Brassed Off: Stephen Tompkinson 20th anniversary interview

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Күн бұрын

Brassed Off, the story about fictional pit village Grimley and its brass band which refused to die, filmed in and telling the real life story of Grimethorpe and its Grimethorpe Colliery Band, is 20 years old in 2016. Here star Stephen Tompkinson, best known these days for DCI Banks and Wild At Heart, talks to Graham Walker at the Ilkley Film Festival and recalls making the film, blows the trumpet for writer director Mark Heman's amazing script, tells how they had to win the trust of locals and wht it as like to work with the amazing cast including Ewan McGregor, Tara Fitzgerald, the late great Pete Postlethwaite, Jim Carter - who went on to become Downton Abbey's head butler - Phil Jackson, Melanie Hill, Sue Johnston and more. He also tells how it led to a drink with Hollywood royalty Robert Redford. See Graham's other full interviews on KZfaq with Brassed Off actor Phil Jackson and producer Steve Abbott - who reveals the Monty Python connection. For full story, other videos and more see www.thestar.co.uk

Пікірлер: 97

@bikkies 5 жыл бұрын

Brassed Off was, is and forever will be one of the most genuinely important films this nation has ever produced.

@helmethead72 4 жыл бұрын

I Daniel Blake is another.

@smitajky 3 жыл бұрын

It is particularly powerful because the media only reported the other side of the Thatcher dislocate. "Rapacious miners had rorted the British public for too long. Demanding unreasonable working conditions and wages." This really demonstrated another aspect of the situation. Now with Brexit it opens the dialogue again. "We can get it cheaper elsewhere" is not entirely reasonable.

@darrenharker7996 3 жыл бұрын

Well said that man 👏👏

@FozzQuaker 2 жыл бұрын

One of the greatest British films ever made... Tells a near perfect story of a very real struggle, I've personally lived it and breathed it and watched the systematic destruction of my community

@pattismithurs9023 4 жыл бұрын

Never mind crying during the film, the interview here has me welling up. The music is deeply touching and the film was unforgettable.

@harpothehealer 3 жыл бұрын

A sad but beautiful film. Pete Postlethwaite in a way was born to play his part but Stephen T and all the cast and crew, brilliant.

@mikerandall7571 3 жыл бұрын

I was working in the City on the stock exchange at the time and a fully paid-up member of the Tory party. I supported what Margaret Thatcher was doing, purely on economic grounds and we forgot or didn't know about the community that was devastated. How wrong we were, how terrible for those lovely people. May God forgive me.

@EnlightenedPatriot1 2 жыл бұрын

We all make mistakes of judgement, and I am sure those folks involved (who are still with us) are not ones to hold a grudge and are willing to accept your repentance. The majority of the country voted for that Tory government (well, look at the alternative at the time) so you should not shoulder that burden alone. TBHO, as my wife commented tonight after me getting emotional after re-watching it, the writing was on the wall for the coal industry (and now, all fossil fuels) anyway. Look at the problems China is experiencing right now, being almost dependent on coal-fired electricity generation, and their risks of power failures.

@Sakkeru96 Жыл бұрын

As a northerner and a socialist, thanks for recognising that. No one can change what they've done in the past - just do the best you can from now onwards. And try to get others to understand and stop supporting the Tories, if you can.

@jillevans7720 7 жыл бұрын

Stephen is an amazing person. I had the honour to cook him dinner at my very small restaurant in Matlock Bath whilst he was filming another amazing story. He gave my mum a kiss and she has severe dementia, but she still remembers that night. He is an amazing, down to earth guy. xx

@EnlightenedPatriot1 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for sharing that. Too many people, given a bit of fame, let it go to their heads. I have been in the company of a few.

@davebento1548 Жыл бұрын

Thank you for sharing that. I recall organising "stars" to open whitworth show in your neck of the woods. Most wanted as much money as possible to do as little as possible. But Tim Brooke -Taylor who was local did as much as possible for a reasonable fee and then ripped up the cheque we gave him as his contribution to our charity.

@user-rd2px2io2b Жыл бұрын

Pity later on , he is going through rough times. Life is tough!

@Muckhauler 8 жыл бұрын

Still shed a tear when I watch 'Brassed off' after watching the demise of our village pit and community - you guys did our history justice! My Grandfather played in our Colliery Brass band. Thank you for a bittersweet memory of our village days it was pretty bang on! Pete's final speech was legend - bless you all!

@sallietaylor8503 7 жыл бұрын

Loved In Cod We Trust,I am from Wombwell so not that far from you.

