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18th June 1984.
Tell me it's the biggie.

It's about seven o'clock.
A few of us are here already.

I'm told there's gonna be thousands.
Let's have a look, see what happens.

As the miners' strike
enters its 13th week,

it's been a quiet morning
on the picket lines.

One hundred and nineteen pits
are closed, 44 are turning out coal,

and in a further 12, there's some work.

Orgreave.

June the 18th, 1984.

It were a beautiful morning.

Not a cloud int' sky.
I can remember birds singing.

It was scorching.

Six in the morning,

all the Scottish boys had their tops off,
it was that warm.

It was jovial. There was football,
there was villagers coming out

with trays of orange juice
and ice and water,

and we were just...

making up the numbers in this field.

But I saw summat that morning

I've never witnessed before
on picket line.

We traveled to Orgreave
and the funny thing was now

all the police guiding you in.
Never seen this before.

Because normally they'd stop you
on the motorway

and make you walk six, seven miles.

The police were
bringing the pickets to the picket line.

Even giving you parking spaces.

Yeah. Valet parking.

"This way, sir, to your slaughter."

That was the big thing.
You know, all these buses.

And when we got there,
the buses stacked everywhere.

Why have they let us in?

When we got there, I thought,
"This is different."

You go over the railway bridge...

and that's where you could see the plant.

The amount of police,

and just the way they were lined up...

you thought, "Oh, my God."

You cannot manifest
that number of policemen overnight.

It's impossible.

I thought,
"They've got something planned here."

Halfway through that morning, right?

Everything stopped.

The next thing, we heard this rammy.

You could hear this noise.

This banging,
police coming up with their batons,

banging on their shields...

harder and harder.

That was scary. That'd have scared
the living daylights out you.

Fuckin' hell.
You sensed it in the air.

There was something different
about Orgreave that day.

That's when we should have
turned round and gone home.

Mounted, will you withdraw, please?

I said, "I'm not leaving here.
Today's our day. This is the battle."

It was a day never to be forgotten.

I don't think any of us
realized what we were heading to.

That afternoon, they went for it.

Boy, did they go for it.

See what they're doing?

Some of the things I saw
still get to me to this day, 40 years on.

This was the arena of violence.

- Come on!

They'd set it up.

Otherwise,
they would never have let us in.

It was quite clearly
a pre-planned operation.

The government intervened
in every area...

and they've been covering it up
for 40 years.

They're determined
not to let the truth out.

The government,
in my opinion, planned this thing.

Thatcher was determined
to wipe us out.

If you step out of line,
they don't like it.

Take that bloody thing...

It's going to stick with people
who were involved in that,

till they take it to their graves,
I think.

We were just innocent people...

and that's got to come out.

I remember that day.

And we was on,
actually, on six o'clock nights.

Which was, like, a mid-shift.
So, we could do things while the shifts...

before the shifts change in the shaft.

When we got in,
this is when we found out that...

they wanted to shut the pit.

Normally, you hear rumors
that this was going to happen.

There was none of that at all.

And so, I was skeptical.

You want to hear it
from the horse's mouth.

I remember him
waking me up during the night -

it was sometime during the night -

to tell me, and I'm thinking,
"Why would they do that?"

You know, "Why would they do that?"

And the reason I'm saying that is
Don had been working for a year,

putting all new pipe in
from top of the pits, down to the bottom.

Why would you spend that money
when you're going to close it?

So, we thought there was a mistake,
I thought there was a mistake.

We had a union meeting
the following morning,

and the union guy said
that they'd had a meeting

with some area boffins
on the management side

and said that they...

definitely are going to close the pit.

I can't remember the timeframe,
but relatively quickly.

The road I lived on then,
and still live on now,

there were 31 families
out of 31 houses on our street

that relied totally
on an income from Cortonwood.

So, what the bloody hell's
going to happen to the village?

I would have thought
anyone with any sense...

could have given 'em
a little bit more to hang onto.

A bit of a hope, you know?

But there appeared...

to be not a lot of hope at all.

Aren't there alternative jobs offered?

- No.
- We haven't been offered nowt.

Not to our knowledge.
- This area...

There's no jobs round this area.

There's only pits
holding this area together.

If this pit goes,
it'll be like a plague all up t'valley.

A few women
worked at the pit themselves.

Working in the canteens and cleaning...
cleaning the showers and whatever.

So... we didn't know
where this was going to lead us.

And it wasn't just a job for us.

It was a way of life.

Those industries were the social glue.

That provided purpose, provided dignity.

When people say, "Oh, working down the pit
can't have been much fun."

Well, it may not have been,
but you felt part of something.

There were a sense of pride
in terms of how you won that coal.

If you've never seen
ultimate darkness...

...go underground...

and switch your light off.

Utter darkness.

You can't see your hand
in front of your face.

You can go like this, you can't see it.

Many times,
my light went out. Couldn't move,

cause there's so many dangerous things,

you know, you know, there's--
you just still and wait.

If you were at one end,
it could have been freezing cold

with water coming through the roof.

