Mike Bradwell

Writer and Director Mike Leigh discusses the techniques used to create his plays.

Moments from the uncompromisingly bleak existence of a secretary, her intellectually disabled sister, aloof and uneasy teacher boyfriend, bizarre neighbor and irritating workmate.

In a cell in a London police station, a suspected I.R.A. bomber, Roche, has been detained for questioning. To help them in the interrogation, the London coppers have summoned Nelson, a detective from Northern Ireland's predominantly Protestant police force, the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

Brixton in the early 80s. Viv presides over a cheerfully immoral and variously under-employed bunch of ex-Oxford playmates in her parents' gentrified home. But when Jane's boyfriend introduces a discordant note of reality from the streets, Viv plots her retribution. And behind her double-locked doors there are some hard feelings to contend with.

The pupils of the Dora Jackson School of Dancing compete in the 1960 Classical Dance Festival in Scarborough. Fifties rock 'n' roll meets classical ballet with the arrival of Dora's ex-boyfriend Clifford and a mysterious ghost.

The pupils of the Dora Jackson School of Dancing compete in the 1960 Classical Dance Festival in Scarborough. Fifties rock 'n' roll meets classical ballet with the arrival of Dora's ex-boyfriend Clifford and a mysterious ghost.

Nobody goes to Amsterdam to wander about. It's either the Rijksmuseum or the red light district. On the boat going home, Clive and Stewart admit to not having spot long in the museums - so what did they get up to in Amsterdam?

Nobody goes to Amsterdam to wander about. It's either the Rijksmuseum or the red light district. On the boat going home, Clive and Stewart admit to not having spot long in the museums - so what did they get up to in Amsterdam?

Between performances in Seaton Carew, Albie and Carla sort out their wedding, the broken tannoy, Elsie Tanner's chiropodist and whether their friend Lita should go nude with the snakes.