Mike Leigh biography part 2: 1979 to 1992. ( Mike Leigh bio part 1, Mike Leigh bio part 3 )

Mike Leigh's next installment for the Play for Today series was Who's Who (1979). Perhaps not one of his best plays, though very amusing in parts Who's Who was a satire on the Stockbroker set. Starring future Leigh stalwart Philip Davis the artistically only semi-succesful and in global terms did little to prevent the rise of Thatcher and the Yuppies. Perhaps it was that this was six or so years ahead of its time and some similar points were much more skillfully made in Leigh's later feature High Hopes. But we are getting ahead of the story.

The much more satisfying Grown-Ups followed in 1980 with a full Leigh rep company now in tow (Philip Davis, Lesley Manville, Janine Duvitski, Brenda Blethyn and Sam Kelly). Grown-Ups shows us the life of newlyweds (and childhood sweethearts) Dick and Mandy as they move into their new council house, coincidentally next to a privately owned house lived in by their old teacher and his wife. Before life can settle down Mandy's older sister Gloria becomes a regular visitor and a general nuisance busying herself around the home. As Dick's frustration grows it becomes clear that rather than Gloria spending time at home looking after her mother she will find any excuse to spend as much time with Dick and Mandy. A crisis is reached when Gloria protests that she has been thrown out of home by her mother and so she must move in with Dick and Mandy. Brenda Blethyn's portrayal as the annoying Gloria is something of a tour de force, and parallels can be drawn in the mannerisms and characterisations with Gloria and her oscar nominated role of Monica in Leigh's Secrets and Lies.

1982 saw Mike Leigh's final contribution to the Play for Today series. Home Sweet Home followed the lives of three postmen - Stan, Gordon and Harold. Central to the story is Stan who is having an affair with Harold's wife and also receiving attention from Gordon's wife. This is the archetypal Mike Leigh nothing happens except life type story (which of course is the most resonant of all). Eric Richard and Timothy Spall are both absolutely superb in this, and despite its low key subject nature Home Sweet Home is generally well regarded in Leigh's canon of work.

1983 saw Mike Leigh's first film for the newly formed commercial TV channel Channel 4. Meantime was Mike Leigh's response to the burgeoning unemployment that had swept over Britain and the knock on effect of the hopelessness of the young people in urban environments. The action such as it is revolves around Mark and his seemingly slow witted brother Colin, who live with their parents in a run down council flat. All three men are unemployed and the tension and bad feeling is palpable. The pub is virtually the only recreation left, apart from watching Coxy the brainless punk headbutt lamp posts and beat up oil drums. Despite such a depressing premise Meantime has gone on to be a cult movie amongst youngsters coming to the film via its Video and DVD releases. A lot of this is down to the superb cast Tim Roth, Gary Oldman, Phil Daniels whose characters are so strong, and whose rich dialogue is such that its most memorable lines have almost become absorbed into the popular consciousness.

By way of contrast Four Days in July from 1985 (his last for the BBC) is arguably one of Mike Leigh's least satisfying works. Set in Belfast, Northern Ireland around the four days of festivities in the protestant calendar, the story examines the communities on both sides of the sectarian divide. What we see is the daily lives and the similarities in the divided community. Whilst Four Days in July received praise for its authenticity it also gave one the feeling that there was a message underlying every single word uttered. That the message itself seemed bigger than the normal day to day lives of the characters seemed at odds with what Leigh seems to strive for in all his other works or perhaps this is just the one that got away.

Following a period of enforced rest due to a bought of stress related illness Leigh eased himself back to work with the short film Short and Curlies (1987). A light comedy which includes two stunning performances. One by Alison Steadman as the delightfully nosey and chatty hairdresser Betty and secondly by David Thewlis, as the fast talking, bad gag merchant Clive (the short can be tracked down on the VHS version of Life is Sweet).

1988 finally saw the second Mike Leigh film to be given a full cinematic release some 17 years since his first. The Film Four funded High Hopes, tells the tale of Cyril, a Marxist wishing for a Utopian society, and his girlfriend Shirley who longs to start a family with the reluctant Cyril. Cyril's mum (Mrs Bender) is getting old and becoming increasing forgetful, when one day she locks herself out of her council house (the only one left in the now posh residential area, her condescending upper class neighbours reluctantly take her in (to stop the street looking messy) to arrange for her to be picked up and put back in her own house. Mrs Bender's socially climbing daughter, Valerie (played brilliantly by Heather Tobias) gets the call and rushes round, not only to pick up her mother, but really to have a look around the neighbour's house. High Hopes was considered a return to form, and possibly could be considered Leigh's most rounded piece of work up to that point. A superb cast (including Leigh regulars Lesley Manville and Philip Davis) all gave consistently finely judged performances in the rollercoaster of pacings - from the slow deliberate Cyril to the manic and desperate Valerie. High Hopes was a critical success and went on to receive some prestigious European Cinema awards for both Leigh, and Ruth Sheen (Shirley) and Edna Dore (Mrs Bender). On 3rd September 2007 High Hopes finally gained a proper DVD release in the UK (only a few months after being given away free with a newspaper - who will ever understand the film industry?).

The following year saw the release of Mike Leigh's next cinematic outing Life is Sweet. The film centres around Andy, who is the head Chef in a high pressure professional kitchen, his wife Wendy, and their twin daughters who are in their early twenties. First is Natalie, a plumbers mate and something of a tomboy, who is self assured and satisfied with her life. The other twin is Nicola. She is an unemployed chain smoking, aggressive bundle of nerves. Andy buys a small derelict caravan which he plans to turn into a hot dog van but none of his family can see the potential. Wendy agrees to waitress at a mutual friend's new restaurant, which unfortunately has no customers as no one knows about the grand opening. But how will things pan out when Nicola's bulimia starts to spiral out of control and becomes apparent to the family? Life is Sweet kept the momentum going with more European and some US awards, but it was by no means a runaway commercial success.

The Mike Leigh story continues in Mike Leigh Biography Part 3