If you were at the other end,
it could be red hot.

That was a...
It was an incredible experience.

On a coalface,
you've got a coal-shearing machine,

and it rips into the coal,
which creates dust,

so, you have to put, like, a mask on,

but you get hot and sweaty with the mask,

and you cannot see your hand
in front of your face.

When you were
working on a face line

and everything was going very well,

it was a reasonably easy job.

It wisnae until...

you had, like, stone intrusions, faults.

That's when everything
could go bad quickly.

When I first started in the pit,

after about three months
they carried some bloke out in a bag.

He was changing the cutter picks
and the machine started.

The, the drum went round
and he went round with it

and they, they took him out
in a bag, all in bits, like.

Picked up a few fingers
off the ground before.

Put them in a crisp packet,
sent them up...

for to get stitched back onto people.

You were maybe on a man-riding belt,

and if you lifted your head up
in the wrong place,

it could have been taken off.

I remember, I was 16.

A mate of mine,
working just tens yards from me.

A stone came down and took his head off,
and he was only 17.

To survive the place,
you had to be part of a team.

That's how you became so close to people.

Comradeship was brilliant.

The fun you had and the boys
you worked with, the laughs.

Your friends were for life,

and, you know, you socialized, you...

the wives went out,
you know, you did different functions.

I can't explain
how fantastic it was

living in a proper community.

If you didn't have no sugar,
your next door didn't have no sugar.

And if they did, they'd half it with you.

You could walk into anybody's house.

Nobody were better than anybody else.

All t'kids on our street...

...they were all hungry.

We had as much as them next door,
and next door to them.

We were all the same.

We just wanted
to go to work, get a wage

and look after our communities.
That's all we wanted.

We thought at the time
that if our pit shut,

our communities would go,
our communities wouldn't survive.

It was my worry.
I've always been a big family man.

Still am a big family... Love me family.

And... immediately, you think, you know,

"How am I going to bring Nikki up?
How am I going to bring Darren up?"

You know, "How am I going
to keep the mortgage going?"

Can you imagine how we've been?

We've had to
just keep turning on the media

and trying to find out
if someone's going to tell us

what's going to happen to our lives.

They haven't told us anything.

It slowly sank in that, you know,

they are going to close it
unless they go on strike.

Well, is other people going
to go on strike for a small pit?

Um, I didn't know.

When Cortonwood pit was shut
in South Yorkshire,

there was outrage.

We knew it were the start of something...

and we had to protect each other.

I remember we had
a big meeting at our pit.

The president of our union came out,

and we had the union banner
above the stage,

but it was rolled up.

And he just pulled it down and said...

"It's war."

We're fighting today to defend us jobs,

- us pits and us communities.

- And the place erupted.

And I felt ten feet tall
and so optimistic.

They all voted for strike action.
I think I were second to put me hand up.

And then, I went home that day

and I said to my wife,
"That's it, love, we're on strike now."

We heard about
Cortonwood shutting.

With a show of hands,
we backed Cortonwood 100%.

I don't think anybody voted against it.

Yorkshire miners
vote to go on all-out strike

from after Friday's shift,

and hope their walk-out will become
a national one against pit closures.

We're honorable people, you know.

We made the decision to support any pit.

Cortonwood made that call,
and we came out on strike on their behalf.

The mood
in Britain's coalfields worsened today.

The lines could be being drawn up

for what might be a government
confrontation with the unions.

"They want a fight,
we'll give them a bloody fight."

And boy, did we give them a fight.

The 14,000 Scottish miners
were today called

to join 56,000 Yorkshire miners

in striking from Friday night.

In those
first few weeks of the strike,

if you think of the militant coalfields,
like Kent

or South Wales or Scotland
or Yorkshire or Durham,

yes, there was overwhelming support

for the action that the union was taking,

and there was a sense
that they could repeat the success

of the strikes in '72 and '74.

Heath out!
Heath out! Heath out! Heath out!

The miners' strikes
of '72 and '74 were about wages.

It was about pay.

One of the things that struck me in '72

was that there was the unanimity
of the strike.

Once they came out, all the miners
throughout the country came on strike.

And that was so important.

We're prepared, in this strike,
to fight 'em right up bitter end.

I've got four kids.
It's going to be hard for me.

But them kids, they'll not clem

while I've got two arms on't end
of me body, don't worry about that.

And the impact was quick.

Flying pickets had closed power stations,

closed supply of coal to them.

You were beginning to get power cuts.

And then there was this story about how,

at Saltley,
there was this massive amount of coke.

And all these lorries were
coming from all over the country

to fill up with coke and get away.

What happens then is that Arthur Scargill,
a young activist,

he's 34, from the Yorkshire coalfield,

he comes down and organizes
this mass picket at Saltley.

Heath out! Heath out!

Arthur Scargill had the idea
that he needed to get support

from the trade union movement
in Birmingham

in order to be more effective in picketing

the coke works at Saltley.

Dig in, lads! Dig in!

Very few lorry drivers
were prepared to face the miners' anger,

and most turned back.

