Summary
Hearts and Minds is a British television series created by Jimmy McGovern and first aired on Channel 4 from 16 February to 9 March 1995. The series won the Royal Television Society award for Best Serial Drama.[1]
| Hearts and Minds | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Drama |
| Created by | Jimmy McGovern |
| Written by | Jimmy McGovern |
| Directed by | Stephen Whittaker |
| Starring |
|
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 4 |
| Production | |
| Producers |
|
| Cinematography | Graham Frake |
| Editor | Max Lemon |
| Running time | 63 minutes |
| Production companies | Alomo Productions WitzEnd Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network | Channel 4 |
| Release | 16 February – 9 March 1995 |
The series is about a young teacher at a tough Liverpool high school. After working in a factory, Drew Mackenzie (Christopher Eccleston) manages to educate himself to become a teacher. He wants to share his idealistic approach to rising above his circumstances with his Liverpool students, but soon finds himself caught in the crossfire of racial tensions, homophobia, and the difficult home lives of the teenagers.[2]
According to series creator Jimmy McGovern, the series was based in part on the three years he spent as an English teacher at the Quarry Bank school in Liverpool.[3] The series was well reviewed by British critics, who praised its realism as compared to other well known school dramas.[4]
Cast edit
- Lynda Steadman as Emma Mackenzie
- Christopher Eccleston as Drew Mackenzie
- David Harewood as Trevor
- Ian McElhinney as Alex
- Sara Mair-Thomas as Mo
- Peter Halliday as Shotton
- Pauline Black as Joanna
- Jonathan Dow as Maurice
- Peter Armitage as Norman
- Mark Womack as Archie
- Ann Joseph as Maggie
- Trina Ali as Sahira
- Paul Fox as Tony
- John Brady as kid
References edit
- ^ RTS Awards Archive (February 2011), p. 19 (accessed 2014-02-20).
- ^ Tom Sutcliffe & Roger Perks, "The Prime of Mr McKenzie", The Independent, 9 February 1995.
- ^ Daniel Rosenthal, "Arts: And Those Who Can, Write Plays", The Independent, 23 November 1997.
- ^ Susan Ellsmore, Carry On, Teachers!: Representations of the Teaching Profession in Screen Culture (Trentham Books, 2005), ISBN 978-1858563596, pp. 21ff. Excerpts available at Google Books.
External links edit
- Hearts and Minds (1995) at IMDb
