This film is part of Free
Jane Gaskell
London swallowed up by the green belt? Fantasy and horror writer Jane Gaskell muses on how the future looks for the hippie generation.
Overview
Flower power, wheatmeal bread, drooling Mods, LSD and voting Tory - fantasy and horror writer-cum-journalist Jane Gaskell shares her views on 1960s culture and looks to the future in this unbroadcast interview with Bernard Braden. Some of her insights are surprisingly prescient, while others - legalisation of marijuana, London being swallowed up by the green belt - seem almost comically idealistic to 21st century ears.
Gaskell is the great grandniece of Victorian writer Elizabeth Gaskell, and had her first novel, Strange Evil, published at the age of 16. In 1968, when this interview was filmed, she published her fourth novel All Neat in Black Stockings, a comic take on the permissive society. A cinema adaptation was released the following year. This interview is one of several hundred with public figures recorded for Now and Then, a television series devised by Canadian broadcaster Braden. Since the programme never made it to the airwaves, the interviews remain in their unedited original state. A number of Braden's other interviews for the series are also available on BFI Player.
Related
Mining Review 25th Year No. 9 Mining Review 25th Year No. 9
1972 10 mins Location: Mayfair
A painterly profile of County Durham's brilliant miner-artist Tom McGuinness.
Figures in a Landscape Figures in a Landscape
Documentary 1953 17 mins Silent Location: St Ives
A poetic portrait of sculptor Barbara Hepworth and the otherworldly Cornish landscapes which inspired her.
Dancers Dancers
1978 29 mins
Impressionistic portrait of life as a dancer in London’s Ballet Rambert.
Giacometti Giacometti
Documentary 1967 14 mins
Spend a few intense minutes with Giacometti in his Paris studio and see him at work on his striking sculptures.
Portrait of David Hockney Portrait of David Hockney
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1972 13 mins
Filmed at the time Hockney was painting Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy, this compelling study concentrates on the textures and light which surround the artist in his home and studio.
Ten Years in an Open Necked Shirt Ten Years in an Open Necked Shirt
Documentary 1984 61 mins
Discover the 'name behind the hairstyle', in this essential portrait of the bard of Salford, aka John Cooper Clarke.
Starve Acre - Exclusive Q&A Starve Acre - Exclusive Q&A
Short interview 2024 24 mins
Daniel Kokotajlo talks to Nia Childs about Starve Acre, his folk horror about a couple digging deep into grief in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales.
Sky Peals - Exclusive Q&A Sky Peals - Exclusive Q&A
Short interview 2024 30 mins
Sky Peals director Moin Hussain and lead actor Faraz Ayub talk to Tomisin Adepeju about their magic realist drama.
Inside the Archive: The Early Films of Michael Powell Inside the Archive: The Early Films of Michael Powell
Documentary 2024 42 mins
Documentary exploring the BFI National Archive’s role in rediscovering and remastering the early films of Michael Powell.
Inside the Archive: The Riviera Revels Inside the Archive: The Riviera Revels
Short documentary 2024 12 mins
Bryony Dixon, curator of silent film at the BFI national archive, explores the origins of a series of comic travelogues, and Michael Powell's involvement in making them.
New Perspectives: Oldboy New Perspectives: Oldboy
Short documentary 2024 4 mins
Discover why Dan George of Northumbria University believes everyone should experience Oldboy at least once.
New Perspectives: Wings of Desire New Perspectives: Wings of Desire
Short documentary 2024 4 mins
Trixie Parkin-Christie of Northumbria University offers fresh insight into why Wings of Desire remains essential viewing.