When the engineering workers arrived,
the flow of lorries stopped altogether.

That's when the police
had to put their hands up

and say, "We're done here,"
and they shut the gates.

The significance
of Saltley was that

if you get an overwhelming number
of trade unionists together,

the police can be defeated.
That's essentially what happened there.

As the gates of the gasworks
clanged shut at 10:45,

a great shout of triumph went up
from a crowd of about 7,000 people.

And after that, they had to
find a way to resolve the dispute,

so the miners really got
everything they wanted.

And Scargill told them,

"You're all going to become immortal
in the working class

because of what you've achieved
at Saltley."

So, Saltley is a name

that is haunting the Conservative Party.

It was a big nail in the coffin
of the Tory government at the time.

And then, '74 finished them off.

140 miners hit the night air
after their last shift before the strike.

What happened after '72 was,
of course, you had the oil crisis

and rocketing prices and inflation.

So, as a result,
the miners had another strike,

and Edward Heath, the Prime Minister,

was faced with the dilemma.

That will now be a general election
on February the 28th.

The issue before you is a simple one.

Do you want a strong government
which has clear authority for the future,

or do you want a government which will
abandon the struggle against rising prices

under pressure from one particular
powerful group of workers?

And so, Edward Heath lost, and he was out.

After a weekend
of doubt and uncertainty,

Mr. Heath has handed in his resignation
to the Queen.

At issue for him now,
the death of his government

and what his own political future may be.

Heath out! Heath out!

It was a sweet victory
for the miners.

But maybe we didn't think enough

about what was going to happen after that.

Here comes
the prime ministerial Rover...

bearing now
Mrs. Thatcher as Prime Minister.

A wave that we've now become
really quite well-accustomed to

throughout this campaign.

When Margaret Thatcher got elected,
she wanted revenge

for what we did to them in 1974.

She never wanted to see a group of workers

bring the Tory government down again.

Could I ask you,
if you would tell us,

what sort of administration

you would like to have
over the next five years?

Well, we shall be going inside

and we shall be getting on with that
as fast as we can,

and we'll hope to have some...

You knew that she were going
to come for us at some point.

Oh, aye, yeah, definitely. Absolutely.

In 1979,
when Mrs. Thatcher is elected,

the total trade union membership
is 12 million.

This is an enormous force.

Now, Mrs. Thatcher is determined

that she's going to break
the monopoly power of the trade unions

and the monopoly power
of the nationalized industries.

And, of course, the miners' union
were the exemplar of that.

If you get rid of
the strongest union, which was the miners,

then the rest will crumble.

I want to lead the people of this country

away from the quicksands of socialism.

- Politicians can't please everyone.

That would be impossible.

But it is our task
to try to do justice to everyone.

What's happening
in 1980, 1981, 1982,

Margaret Thatcher is preparing herself

for what she knows
will inevitably be a confrontation.

She was very tactical,
and she was very aware

of how and when
the balance of forces might be right

in order to ensure that she could deploy

what were essentially
the forces of the state

against a group of workers.

No-one could have predicted
how far the government would go

to get what they wanted.

In January 1983,

there was a secret private party...

in the Home Office, in a backroom,

with the Home Secretary,
top civil servants, top police officers,

to celebrate the introduction

of a new public order manual.

Behind the scenes, they were creating
a paramilitary police force.

Britain had two
very distinct styles of policing.

- Policing for Britain was...

reasonably democratic

and reasonably consensual.

But Britain also had

a totally different
policing tradition for the colonies.

It was about power and force.

And the key colonial police force
was in Hong Kong.

And so, police officers from Britain

brought in advice from the colonies

as to how to deal with public disorder
in a paramilitary way

which can only
alienate and repress people.

And that's what they used for the manual.

Chief officers are the only people
who can see the manual.

Even the rank and file of the police

didn't know this manual existed.

The manual was
such a fundamental shift

in the way that police operate

in relation to protests and public order

it should have gone to Parliament.

But it was done behind the scenes,
completely un-democratically.

An abuse of the rule of law.

The Home Office
being involved in the manual at all

is a breach of the operational
independence of the police,

and that is
a cornerstone of our democracy,

the separation of power
between police and government.

If it was true that the Home Office
and the Home Secretary

were involved in the manual,

my reckoning was that there would be files

in the National Archive.

There were three.

And there was one document there
which confirms

that the Home Secretary
signed off the manual.

And in seeing that document...

...my whole belief system crumbled.

Because the government lie.

- And there was the document to prove it.

The confrontation with the miners
was all pre-planned.

They stockpiled coal before it started,

and they introduced paramilitary policing.

They had all those things in place
before they took them on.

Good evening.

Relations between the National Coal Board
and the miners' leaders

deteriorated further today.

The board announced that they want
more cuts in the amount of coal produced.

It could mean that another 20 pits
will close in the next 12 months,

with a loss of about 20,000 jobs.

Arthur Scargill, the miners' leader,
said it was a savage attack.

We will do everything in our power

to stop men losing their jobs
and their livelihoods.

They've invested their very lives
in this industry.

