The document discusses whether the status of Cathy Come Home as a docudrama makes it less powerful as a piece of cinema. It provides background on how the film's scriptwriter Jeremy Sandford researched homelessness following the eviction of his neighbors. Cathy Come Home provoked a large public outcry upon its release in 1966, with the BBC switchboard crashing from viewer calls. It was credited with changing British housing laws and launching the housing charity Shelter. The document examines how specific scenes provoke audience reactions and challenges the spectator through issues of manipulation in documentary film.

2. DOES CATHY COME HOME
(KENLOACH, 1966) STATUS AS A
DOCU-DRAMA MEAN THAT IT IS
LESS POWERFUL AS A PIECE OF
CINEMA?

3. BACKGROUND
• CATHY COME HOME SCRIPTWRITER JEREMY SANDFORD CAME FROM A JOURNALISM
BACKGROUND.
• FOLLOWING THE EVICTION OF HIS NEIGHBOURS IN 1961, HE WAS SO APPALLED BY THEIR
SUBSEQUENT LIVING CONDITIONS THAT HE WROTE AN EXPOSE IN THE OBSERVER
• THIS ARTICLE WAS THEN FOLLOWED BY AN ITEM ON THE BBCS PANORAMA BEFORE
BEING DEVELOPED INTO A RADIO DOCUMENTARY ENTITLED HOMELESS FAMILIES (1961)
• THIS METICULOUS RESEARCH IS WHAT FORMED THE BACKBONE OF HIS TELEVISION
DOCUDRAMA

4. AUDIENCE REACTION AND SOCIAL CHANGE
• CATHY COME HOME HAS BEEN CREDITED WITH BOTH CHANGING THE LAW GOVERNING
HOSTEL ACCOMMODATION AND LAUNCHING THE HOUSING CHARITY “SHELTER”
• AFTER ITS FIRST BROADCAST IN NOVEMBER 1966, CATHY COME HOME PROVOKED A
PUBLIC OUTCRY.
• THE BBC'S SWITCHBOARD CRASHED BECAUSE SO MANY VIEWERS CALLED IN TO ASK
WHAT THEY COULD DO TO HELP.
• THE HOUSING CHARITY SHELTER RELEASED A POSTER THE DAY AFTER THE JANUARY
REPEAT SCREENING STATING THERE ARE “LITERALLY THOUSANDS OF CATHY'S IN BRITAIN
AT THIS MOMENT”
• THE CAMPAIGN RECEIVED £50,000 IN THE FIRST MONTH.
• LOACH AND SANDFORD WERE ALSO INVITED TO THE MINISTRY OF HOUSING TO
DISCUSS THE HOUSING CRISIS.

5. SCENE ANALYSIS: CARAVAN SCENE
• HOW DOES THIS SCENE PROVOKE AUDIENCE REACTION?

6. SCENE ANALYSIS: ENDING
• HOW DOES THIS SCENE PROVOKE AN AUDIENCE REACTION?
• ARE THERE ANY SIMILARITIES THAT CAN BE DRAWN TO THE BEGINNING OF THE FILM?

7. ESSAY
• HOW FAR IS THE SPECTATOR CHALLENGED BY ISSUES OF MANIPULATION IN
DOCUMENTARY FILM? REFER TO THE FILMS YOU HAVE STUDIED FOR THIS TOPIC.
• YOUR ANSWER SHOULD INCLUDE AT LEAST 2 DETAILED SCENE ANALYSIS, THEORY AND
TERMINOLOGY THROUGHOUT.