 mins Location: Manor Estate
Residents of a poor council estate display initiative and growing confidence as they create a local theatre group and tenants’ association.
Spare Time Spare Time
Documentary 1987 27 mins Location: Manor Estate
The traditional pastimes of a council estate, revealing the lack of money and the underlining tensions between genders and generations.
Made in Sheffield Made in Sheffield
Documentary 1987 27 mins Location: Manor Estate
A revelation of the resourcefulness of those thrown onto the jobless scrapheap using whatever is on hand to scrape, often literally, a living.
Getting it Back: The Story of Cymande - Q&A Getting it Back: The Story of Cymande - Q&A
Inside Film 2024 22 mins
The director of a documentary about British funk pioneers Cymande joins the band at BFI Southbank to talk about the film.
The West Case The West Case
Action and Adventure 1923 28 mins Silent Location: Tilbury
Plotting world domination, Devil Doctor Fu-Manchu steals plans for a new aero-torpedo in this earliest surviving thrill-a-minute serial instalment.
Enter the Scala!!! Enter the Scala!!!
Inside Film 2024 16 mins
Filmmakers Jane Giles and Ali Catterall discuss their documentary Scala!!!, revisiting the legendary and inspirational cinema venue and some of the most notorious films that screened there.
Smith Smith
Charity appeal 1939 10 mins
Long thought lost, this Powell-directed promotional short for a veteran’s charity was only rediscovered in 2003.
An Airman's Letter to His Mother An Airman's Letter to His Mother
Documentary 1941 6 mins
A poignant, stirring letter from a recently deceased pilot to his mother is read by John Gielgud.
The NHS75 Celebration The NHS75 Celebration
Short documentary 2023 3 mins
Former Bristol Poet Laureate, Miles Chambers reads a poem specially commissioned for the 75th anniversary of the NHS.