Arthur Scargill,
the hero of the Saltley Gate episode,

had become the president
of the NUM in 1981.

He were one of us.

He were a fighter,
and he would stick up for us 100%.

He used to stand,
as far as we were concerned,

head and shoulders above the rest
of the trade union leaders in the country.

Two years ago,

I made a claim that the coal board
had a hit-list of pits.

I said the board intended
to close at least 70 pits

and to reduce manpower levels
by at least 70,000.

We believed Scargill,
we didn't believe them,

that Cortonwood would be
one of 20 pits that would close.

"No, it's not 20 pits,
it's going to be a lot more than this."

And-- and-- and we knew that.

Well, I'm telling you
that Mr. Scargill has a vivid imagination,

and he comes up with these wild numbers,

which he reels off at great extent.
Like he says...

Publicly, the National Coal Board
said there were 20 mines being shut.

But in another document released
in the National Archive, it says

that there are 75 mines being shut,
70,000 jobs were going.

For us, the key was to get--
we had to get men out.

We had to get men in the meetings,
we had to get men out picketing.

- Thanks very much for your time, lads.

And Scargill was confident
that these rolling strikes

in Yorkshire and in Scotland

would spread to the rest of the country,

and that he would be able to pull off
a repeat of what had happened

in 1972 and 1974.

What's changed, though,

is that the miners
are top of the earnings league,

and if you go to Nottinghamshire,

there, the piece-work rates
are the best in the country.

So, they were very, very reluctant
to get involved in any strike action.

During the '70s,

if you were a coalface worker
in Kent, Wales, Scotland, Yorkshire,

wherever you worked,
you used to get the same money.

But because people wanted pay rises,
they were introducing this scheme

where if you produce more coal
you'll get bonuses.

And that explains why Nottingham,

where they generally worked
in better conditions, relatively,

they benefited from it financially.

That eroded that sense of unity.

It was then we started
digging our own graves.

The men that worked hardest
were going to get the least money,

because they couldn't
get as much coal out...

because they were in bad conditions.

In my pit, we worked
seven miles out under the North Sea.

So, there was water,

there was dust.

The coal was hard to get, but we got it.

The last bonus I got was 35 quid.

In Nottingham, they were getting,
like, 90 quid a day... bonus.

When did it become clear to you
Nottinghamshire wasn't coming in?

Straight away.

First day.

Have you discussed
taking industrial action?

No. I think it's pointless.

- Absolutely pointless.
Why not?

You lose too much money,
for a start.

I mean, if we're off work
for four or five week,

it's going to take us way above a year
to get that back.

All we want from Nottingham miners
is their support in this fight.

It's all right,
they're on big bonuses now,

they're buying 'em now.

When the bonus and the coal goes,
what have they got left? Nothing.

The other big issue
was that Scargill

had failed to give the miners a vote.

You see, the miners
had always prided themselves

on having these votes

where the men, over their shifts,

all voted yes or no
as to whether to take strike action.

But the likelihood of getting a majority

in a pit-head ballot

at the start of the strike
is questionable.

Some would say that
you're changing the rules

because you're worried about
getting the 55% if you have a ballot.

It doesn't surprise me one little bit
that the BBC would say that,

but we would reject it,
and we would say that...

It was a messy start,

because the strike was never

one single national strike.

It was always complicated.

It was a series of area strikes, really,

sort of nationally coordinated.

And, of course,
the Notts miners used it to justify...

...their wish to continue to work.

Well, I mean, we talked amongst ourselves

and everyone expected,
and I talk about this a lot,

everyone expected a national ballot.

Me dad was saying,
"We don't need a national ballot,

we're going out on strike."
Well, that's not how it works, is it?

Democracy says we have a national ballot.

Once Scargill gives us a national ballot,
then we'll know what we're doing.

People that called for t'ballot
didn't support the strike.

The media wanted a ballot,
Margaret Thatcher wanted a ballot.

The ballot was designed
to sabotage a strike.

It's a good way to split people up.

It's divide and conquer, innit?

That's... Tories are good at that.

What we pushed for was,

"All right, well, let's have
an area ballot in Nottinghamshire."

Now, that happened quite quickly.

Put your ballot paper in there, lad.
You know which way to vote.

It's already known that a big majority
of Nottinghamshire's 34,000 miners

have voted against strike action.

As news of the Nottinghamshire
miners' resounding no to strike action

began to filter through,
the men poured out their bitterness.

They all ought to have great, big
yellow stripes painted down their backs.

Scab! Scab! Scab!

The picket lines,
for us, were sacrosanct.

Even if you might have issues,

you would never cross a picket line.

I had a brother-in-law that worked
at Calverton pit in Nottingham.

I never spoke to him again after that.

Once a scab, always a scab!

If you're a scab, you're a scab.

People have said to me in the past,
"That's an awful word, that,

and don't you sort of forgive and forget?"

But, no,
when you stab your mates in the back,

and that's exactly what happened there,

you stab your mates in the back,
you should never be forgiven.

Now, we're trying new methods
this morning.

