Jim Allen

Writing

Jim Allen

Born — Died

1926-10-07 — 1999-06-24

Place of birth

Manchester, England

Known for

Writing

Credits

13 titles

James Allen was a socialist playwright from Miles Platting, Manchester, Lancashire, best known for his collaborations with Ken Loach. Allen began to write during his time as a miner. In 1958, he was involved in the launch and publication of The Miner. In 1964, he submitted a script to Granada TV, and was taken on as a scriptwriter for the soap opera Coronation Street (1965–67), a series for which he had little sympathy. His later play, The Talking Head (1969), recounts the experience of a talented writer driven to a nervous breakdown by the pressure of "episode delivery dates". Allen's first play, The Hard Word (1966), directed by Ridley Scott, was broadcast as part of the Thirty-Minute The…

Known for

United Kingdom poster
7.0

Incendiary 1981 Play for Today, written by Jim Allen and directed by Roland Joffé that tells the story of a group of housing estate residents who attempt to organise against persistent rent rises.

United Kingdom

1981

Land and Freedom poster
7.3

Summer 1936: young unemployed communist David Carr leaves Liverpool to join the fight against fascism in Spain. He joins an international group of Militia-men and women, the POUM (Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista). After being wounded, he goes to Barcelona, where he joins another group of fighters.

Land and Freedom

1995

Hidden Agenda poster
7.0

In Ireland, American lawyer Ingrid Jessner and her activist partner, Paul Sullivan, struggle to uncover atrocities committed by the British government against the Northern Irish during the "Troubles." But when Sullivan is assassinated in the streets, Jessner teams up with Peter Kerrigan, a British investigator acting against the will of his own government, and struggles to uncover a conspiracy that may even implicate one of Kerrigan's colleagues.

Hidden Agenda

1990

Raining Stones poster
6.9

Proud, though poor, Bob wants his little girl to have a beautiful (and costly) brand-new dress for her First Communion. His stubbornness and determination get him into trouble as he turns to increasingly questionable measures, in his desperation to raise the needed money. This tragic flaw leads him to risk all that he loves and values, his beloved family, indeed even his immortal soul and salvation, in blind pursuit of that goal.

Raining Stones

1993

Walt, King of the Dumper poster
NR

Walt finds the voluptuous Jasmine a more exciting proposition than digging a trench...

Walt, King of the Dumper

1971

Versus: The Life and Films of Ken Loach poster
6.6

A surprisingly candid behind-the-scenes account of the career of Ken Loach, one of Britain’s most celebrated and controversial filmmakers, as he prepares to release his final major film I, Daniel Blake.

Versus: The Life and Films of Ken Loach

2016

Film credits

Behind the camera

United Kingdom poster
7.0

Incendiary 1981 Play for Today, written by Jim Allen and directed by Roland Joffé that tells the story of a group of housing estate residents who attempt to organise against persistent rent rises.

United Kingdom

1981

Land and Freedom poster
7.3

Summer 1936: young unemployed communist David Carr leaves Liverpool to join the fight against fascism in Spain. He joins an international group of Militia-men and women, the POUM (Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista). After being wounded, he goes to Barcelona, where he joins another group of fighters.

Land and Freedom

1995

Hidden Agenda poster
7.0

In Ireland, American lawyer Ingrid Jessner and her activist partner, Paul Sullivan, struggle to uncover atrocities committed by the British government against the Northern Irish during the "Troubles." But when Sullivan is assassinated in the streets, Jessner teams up with Peter Kerrigan, a British investigator acting against the will of his own government, and struggles to uncover a conspiracy that may even implicate one of Kerrigan's colleagues.

Hidden Agenda

1990

Raining Stones poster
6.9

Proud, though poor, Bob wants his little girl to have a beautiful (and costly) brand-new dress for her First Communion. His stubbornness and determination get him into trouble as he turns to increasingly questionable measures, in his desperation to raise the needed money. This tragic flaw leads him to risk all that he loves and values, his beloved family, indeed even his immortal soul and salvation, in blind pursuit of that goal.

Raining Stones

1993

Walt, King of the Dumper poster
NR

Walt finds the voluptuous Jasmine a more exciting proposition than digging a trench...

Walt, King of the Dumper

1971

The Rank and File poster
6.8

Wilkinsons glass-works dominates a Staffordshire town. After a small walkout over pay discrepancies, the workers of the factory vote to go on strike, but they are denied support by their trade union.

The Rank and File

1971

Willie's Last Stand poster
NR

Every man needs just one night out, off the leash. Willie's attempt to prove himself provides a painfully funny and painfully sad comment on the battle of the sexes.

Willie's Last Stand

1982

The Spongers poster
10.0

In the days leading up the Queen's Silver Jubilee, Pauline, a recently separated single mother, receives a visit from a bailiff and is given 15 days to address her overdue rent payments. Meanwhile, the local council is under pressure to cut expenditure, and their decisions result in Pauline's mentally handicapped daughter Paula being transferred from a care home for special needs children to an old people's home, where she is all alone.

The Spongers

1978

A Choice of Evils poster
NR

Cardinal Volponi tries to save his old friend, a priest-turned-militant communist, from being executed by the Nazis alongside 334 other hostages but struggles to reason with either the Vatican, the Nazis or his friend.

A Choice of Evils

1977

The Big Flame poster
6.8

After a prolonged industrial dispute in the Liverpool Docks, the striking workers reject management demands of a return to work and decide instead to occupy the docks and run the operation themselves.

The Big Flame

1969

The Lump poster
NR

The Lump is an uncompromising exploration of exploitation and resistance within the building trade.

The Lump

1967