The Ploughman's Lunch

The Ploughman's Lunch is a 1983 film written by Ian McEwan and directed by Richard Eyre and featuring Jonathan Pryce, Tim Curry and Rosemary Harris. The film represents an studied analysis of the media world in Margaret Thatcher's Britain during the time of the Falklands War. It was one of the first films to feature in Channel 4's inaugural "Film on Four" season in 1982, enjoying a successful and critically lauded theatrical release prior to its ... more

The Ploughman's Lunch is a 1983 film written by Ian McEwan and directed by Richard Eyre and featuring Jonathan Pryce, Tim Curry and Rosemary Harris. The film represents an studied analysis of the media world in Margaret Thatcher's Britain during the time of the Falklands War. It was one of the first films to feature in Channel 4's inaugural "Film on Four" season in 1982, enjoying a successful and critically lauded theatrical release prior to its television screening. The film is set in London, Norfolk and Brighton, where the annual Conservative Conference is taking place. James Penfield (Pryce) is an ambitious London-based BBC radio reporter, from humble origins but Oxford-educated. He has been commissioned to write a book on the Suez Crisis and undertakes this commission at the same time as the Falkland's War is starting to dominate the British media. This, however, is just a backdrop to his attraction towards an upper class, rather snooty TV journalist named Susan Barrington ... less