As you know,
we're setting off a little bit later,

and I want...

But there was a conviction
that it would be possible

to picket the Nottinghamshire coalfield.

Try and get to the pits

and ask us members
to come out and support us.

Within a day or two,
we were down in Nottingham.

We had no choice. If we wanted a future,
we had to fight now.

It's not far up here.
I'm sure it's up here.

The pit I was sent out to
was Creswell.

No doubt there were some tussles
that went off early doors,

but by and large
they were amazingly peaceful.

We're asking you not to cross
this picket line.

Hundreds and hundreds of miners
listening to the arguments,

and we were really successful.

They were listening to us,
and they were coming out on strike.

As far as I'm concerned,

you didn't scab,
you didn't cross a picket line.

I says, "I'll turn me car round,"

and I never, ever went back to work
till the strike...

till the strike was over.

We're-- What we're asking is that
you don't cut any coal today or what,

or while the strike's on.

Of course, it wasn't long
before Thatcher wanted to know why...

the police weren't there.

In mid-March,
Thatcher met with her cabinet,

and she expressed to the cabinet,
in her view,

that the police were not
carrying out their duties fully.

Miners were being able
to travel across the country

and stop people going to work.

Margaret Thatcher pushes her cabinet
for more involvement,

while, all the while,
saying, "We're not involved."

Mr. President,

we are not going to intervene
in the coal dispute.

Categorically not the case.

She drove the strike.
She was involved in every detail.

The initials in her blue pen
all over documents confirm that.

The reason Nottingham was so important

is identified in a document
which is for Thatcher's office only.

They identify that
if they can keep them running,

they will be able to increase
the endurance of the strike.

And this is the reason

the police operation in Nottingham
is so important.

Quick, march!

And there it is,
on week two of the strike.

In her warning to the chief constables,

she's saying the chief constables
have got to stiffen their resolve.

They've got to stop
the preventing of people going to work.

We're going to be firm
about maintaining the law.

We won't tolerate...

violence, or intimidation,
or any serious breaches of the law.

The Home Secretary also
sent a telex to all chief constables,

and said, "Do not let money
influence your operations.

You have the full support
of the Home Secretary, whatever you do."

So, that's another breach
of this separation of power

between police and government.

The Home Office
refuses to reveal

how much all this is costing nationally.

The running total
must be around the 20 million mark.

And so,
over the course of the strike,

80,000 police officers,

that's three-quarters
of England and Welsh police,

went to Nottingham.

The police appear very anxious
not to let anyone know

the exact scale of the operation
that they're mounting in Nottinghamshire.

But they have men billeted at army camps,

and they keep
the press and journalists away.

I've never seen anything like it.

They were just all over the place.

The police presence is unwarranted
and unprecedented,

and it's almost tantamount
to a paramilitary state.

We're not letting you through here.

- You're not letting us through?
- No, not letting you through.

- Why can't we got through?
- So, turn your vehicle round now.

Since the 18th of March,

the police have been stopping cars
which they think contain pickets

and threatening them with arrest
if they go any further.

If you refuse to turn it around, you'll
be arrested

because I'm likely to suspect there'll be
a breach of the peace caused.

But why can't we go in
to our work?

Because I believe if you go there,

then a breach of the peace
is likely to occur. OK?

I remember we got pulled
in a police roadblock.

"Well, we're not turning the car round,"
I says.

So, then, they smashed every window
out of the car.

And we were arrested.

I was locked up there three days.

This happens in Northern Ireland.

This happens in South Africa, not here.

But it were happening here.

I accept that what we are doing
is stopping people on the road.

And we are, if you want to look at it
in total isolation,

an infringement of civil liberties.

But let's look at
what we are trying to do.

We are trying to stop
large numbers of people

who are trying to infringe
other people's civil liberties.

They started stopping us
at the Dartford Tunnel.

We were stopped from leaving Kent.

Travesty, really.
That was against the law.

Yeah, but it's also
a police responsibility.

So, the strategy for this,

as you've termed it, the ring of steel,

was to prevent flying pickets

interrupting those
who wanted to go back to work.

It is anticipated that large numbers
will be congregating to a colliery

somewhere in our division.

I got an old map out. It were that old,
there were no motorways on it.

Anyway, we went
through farmer's fields, dirt tracks,

and we finally got through
to a Nottinghamshire pit.

But then,
the cops turn up, mob-handed,

and that's when the violence starts.

I think it
totally and utterly false

to cast a slur on the police

for the superb way in which
they have handled this dispute.

The situation was
well-managed by the police,

so, whilst it wasn't nice
walking past people,

I never felt any sort of danger.

- Judas!
- Blackleg!

There were some
you could have a bit of a banter with,

some of them weren't bad, but...

if an inspector says, "Go in there
and rough 'em up," they'd do it.

I want no trouble. Any trouble whatsoever
will be dealt with.

No trouble. None at all.

This county is being turned
into a paramilitary state,

and my advice
to every Nottinghamshire miner

is to come out on strike,
and stop standing on the sidelines,

witnessing brutality against our miners.

