TV Time Machine: On the Manor 18

Showroom Cinema and Yorkshire Film Archive celebrate the 35th anniversary of On the Manor with this special screening of highlights from the four-part 1987 documentary series.

“It’s a prison of poverty,” says Manor resident Barry Pennington. His view is far from the utopian future promised when Sheffield’s Manor estate was developed in the 1920s. Built on a wave of urban optimism, Manor rehoused thousands who had lived in overcrowded Victorian back-to-backs. As another resident recalls, the new homes were ‘like a palace’. But sixty years later, after years of neglect, the demolition crews have moved in, and a community is again coming to terms with change.

Filmed over six months in 1987 against a backdrop of industrial closures, high unemployment, and a looming general election, On the Manor is a documentary snapshot of a community in flux. At the time, Manor was the site of the country’s largest council house rebuilding scheme. Over 1600 homes would be demolished, but only 500 new ones built, fragmenting and dispersing the community to new homes across the city.

As bulldozers eat their way through chimneys and walls, director Peter Gordon provides us with a portrait of some remaining residents, creating a record of Manor as it really was. On the Manor is a programme about strength and resilience and a community fighting to survive despite the broken promises of planners and policy.

Please note: This is a special screening and so there will be no trailers or adverts before the film begins. The event will start at the time stated so please plan your arrival accordingly.

This screening is supported by Film Hub North with National Lottery funding on behalf of the BFI Film Audience Network.