@brasschick4214 7 жыл бұрын

Alistair Wilcox - Even though my politics is Labour/Green what the Tory Govt and Thatcher did to your communities was pure evil. I found out recently that Britain is importing coal for electricity generation - bloody bonkers environmentally and proves the point that it was only done to break the unions. Meanwhile they destroyed hundreds of communities and thousands of lives- including yours 😔. Just letting you know I try to get as many people I know to watch it (I keep a spare copy for that). It's a story that needs telling (even in far off Australia) and shouldn't be forgotten. Btw I play in a brass band and the music is not too shabby either 😊

@kenlillig 6 жыл бұрын

Alistair Wilcox (

@roddersfiftynine 3 жыл бұрын

Danny`s speech at the end of the film makes me cry whenever I see/hear it !!! Great interview.

@EnlightenedPatriot1 2 жыл бұрын

Same here, as I just commented that in the channel where I just re-watched that wonderful, moving, film.

@alanbutterworthhueytheshoo5623 7 жыл бұрын

Truly amazing interview with a sincere, honest, actor Stephen Tompkinson. Brassed Off, the film, should be played in the city, on the eve of every Tory party conference to open up the eyes of the spoilt little brats who are wanting to be members of parliament for that party. Hopefully some would have second thoughts and follow their hearts.

@brasschick4214 7 жыл бұрын

Alan Butterworth hueytheshooter - That assumes they have hearts.... 😔😡

@gazrees1981 5 жыл бұрын

It also assumes that it wasn't Labour who began the pit closures and whom closed more pits than Thatcher.

@EnlightenedPatriot1 2 жыл бұрын

@@gazrees1981 Nowt to choose from between the Red and Blue, just two different sides of the same coin.. Both stuff the working class.

@gilliansherlock7211 2 жыл бұрын

BRASSED OFF ONE OF THE BEST FILMS EVER ...you were all amazing actors you still all are ... my dad was a miner up in Sunderland ... ive just fell onto this video 6 years later .

@ericbellingham8341 3 жыл бұрын

Restores my faith in the human race. What a lovely genuine man. Still give Brassed Off a regular airing!

@brasschick4214 7 жыл бұрын

My all-time FAVOURITE movie 😍 💕Stephen is such a brilliant actor and such a beautiful soul. Brassed Off! Sequel? OMG 😱YES PLEASE!!!!!! Brass bands need a Royal Society 😍

@ThePowerbloke 7 жыл бұрын

Loved the movie, loved the music, loved the story with such a brilliant script and bunch of actors. I guess as a player in a brass band and a former coal miner the story has a sense of genuine reality for me. Stephen Tompkinson as DCI Banks is just brilliant too.

@abritabroad15 7 жыл бұрын

Love the film, should be one everyone needs to watch. Brilliant, Love the Northern People. Great cast!!

@mickbrown5808 2 жыл бұрын

It brings so many happy and sad memories working as a miner at grimthorpe

@sallietaylor8503 7 жыл бұрын

Love you Stephen and everybody else who was in the film.I live in Charlotte, North Carolina, [formerly Wombwell, South Yorkshire] my husband and I saw the film when it came to the States.A few rows behind us were two women with cut glass English accent, one said to the other, Maureen come on lets go home we can't relate to this.Such snobbish heartless attitudes.

@johnnicholson4862 4 жыл бұрын

I really like his work, and he seems a lovely guy. Interviewer was excellent here , btw, doing what an interviewer should do - asking the right questions and letting the person answer!

@brianneale2006 7 жыл бұрын

I was born in the Rhondda Valley in 1943 and main employment was in the coal mines or collieries and there was several Brass Bands in the Rhondda. One is still going strong and that is The Cory Band a very good Brass Band it is too. One of the top Brass Bands in Britain. I love brass bands they have a special sound

@soundsdigital 4 жыл бұрын

Cory is doing well, but there are still many bands left in the Rhondda!

@johnmccormick7007 3 жыл бұрын

Born in Belfast, went to Australia with family, joined brass band, played cornet, I relate to everything in that movie. Real men, real women. Big thrill when Grimethorpe came here to Wollongong. This movie is a classic on every issue.

@ericgeorge5483 7 жыл бұрын

The most enjoyable interview I have seen in years; thank you for a brilliant upload. Stephen Tompkinson, what a gent.

@annettewalter2273 2 жыл бұрын

An amazing film. I watch it often and love the music

@alanhill5756 3 жыл бұрын

What a lovely man.