At the end of the day, it was obvious
Nottingham wasnae coming out.

It was now coming into the summer.

There wurnae going to be power cuts.

And we had to think,
"How are we going to win this?"

And for us... it was going to be steel.

That's the moment when there's
a change of gear by Arthur Scargill.

He believes that the tactic should be

to concentrate on key places
like Orgreave.

Orgreave's significance
is that it is

essential in the supply chain
to keep the Scunthorpe steelworks going.

The coke is made from coal at Orgreave

and then transported to Scunthorpe.

Break that chain, and you could
cause the government great difficulty.

And Scargill is confident
that he's going to be able to pull off

another symbolic victory,

as he did in 1972,
at the Saltley Gates in Birmingham.

I would love to see every single member
of my union who's here,

every single member who's on strike

and every trade unionist
who's here supporting us,

- down at the Orgreave coking plant.

Thatcher certainly knew that.

She is worried,
and it's throughout the government papers.

They're constantly mentioning
Saltley Gate.

"We can't have the miners

and Arthur Scargill
looking like they're winning,

because if they look like they're winning,

then maybe they can
bring down the government again."

We're immensely grateful to you
for what you do. Immensely grateful.

We started going to Orgreave
from beginning of May,

and there were, like,
four police and six of us.

The next day, there'd be 200 of us.

And then it went on and on
until there were thousands of us...

and thousands of police.

Worst confrontation than ever
broke out today on the picket line.

Pickets were met by one of the largest
police presences of the dispute.

But there were scuffles
as the miners tried to break police lines.

By the time we get to June the 5th,

that's when you see a cabinet document

talking about the importance
of the week beginning June the 18th.

That there must be this well-executed plan

to shift 8,000 tonnes of coal

from Orgreave to Scunthorpe.

But whatever happens, we must not allow

Arthur Scargill to claim victory.

Sunday night, 17th of June 1984.

We went to a meeting
at Silverwood Miners Welfare, about 7:00,

for the next day's picketing orders.

Our NUM president said to us all,

2,000 miners
from South Yorkshire collieries

had been picked
for the next morning's destination.

Orgreave.

They wanted
everybody at Orgreave.

From all over the country -
Scotland, Wales.

They were going to be there
from everywhere.

So, we just get up in the morning,

and everybody just set off from there.

I was 19. It was just a jolly.

Just go doon for a jolly.

Na-na-na. You've got your ten cigarettes

and your couple of cans of lager
for the bus.

Get doon there.

It's a summer's morning, lovely day.

We arrived, bus-loads,
from all areas of Scotland,

Wales, Kent, you name it.

Only ably assisted by the police,
which was a bit naive, I suppose.

They were waving us through.

We were actually waving back to them.

You know, how...

Yeah, definitely naive.

Remember, back just a few weeks earlier,

they were stopping us
in the middle of the Stepps Road.

You know, all the Yorkshire boys that were
stopped every day trying to go and picket.

Here, it was, "Down you go,
into that field there."

Valet parking.

"This way, sir, to your slaughter."

That was the biggest crowd
I'd seen ever,

at a picket line, ever that day,

and you could tell something's, something,
something's in the air, know what I mean?

You're walking past the police,
lay in the grass.

Bit hungover 'cause you've had a drink.

Laying on the grass, lovely atmosphere.

There was games of football,
kickabouts going on.

There was games of cricket, I always
remember seeing guys playing cricket.

And as you walked down through this,

you felt...

...quite...

safe.

I was excited.

When you walked down there,
it were like, "Wow."

You didn't realize how many...
There were thousands.

So, it were like,

"Ah, it's going to be a good day,
a good day."

But obviously,
it didn't turn out a good day.

We parked at the top of the hill,

and we walked over there, like.

And my mate stopped in his tracks.
He says, "Look at that."

From a distance,
I really couldn't...

get my head round
what it was I was looking at.

It was just a black wall.

The chatter was, "That's the police."

I says, "Nah."

I says, "There's not that many police
in the UK. That's impossible."

And they were motionless,

not making... that much sound.

You had this aura.

Like, it was too quiet, far too quiet.

That's it. Go that way, lads.
Don't let pressure off.

- That way.
- Go that way.

Arthur Scargill were up on
the top of the bank there,

top of the dell there, shouting,
"Make your way down to the front."

- Come on!

Let's give 'em a hand. Come on!

I went straight to the front.

I wanted to be where the action is.

I was young and impetuous, or...

I wouldn't be at the front now,
by the way.

But I was young, and I was...

I was young, and I've always believed
the working class could...

...rise up against the system.

And this was the system
trying to suppress us.

And I thought,
"We can do something about this here."

You know, united, we're all together.

But bearing in mind,
they had the state behind them.

We just had goodwill
and faith of good comrades behind us.

Pair of shorts and a T-shirt...

and do your best.

Miners coming now, start to fill up.

Couple of idiots on the one side,
throwing stones.

And the stones are landing
on the miners more than the police.

Boys are shouting back,
"Stop throwing stones, you donkeys!"

