Celebrated socialist filmmaker Ken Loach worked with Barry Hines in adapting the latter’s GCSE English set text “A Kestrel for a Knave” into his second cinematic feature following “Poor Cow” which won numerous awards and has been ranked seventh in the British Film Institute’s Top Ten (British) Films list.

David Bradley won a BAFTA for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles and he along with Freddie Fletcher, Lynne Perrie and the legendary Brian Glover are all brilliant in their first screen appearances with slightly more experienced support coming from the BAFTA wining Colin Welland as the sympathetic teacher.

The burgeoning young director emerges from the BBC’s “The Wednesday Play” stable with a powerful social realistic vision and an ability to work with a very limited budget but his true strength shines through in getting the finest out of his inexperienced cast who milk the script for every moment of joy and pain.

I ain’t going down pit.