Alan Clarke (28 October 1935 - 24 July 1990) was a television and film director, producer and writer, born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England. October 28 is the 301st day of the year (302nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 64 days remaining. ... 1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... July 24 is the 205th day (206th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 160 days remaining. ... 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The film director, on the right, gives last minute direction to the cast and crew, whilst filming a costume drama on location in London. ... Map sources for Birkenhead at grid reference SJ3088 Birkenhead is a town on The Wirral Peninsula, Merseyside, on the left bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. ... The Cheshire Plain - photo taken adjacent to Beeston Castle The Cheshire Plain - photo taken towards Merseyside The Cheshire Plain panorama - photo taken from Mid-Cheshire Ridge Cattle farming in the county Black-and-white timbered buildings on Nantwich High Street Cheshire (or, archaically, the County of Chester)[1] is a... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ...

Most of Clarke's output was for television rather than cinema, and featured from 1969 onwards in The Wednesday Play and Play for Today. His subject matter tended towards social realism, especially with respect to deprived or oppressed communities. The Wednesday Play was a British television drama anthology series, which ran on BBC ONE from 1964 to 1970. ... The Play for Today logo, seen here in the opening title sequence from 1976. ... A Diego Rivera mural depicting factory workers in Detroit Social Realism is an artistic movement, expressed in the visual and other realist arts, which depicts working class activities as heroic. ...

A number of his works achieved notoriety and widespread criticism from the more reactionary end of the media spectrum, including Scum (1977), dealing with the subject of borstals (youth prisons), which was banned by the BBC, and subsequently remade by Clarke as a feature film in 1979 (the original television version was eventually screened after his death). His television play Made in Britain (1982), concerning a racist skinhead's negative relationship with authorities and racial minorities, was based on a screenplay by David Leland. He directed the feature film Rita, Sue and Bob Too in 1986. His final short film (40 mins.) [[Elephant (Alan Clarke film)|Elephant] (1989) dealt with "the troubles" in Northern Ireland and featured a series of unrelated, motiveless shootings. The film took its title from Bernard MacLaverty's description of the troubles as "the elephant in our living room" - a reference to the collective denial of the underlying social problems of Northern Ireland. Scum is a film made in 1979 portraying the brutality of life inside a British borstal. ... In the United Kingdom, a Borstal was a juvenile detention centre or reformatory, an institution of the criminal justice system, intended to reform delinquent male youths aged between about 16 and 21. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually known as the BBC (and also informally known as the Beeb or Auntie) is one of the largest broadcasting corporations in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the UK alone and with a budget of more than £4 billion. ... A reel of film, which predates digital cinematography. ... For the song by The Smashing Pumpkins, see 1979 (song). ... Made in Britain is a state-of-the-nation style short film (70 minutes) directed by Alan Clarke and written by David Leland. ... Nazi-skinheads. ... A minority or subordinate group is a sociological group that does not constitute a politically dominant plurality of the total population of a given society. ... David Leland (born April 20, 1947 in Cambridge, England, UK) is a British director, screenwriter and actor who came to international fame with his directional debut Wish You Were Here in 1987. ... Rita, Sue and Bob Too is a British film directed by Alan Clarke about two Yorkshire schoolgirls who have a sexual fling with a married man. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... // Actress Kim Basinger and her brother Mick purchase Braselton, Georgia for $20 million. ... For the UK post-rock band, see Troubles (band). ... Motto:  (Latin for Who will separate us?)[1] Anthem: UK: God Save the Queen Regional: (de facto) Londonderry Air Capital Belfast Largest city Belfast Official language(s) English (de facto), Ulster Scots, Irish3, Northern Ireland Sign Language, Irish Sign Language Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister of... Bernard MacLaverty (born September 14, 1942 in Northern Ireland), educated at St Malachys College and Queens University, Belfast, is a Northern Irish author who has written the novels Cal, Lamb, and Grace Notes, which was shortlisted for the 1997 Booker Prize. ... The elephant in the room (also elephant in the living room, elephant in the corner, elephant on the dinner table, elephant in the kitchen, etc. ...

Clarke has inspired a generation of actors, writers and directors, including Stephen Frears, Tim Roth, Ray Winstone, Gary Oldman, Danny Brocklehurst and Iain MacDonald. Stephen Frears in Sweden, 1989 promoting his movie Dangerous Liaisons. ... Tim Roth (born 14 May 1961 as Timothy Simon Smith) is an English film actor and director. ... Please wikify (format) this article as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... Gary Oldman (born Leonard Gary Oldman on March 21, 1958 in New Cross, London, England) is an English actor. ... Danny Brocklehurst is a British screenwriter, born in 1971. ...

Clarke's son is Gabriel Clarke, an award-winning journalist with ITV. Gabriel Clarke is a roving reporter for Britains ITV Sport. ...

External links

• Biography and filmography from the British Film Institute's Screenonline
• Alan Clarke at the Internet Movie Database
• Senses of Cinema profile
• Village Voice article (09/2004)