The British television director Alan Clarke is primarily associated with
the visceral social realism of such works as his banned borstal play
'Scum', and his study of football hooliganism, 'The Firm'. This book
uncovers the full range of his work from the mythic fantasy of 'Penda's
Fen', to the radical short film on terrorism, 'Elephant'.
Dave Rolinson uses original research to examine the development of
Clarke's career from the theatre and the 'studio system' of provocative
television play strands of the 1960s and 1970s, to the increasingly
personal work of the 1980s, which established him as one of Britain's
greatest directors.
'Alan Clarke' examines techniques of television direction, and proposes
new methodologies as it questions the critical neglect of directors in
what is traditionally seen as a writer's medium. It raises crucial
issues in television studies, including aesthetics, authorship,
censorship, the convergence of film and television, drama-documentary
form, narrative and realism.