The Mill – Channel 4 Broadcast 28th July 2013
by Asha
Future Artists are proud to be the behind the scenes producers for the
Channel 4 flagship summer drama ‘The Mill’.
BROADCAST SUNDAY 28TH JULY 2013, 8PM, CHANNEL 4
Future Artists Behind The Scenes At The Mill
Future Artists are excited to announce the release of behind-the-scenes documentary shorts to accompany Channel 4’s new historical drama, The Mill, which is to air later this month. The behind-the-scenes footage, commissioned by The Mill’s producer, Caroline Levy, will be available on the DVD release of the drama, as well as through social media and the Electronic Press Kit.
Based on true history, this four-part drama depicts the lives of the Greg family and their workers at Quarry Bank Mill, Cheshire, during the turbulent year of 1833. Directed by Mark Ashmore, behind-the-scenes of The Mill is part documentary allowing the viewer to explore the social context of the historical drama, and part a look into the key dramatic sequences and those involved in creating them. To create this informative documentary, Future Artists were given full access to the never before seen Quarry Bank archive, which allows viewers an insight to the details of the social history of the real Quarry Bank Mill and the Greg family portrayed in the drama.
Mark Ashmore says ‘While making the behind the scenes, we felt that we where transported back to the shop floor of the 18th century, the costumes, locations and attention to detail made me think we where like time travelers, it was a fantastic experience.’ Future Artists are based at East Manchester’s The Sharp Project, which is a co-operation they are proud to be a part of. Other companies Future Artists are currently collaborating with include M & C Saatchi, The England Football Foundation, and Endemol. It has been a busy year for the dynamic company, with many exciting project opportunities and announcements. Future Artists are a positive ambassador for media in the north, showing that it isn’t just London who are influencing the industry.
@TheMillSpeaks is now live: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-mill
As The Mill is inspired by the lives of real people and Quarry Bank Mill is a central character, we brought the mill to life enabling him to give us a first-hand account of mill life in that era.
He needs love so please follow @TheMillSpeaks on Twitter to find out how he feels about this transformative period in Britain’s industrial history – a time when rights spread from rich to poor, cotton ruled the world and child labour was normal.
For further information on The Mill, please see the following synopsis:
A powerful new historical drama written by John Fay and set in rural-industrial 19th-century England, The Mill is based on the extensive historical archive of Quarry Bank Mill in Cheshire. The series depicts Britain at a time when the industrial revolution is changing the country beyond recognition.
In the 1830s, children as young as nine work 12-hour shifts in the mills, and the new class of mill-owning families prosper. But the so-called ‘white slaves of England’ are about to take their lives into their own hands for the first time as outsiders with new ideas enter their world. A third of the workforce at Quarry Bank are apprentices: many are youngsters sold by workhouses to the Gregs, the mill owners. The apprentices have no right to leave the mill until adulthood; an arrangement that bears an uncomfortable similarity to the slaves who the Gregs own in the Caribbean.
In this bold new drama, the apprentices are led by Kerrie Hayes as the real life Esther Price, a feisty Liverpudlian well documented in Quarry Bank’s archives, who risks her own position to stand up for justice. The arrival of Daniel Bate (Matthew McNulty) – a progressive young engineer with a troubled past – proves a catalyst, and the political firebrand John Doherty (Aidan McArdle) seems to offer the workers the possibility of a new and better future.
ABOUT THE MILL
A powerful new historical drama written by John Fay and set in rural-industrial 19th-century England. Based on the extensive historical archive of Quarry Bank Mill in Cheshire, the series depicts Britain at a time when the industrial revolution is changing the country beyond recognition.
In the 1830s, children as young as nine work 12-hour shifts in the mills, and the new class of mill-owning families prosper. But the so-called ‘white slaves of England’ are about to take their lives into their own hands for the first time as outsiders with new ideas enter their world.
A third of the workforce at Quarry Bank are apprentices: many are youngsters sold by workhouses to the Gregs, the mill owners. The apprentices have no right to leave the mill until adulthood; an arrangement that bears an uncomfortable similarity to the slaves who the Gregs own in the Caribbean.
In this bold new drama, the apprentices are led by Kerrie Hayes as the real life Esther Price, a feisty Liverpudlian well documented in Quarry Bank’s archives, who risks her own position to stand up for justice. The arrival of Daniel Bate (Matthew McNulty) – a progressive young engineer with a troubled past – proves a catalyst, and the political firebrand John Doherty (Aidan McArdle) seems to offer the workers the possibility of a new and better future.
Just before dawn the bell wakes the young apprentices for another 12-hour shift at Quarry Bank Mill. Ruthless overseer Charlie Crout (Craig Parkinson) forces apprentice Miriam (Sacha Parkinson) to leave the factory floor with him against her will.
His absence leads to a serious accident, but can the apprentices risk sticking together to reveal Crout’s negligence to the patriarchal mill owner, Samuel Greg (Donald Sumpter)? A few miles away in Manchester – ahead of his appearance before the Parliamentary Commission on factory legislation – Samuel’s ambitious son Robert Greg (Jamie Draven) visits a debtor’s prison, where he recruits young mechanic Daniel Bate, who is talented but has been blacklisted for political activity…
Writer: John Fay; Dir: James Hawes; Prod: Caroline Levy; Prod Co: Darlow Smithson Productions