@anonymouspeacefulperson6199 3 жыл бұрын

Difficult days, uni Alan Cameron

@EnlightenedPatriot1 2 жыл бұрын

A great interview, with much inside information of the film's making, so thank you for airing this. A truly great film, just watched. Makes me proud to be a Northerner, even though just over the border in the Red Rose County of Lancashire.

@hilts6475 2 жыл бұрын

More important than ever!!! Proud to be Yorkshire....she’s definitely burning!!!!

@fatwalletboy2 7 жыл бұрын

Well a real joy to watch that 18 min interview yet I can't believe over 13k views but so few bothered to "Like"..........great to hear Stephen chat away with such enthusiasm about the film the music the village of Grimethorpe the story and the fellow actors etc.........and I was quite moved when he said adamantly that it remains the high point of his career. Playing the hardman as DCi Banks its very human to hear him say he was inconsolable at the end of filiming B.Off. Not sure about a Brassed Off sequel...........I dont know if this jewel should be left as a superb standalone piece of work

@chesleecallum6392 3 жыл бұрын

His humbleness, honesty and politeness about the subject makes him attractive...

@ktjamlex 5 ай бұрын

He's a great actor - I really enjoyed DCI Banks as well because of him.

@TetinKlimente 5 жыл бұрын

What a wonderful man. Love Yorkshire, looking forward to visiting the Barnsley area someday.

@mikesnyder1788 7 жыл бұрын

Wonderful interview! Excellent talent here! Very fine and memorable film.

@yvonnebuckley6501 3 жыл бұрын

Brilliant film

@nicolelloyd5045 2 жыл бұрын

Stunning STUNNING movie

@markwestaway7207 2 жыл бұрын

Both my wife and I have brass players on both sides of families My grandfather and my wife's grandfather marched with bands for over 50 and 70 years respectively. While not in coal communities many of our brass bands in Australia have also gone the way of the dodo, along with many of our industries.

@debrabelz 4 жыл бұрын

I love him. So versatile

@bernardbeauchamp6619 2 ай бұрын

Wow I saw parts of the film this 7th of June 2024 and I was touch emotionally by the music

@Jeje-nd9mk 7 жыл бұрын

Thank you very much for sharing this video. Obviously loved the movie... Jérôme, from France

@richardwinter8740 4 жыл бұрын

I watched that film the other night on more 4,bloody awesome show 👍👍

@awol354 Жыл бұрын

I loved the movie. It doesn't shy away from troublesome topics, suicide attempts, illness, mangled relationships and such. It portrays the people with warmth, depth and care. And the music is an added bonus.

@sbukosky 4 жыл бұрын

I only recently discovered Brassed Off. As a trumpeter, I first found the music. Then the storyline. Someone help me understand, as I am American. Margaret Thatcher was making policy that closed mines, or pits as you call them?

@gordonpeden6234 3 жыл бұрын

The "Iron Lady" Was/is the worst disaster to befall the UK. A complete Moron who caused the Falklands slaughter. She denied Falklanders the right of UK citizenship a couple of weeks before Argentina invaded. The dumbass sent all the wrong signals the the Argentine Junta (Who invaded because the UK had virtually signed off. But then dopey changed her mind thousands of lives were ruined/destroyed by her stupidity) A really "Tone deaf" Asswipe. R.O.P. rot in peace!

@michaelbruchas6663 3 жыл бұрын

Great interview....I loved this little movie.

@ebonycarnell2810 9 ай бұрын

Bring them back xx❤️❤️

@ICPinOz 4 жыл бұрын

Wonderful, so very human.

@bowler8 7 жыл бұрын

loved that movie, watched it last night

@brianneale2006 3 жыл бұрын

It is very popular in Wales particularly in South Wales where I lived for 21 years before moving to Kent and later to Belgium one of the most well known brass band in Wales is the Cory brass Band from the Rhondda a top brass band too one of my cousins played the cornet in the mentioned brass band as did his father before him. I love Brass bands as I come from near to where the Cory band rehersed perhaps they still do? and my father some times drove the coach that took them to concerts and brass band competitions.

@sian9972 Жыл бұрын

I just went to a concert where the Cory brass band played. They were wonderful!!

@brianneale2006 Жыл бұрын

@@sian9972 Know the Cory Band fairly well as one of my cousins played the cornet in the Cory band and some times our father took the Cory band in the coach to concerts and brass band competitions as he was a part time coach driver and drove coaches for a coach company which on occasions was asked to take the Cory band away to concerts and competitions

@sergiodecima1700 6 жыл бұрын

excelente . es uno de los mejores filmes de la historia. muchas gracias...

