In 1966 it would be hard to envisage that Cathy Come Home was in fact a single play produced by the BBC. It was produced in a drama documentary style.
Upon its broadcast it was controversial as director Ken Loach was accused of mixing facts with fiction. The film led to the setting up of the charity Shelter and eventually led to the reform of housing protection laws in the UK.
Loach examines the plight of the homeless and how institutions that are meant to help end up being a hindrance that in reality break up families.
Cathy (Carol White) comes to London and meets Reg (Ray Brooks). They get married and have children. Reg has a nice job and they get on the housing ladder but when Reg has an accident at work and goes on benefits they go on a downward spiral of looking somewhere to live. Each time the housing is worse quality and its a vicious circle that they cannot break out of. In those days, people would not rent to those who had children, being homeless with young kids did not give you priority and it seems there was not enough housing at all.
As the film goes on we see familiar attitudes to the homeless situation, that it is their own fault, they are feckless, it is the fault of the immigrants who have come here from Jamaica and taken housing from the white folks.
In 1966 this would had been a shocking and provocative film. Carol White was a beautiful actress and we can see her eventually being ground down as her situation becomes hopeless. The final scenes of her losing her kids have still not lost impact 50 years on.