We had no protection.
We were just in our normal uniform.

But they were hitting these guys,
these Scottish guys in front of us.

And they were going crazy, these guys.
They were turning round and going,

"Will you stop it," you know.
They didn't want that, I don't think.

And then the decision was made

to put another row of officers
in front of us.

Break for shield unit, please.
Break for shield unit.

All of a sudden,
we see this line

of police marching up, with shields.

And they form a line.

That were a laugh, weren't it?

This is a police line
unlike I'd ever seen anything before.

Fuckin' hell, havin' a laugh.

It was like something out of,
you know, Gladiator,

or some Roman film.

It was just beyond belief.

You're a disgrace! Get back!

I don't think any of us realized
what we were heading to.

Next thing then,
you could hear a noise now,

on the one side, left-hand side.

It was the wagons coming.

So we all gathered
towards the police line,

a big thick block of miners,
start pushing.

There was always
a traditional push and pull,

where we pushed the police,
and they pushed us back.

It was like some sort of dance.

But this was obviously
on a different scale.

Bearing in mind
I've been on a few picket lines,

I've been to football matches
where the pressure comes on.

I've never experienced pressure like it.

Unbelievable. Scary.

You're thinking,
"This could be my last day here."

Everybody was quiet at the front.

There's no shouting.

Because you could hardly breathe.

The pressure was that great
from the push from both sides.

I've never, ever
experienced anything like that.

You could not get a breath.

You couldn't move your arms,
your feet were off the floor.

I remember this guy in front of me,

and he was purple.

And then, we heard...

...the faint crackling from...

the loudhailer.

The loudhailer gave instruction
to break rank, open up.

Then the horses came through.

Horses, Frank. Frank!

Everybody runs. There's people
lost their shoes and people falling.

But we just bolted back out of there
and away up the back.

Fucking hell!

It were frightening. They were
running over you if they got the chance.

"What on earth is going on?"

Now, how many people had been in
that field when they charged initially?

Hundreds. Doing nothing.
Absolutely nothing.

Horses went back in,
they closed up the ranks,

and everybody re-gathered
and went back down.

Right! Right!

But once they did that first time,
everybody's back were up.

I think we had absolutely no option
but to defend ourselves.

There was an awful lot of stuff
coming over then.

And these guys carrying long shields

could only protect themselves

and us, who were directly behind them.

Once you were two or three rows back,

obviously, the missiles come over,

and they're hitting people
who are in ordinary uniform.

It became a bit chaotic.

And there was this feeling of...

"This is really going to go off."

Then it happened again.

Horses, Frank.
To your right, to your right!

And the police were all
banging their truncheons on their shields

and clapping and cheering
as the horses went back.

I cheered.

You know, it wasn't a question of
someone said, "Shall we cheer?"

I made the personal decision, you know,

and I can actually remember saying,
you know,

"Thank F for that."

The first escalation,
as far as I'm concerned, was the missiles.

And that's bloody dangerous.

We were only returning what we received.

They sent snatch squads in.

Wee guys with wee round shields
and batons.

Take cover!

I heard somebody saying,
"Bodies not heads."

And then, they just lost control.

Your first instinct is get away. Get away.

I just ran up the field.

Behind me, I could hear, "Whoom, whoom."

It's just folk getting
the shit kicked out of them.

Getting whacked wi' wooden batons,
you name it.

Split skulls.

Just... brutalized.

Come on, get up.
Get up, get up! Get up, you cunt.

I can't fucking get--
I can't. Fucking hell!

You could see guys
getting pulverized with the truncheons

and then dragged
back into the police lines.

I thought,
"Nah, I don't accept this."

If somebody's going to punch you,
what are you going to do? Say thank you?

I'll hit you back if I can.

Yeah, there were... People were...
It were chaos.

- No mercy.

I was stood in the woods.
I wasn't doing a thing.

Next thing, somebody hit me from behind.
I goes down.

I can remember grabbing my hat.

Next thing, I feel truncheon
on my back and my head.

Oh! I was squirming, I was squealing.

They drag me back towards the police line.

They fling me to the floor,

punching up at me, kneeing me in the face,

kneeing me in my st-- in my stomach.
I'm screaming now.

Until they get to the police van.

Oh, it was frightening.

They changed the rules completely.

It was never about pushing and shoving.
It was about them beating you up.

You ought to get in there and get them.

Go over there, film them there.
Get in there and see what they're doing.

We were there in our t-shirts and jeans.

They were there in full riot gear.
Horses, dogs, the lot.

And then they were given carte blanche
to do anything they wanted.

It was very, very scary.

In fact, it was terrifying.

It was a scary old day, that.

Orgreave.

Just thinking about it.

We seen a lot of-- lot of bad things
happen that day.

We were never
going to win that day.

It was set in stone that day
that we were beat.

So, who did that, then?
How's this happen?

Truncheon.
Truncheon.

Look at that. Look at that.

- Truncheon.
- Minding me own business, that, mate.

First day on picket line,
is this, for this lad.

And that's what he gets.