@ebonycarnell2810 9 ай бұрын

I love this film xx❤️❤️

@nigeloldman3370 3 жыл бұрын

I feel I should be more "highbrow" but this is my favourite film. brilliant.

@bikingbirder2010 4 жыл бұрын

Together with I Daniel, these two films are the most powerful depiction of Conservative party evil ever screened.

@sheepshearer2705 3 жыл бұрын

What a lovely man 😀

@ebonycarnell2810 9 ай бұрын

The best❤❤

@edpickering8075 Жыл бұрын

Thank you...wonderful...

@albertarandall929 3 жыл бұрын

Apart from the Stars , the rest of the band was the Colliery Band

@martyboy4386 3 жыл бұрын

That was a great interview. Very engaging,

@sandraclift6842 7 жыл бұрын

STILL MAKES ME CRY

@helmethead72 4 жыл бұрын

And me. I’m a former trucker and biker, worked with a lot of lads who were in the industry. I saw my local town die a death after Manton Colliery closed. It’s a shadow of its former self. Just like the U.K.

@tonylockwood6370 7 жыл бұрын

brilliant interview

@DanS24106 7 жыл бұрын

If you are a brass player the human interest angle was probably very secondary, not out of any malice or disinterest, but for alot of us they had made a film about something near and dear to our hearts, the music. And they had done a pretty credible job with the actors, although the picky ones among among us had many remarks about that actor not holding the horn exactly correctly, or not syncing the fingerings properly to the music or not appearing to ever take a breath and so on. Hear in the US we were only vaguely aware of what was happening in the coal pits. We had our own similar stories happening here but I think there was a sense they were taking people out of environments where they could die in a mine accident or get black lung for their own good. The idea one would want to keep doing this was somewhat hard to believe. But for me and my musician friends, it was all about the music and probably saw the human story as a bit of a distraction on what we really were interested in, and imagining someone as hot as Tara Fitzgerald being that good and in our band! The film definitely gave a boost to our British Brass Band activity over here as well and a few of them have gotten very good almost to the level of the leading bands in Britain.

@billhaywood3503 5 жыл бұрын

I knew what was going on tried to raise money for miners only managed 3-4 thousand but it was the honor of my life

@donaldellis3609 3 жыл бұрын

@@billhaywood3503 well done mate👍

@gordonpeden6234 3 жыл бұрын

As a coal miner late 60's (Scotland) thru to the 90's (Australia) When ever I see the light shining through the "Poppin' Heads" I still tear up at a time gone by. Ah! Maggie Thatcher: The Poll tax. (let's try it in Scotland first.) The Falklands (Denying them British citizenship. And The Ascension Islands, South Georgia, Tristan Da Chuna. (Whether she was Dumb or Evil?? Who knows?)

@lutelofiliai9584 2 жыл бұрын

thats the trombone guy lets go mate

@lucyt6971 2 жыл бұрын

One of my all time favourite movies, the music is so stirring and thrilling. I don't personally like the mantle of "evil" placed on PM M. Thatcher, she was a creature of her times, and they were difficult times. I'm not excusing the devastating loss of the communities affected, but I feel "evil" is too far. Hitler was evil. Stalin was evil, Pol Pot was evil. Thatcher was hard, cruel, unyielding and determined, a borderline dictator. Many lives were decimated, changed for ever, and the scars are still there to this day.. But evil should be reserved for murderous c****, who trigger genocide and war...MR PUTIN. I rest my case...

@josiethornton7049 7 жыл бұрын

Int e luvly 💕

@shirleynaylor9450 2 жыл бұрын

Isn’t he lovely!

@lynne150351 4 жыл бұрын

Mr. Chuckles] So God was creating man. And his little assistant came up to him and he said: "Hey, we've got all these bodies left, but we're right out of brains, we're right out of hearts and we're right out of vocal chords." And God said: "Fuck it! Sew 'em up anyway. Smack smiles on the faces and make them talk out of their arses." And lo, God created the Tory Party.

@TheLongislandlimey Жыл бұрын

Makes me laugh and makes me cry. May Thatcher rot in hell.

@beldengi 6 жыл бұрын

I wish he had never been cast as the school principal in a certain crime drama. His sad persona in Brassed Off seemed to be totally sullied by the school thing.

@DieFlabbergast 3 жыл бұрын

It's called "acting."

@evelynbaron2004 2 жыл бұрын

@@DieFlabbergast Thank you. I always get really nervous when people confound actors with roles or singers with songs. Major boundary confusion, happens way too much and makes the performers in the public eye way too vulnerable.