Paul, a former miner, writes a hard-hitting screenplay about his own experiences of the 1984 miners' strike. However, the Hollywood production company that gets hold of his script turns it into a ludicrously sensationalist and anachronistic action film, starring Al Pacino as Arthur Scargill, and Meryl Streep as his wife.
Acting
Peter Richardson's unhinged Pacino impression as Arthur Scargill
Writing
Razor-sharp evisceration of Hollywood's historical revisionism
Direction
Relentless pacing that mirrors the chaos it mocks
Director
Peter Richardson
Peter Richardson
Al Pacino as Arthur Scargill
Jennifer Saunders
Meryl Streep as Mrs Scargill
Alexei Sayle
Paul
Dawn French
Verity/Old Lady/Celebrity
Nigel Planer
Bernard/Old Man/Camp Actor
Robbie Coltrane
Goldie/Dutch/Celebrity
Adrian Edmondson
Adrian/Slim/Policeman
Keith Allen
Film Exec/Camp Actor 2/Celebrity
Rik Mayall
Speaker/Hunchback
Ronald Allen
Prime Minister
Derren Nesbitt
Chauffeur/McGregor
Steven O'Donnell
Gerry/2nd Man/Picketer
Daniel Peacock
Workman 1
Pete Richens
Workman 2
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The 1984 miners' strike was one of Britain's most bitter industrial disputes; this film savages how American cinema routinely flattens complex working-class struggles into hero-villain spectacle.
This was Comic Strip Presents... at its most politically furious — made during Thatcher's final years, it captures raw leftist rage that mainstream British comedy rarely dared express.
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