Mike Leigh's rarely shown TV film Hard Labour, is on BBC4 tonight as part of the Liz Smith night. Hard Labour was first shown in 1973, and formed part of the ground breaking Play For Today series.

Hard Labour is far from a cheerful watch, as it focuses is on the drudgery of life of Mrs Thornely, a housewife and cleaner, who has accepted her lot in life as servant and chief bottle washer both at work and at home.

Whilst certainly not the best of Leigh's early work, it is definitely worth a watch if you are familiar with his later works.

It is showing tonight at 11.30pm on BBC4. It is followed by an interview with Liz Smith, and a couple of programmes on Mike Leigh's wonderful TV play Abigail's Party.

Labels: Abigail's Party, Hard Labour, Liz Smith, Mike Leigh