Mike Leigh is quite simply one of the greatest filmmakers of his (or any) generation, and for over half a century, he has been at the forefront of politically charged, socially resonant storytelling that has shattered boundaries and positioned him as arguably the greatest social critic to ever work in the medium. Yet, much like contemporaries such as Ken Loach and Alan Clarke, Leigh did not start in cinema, and the polished, complex films he made at his peak were merely continuations of the work he did earlier in his career, which also started on television. As part of the artists assigned to direct entries into the film anthology series produced by the BBC, Play for Today (which marketed these independent works as television plays and thus emphasised the participation of people with a history in the theatre), Leigh wrote and directed several terrific stories which essentially laid the foundation for decades of work, both narratively and visually. The first of these projects was Hard Labour, in which Leigh presents the story of Mrs Thornhill, a down-on-her-luck woman who is growing weary with her working-class life, developing a sense of malaise and despair that comes from existing on the breadline. It follows her interactions with both her family, who are almost uniformly oblivious to her efforts to provide for them (and who instead choose to just take advantage of her timid spirit), as well as her employers, who struggle to realise that she may be providing a service, but cannot be treated as a mere servant. We follow her as she navigates various moments in her day-to-day life, growing steadily more disgruntled but never succumbing to the temptation of falling apart entirely, maintaining a level of dignity that can only come from years of quiet resilience. Brilliant and complex, the film is an exceptional glimpse into the lives of the working class and how they navigate various challenges, all seen through the eyes of a fascinating and nuanced protagonist.

Hard Labour is constructed as a character study about a woman seeking some kind of comfort in a life that has not been easy for her. For the character of Mrs Thornhill, being able to go to work and earn a meagre living is a blessing, albeit one that comes at something of a cost – for every day she works for her employers, she further integrates herself into a system designed to keep her there. As a cleaner, the concept of upward mobility is virtually non-existent, with the only possibility being longer hours and more intense work. Her prospects are extremely bleak, and she has essentially given up any hope of getting out of the system. Leigh’s position as one of the proverbial Angry Young Men of British cinema during this time was fully proven here – like his peers, he was disgruntled at how the working class were trapped in a system that disregarded them and viewed their contributions to society as expendable. They were the servants, the invisible majority that existed to provide for the rich, only making them more wealthy and comfortable while leading harrowing lives where every penny is counted and the idea of luxury is beyond implausible. The central themes in Hard Labour revolve around how society is built as a series of tiers, and despite the idea that hard work will lift anyone and allow them to progress further up this proverbial ladder, it has the inverse effect: the harder someone works in their position, the more they become ingrained within that particular spot on the hierarchy, and where absolutely any hope to progress further is nearly impossible. This is one of the many themes that has informed a lot of Leigh’s work, and Hard Labour contains some of his angriest commentaries since, unlike Bleak Moments (which focused on younger protagonists), the main character in this film is a downtrodden old woman who has simply accepted her fate and is living out her days as best she can give her circumstances, knowing that any hope of removing herself from this position is foolish and frankly entirely impossible considering how rare it is to improve on your social standing.

Leigh’s stage experience is clear in every frame of this film, which is written as if it were a play and performed in much the same way. The format of the story is extremely simple but also very effective, and much like most of his work, there is never any need for complexity or overly excessive filmmaking since the story is exceptional enough to stand on its own. Leigh may be considered more of a brilliant writer than he is a director, but his visual aesthetic is also quite strong but rarely discussed due to its subtle nature. Hard Labour is not a major directorial achievement, but there are elements to it that are quite notable, especially in how Leigh takes advantage of what was a shoestring budget, making daring choices that may not be particularly revolutionary but still contribute to the overall message. Setting the film in only two locations – the protagonist’s home and her workplace – allowed for a more focused attention to detail on the story and even the design of these places, whereby they are sparsely furnished and filled with the most drab and lifeless colours, contributes to the tone. The extent of the direction of Hard Labour is to evoke a particular atmosphere – the recurring images evoke a sense of repetition in the life of this woman, and the bland surroundings create the feeling of boredom and banality, none of which are ever resolved or challenged, but rather just become consolidated into the story as it goes along. Leigh may have made more visually interesting films later in his career, but Hard Labour, as simple as it may be, is still superbly well-directed, especially since he was able to accomplish certain ideas that he would not have been able to do on stage, both in how the film is designed and the use of space, shape and colour to evoke a particular tone from which he constructs quite a complex and compelling character study about some fascinating but harrowing themes.

Occupying the central role of Mrs Thornhill is Liz Smith, an actor who was considered an institution of British film and television for decades. This was surprisingly only her second acting role, and she remarks on how Leigh casting her in Bleak Moments a few years prior essentially gave her a second wind as someone who had been interested in acting but never pursued it until being scouted for a small but impactful role in his directorial debut. Hard Labour is one of the few films in which Smith plays the lead, standing at the helm of an ensemble that consists of several journeyman actors, some of whom would go on to become some of Leigh’s regular collaborators. Smith brings so much humanity and complexity to a role that could have been one-dimensional in the hands of any other actor. We rarely find such ordinary performers leading a film, but considering Leigh has crafted his entire career around these kinds of characters, who represent the ordinary and marginalised, it is hardly surprising that he was enamoured with Smith and viewed her as a perfect candidate to bring this story to life. The presence of the likes of Allison Steadman, Bernard Hill and Clifford Kershaw (as well as a very small role from a young Ben Kingsley) only enriches the film and makes it more engaging and complex, ensuring that we consistently see Hard Labour as primarily an acting showcase in which these marvellous actors bring such spirited, complex characters to life with earnestness and complexity, all the while working closely with the script and its sometimes intimidating socialist ideas.

A quintessential piece of socially-charged storytelling that we have come to expect from Leigh, who already proved himself to be quite a talent (especially since he had only recently directed his first feature film, the brilliant but inexplicably underseen Bleak Moments), this teleplay is an exceptional piece of work, and while it may not be as daring as the work he produced later on, there is still a solid project with a meaningful social and cultural foundation. Honestly, while it may not be as visually and thematically interesting as the films Leigh would make later in his career, Hard Labour is still a very strong film with a lot of good ideas. We have to appreciate the efforts to preserve these films, since without someone archiving these televisual productions that were not meant to last decades, we’d not have been able to experience one of the esteemed director’s angriest and most bleak films. It is a haunting depiction of the conditions of the working class and features a lot of the expected gentle humour and heartfelt commentary delivered by someone genuinely dedicated to showing the reality many face. Perhaps it will be mostly appreciated by Leigh acolytes, but there’s very little way for us to deny that Hard Labour is an exceptional and compelling film, and in just over an hour, it takes us on a fascinating and poignant voyage into a particular moment in time, showing the trials and tribulations of an ordinary family striving for a better future – and like all of his work, this idea speaks to broader issues that we still find in contemporary Britain to this day.