People were brutally beaten.

For the first time in this country,

you saw the use
of the short shield and the baton,

all straight out the manual.

And in the manual it says,

"You have the right to incapacitate people
just for being present."

They have, also, it seems,
gone beyond the manual...

and applied their own interpretation.

Horses are meant to go a certain distance,
stop, come back.

It says 30 yards,
it looks a lot further than that.

And dogs were only meant
to be used within a perimeter...

but they used them to contain people.

What Thatcher had there
was a vast number of police officers

with different powers that have been
un-democratically given to them.

Most of the violence
happened at the top end,

and we were at the bottom end.

We were penned in at the bottom end.

We were sent to the back of Orgreave.
There was another entrance to Orgreave.

There was a huge field there.

We just, you know, congregated in there.

There must've been
a couple of thousand of us.

Suddenly, the gates open
further up the road...

and the coke trucks started coming out.

So, we started to heave.

The ultimate aim was to...

shove ourselves, along with the police,

but shove ourselves out into the road
to stop 'em.

All the media were up the top end as well,

so I don't think much of this
were ever caught on camera.

And a few scuffles broke out,
and the next thing I knew,

I was sort of being
dragged along the floor,

and somebody got a handful of hair.

One had me in a really serious headlock.

I found it bloody difficult.
I was quite frightened, actually.

More... Not about the situation,

more about getting
a bit more breath, you know.

I got a push in the back...

into the police's arms,
and then I were arrested, like.

And we were handcuffed... into the bus.

The object obviously was
to blockade the coke plant,

but you managed to get the convoy through.

Yes. We've said right from the start,

we are not going to sort of back down
to this sort of violence.

The people bringing in the coke lorries
are working lawfully.

They've told us that
they want to continue to work lawfully,

and we've said
that they will continue to work lawfully.

These people
are really wasting their time.

They have tried, time and time again,
to break through the lines,

and they've been repulsed every time.

And that is
what's going to continue to happen.

They just kept coming
across that field

and then forcing people further up.

Right, short shield units,
please. Forwards this way.

Then the whistle blew.
Back into the battle.

The scariest thing
I've ever been to in my life.

Police line just opened up like that.

Three or four policemen dived out,
grabbed me.

And I'm dragged through the lines
and just put in the back of a van.

Handcuffed.

The back door of the van opened, and...

there's a policeman wi' a cut eye...

standing beside another bloke,

and he pointed at me and said,

"That's the guy for you."

So he was basically saying,
I'm getting done...

for what had happened to this bloke, eh?

Police lines, with each charge,

moved up and gained ground
and condensed us.

It was a big field...

but they made it
smaller and smaller and smaller.

They were tooled-up to the hilt.

Horses charging into you,

being made to run across
railway lines that are live, you know?

It were either go down there
or get run over by a horse.

Hundreds of miners just went straight
down the bankings, out of the way.

No hesitating.

I just managed
to get over the bridge.

I heard one police officer shout,

"Get that big bastard there
with white shirt on."

I were marched down t'hill.

The police line was still there
with long shields.

And then,
it were like a free-for-all for them.

They were...

punching... punching me...

kicking me, kneeing me.

They had absolute permission

to do whatever they wanted that morning.

And how there wurnae some miners killed...

I've no idea.

They didn't give a shit. They really
didn't give a shit that afternoon.

At a certain point,
part of the day,

it started getting really scary.

And I were thinking,
"Whoa, this is getting out of hand."

I really didn't have time to think.

We were just running.

Into alleyways, through back gardens,

hiding in sheds,
hiding wherever you could.

You felt like you were
being hunted at times, you know?

We were near the car park,

and I were stood at the side of the car
with my hand on the bonnet,

and I went to show t'police
I wasn't doing anything.

And that's when t'police hit me
with his shield,

knocked me on top of the car,

then just started
hitting me with truncheon.

Then handcuffed me hand to me leg,

dragged me through the police ranks,

smashed me face into a shield...

then they opened open up
and dragged me through.

They got this
pretty blonde-haired girl there.

Looked at me, she says,
"Ooh, you do look a mess.

Let me wipe your face, you'll feel better.

You know, it's a bit hot out there."

I said,
"No, I'm all right, duck, thank you."

She wanted to clean me up

to have me photo took
with these two arresting officers,

make you look presentable.

And then...

I were charged there,
with... unlawful assembly.

The police said,
"Anybody that's caught round here

after half an hour will be arrested."

So, we just all got on the buses

and headed back up north and home.

I can remember
getting back to my car, then...

I suddenly realized I was alone.

Three of my comrades
were still in that field.

And I froze. I...

Lucky for me,
they come running down the road...

five minutes later,
just jumped in the car,

and... we drove off.

And I don't think any of us
said a word driving back.

At this point,
there was a change in me.

There was a change, I dare say,
in thousands of guys.

You see that?
Treat violence with violence.

It became about retaliating...

and protecting ourselves.

Picking up
whatever you could get hands on.

Was I able to inflict any damage?
No, I couldn't.

Tried my damnedest.

Because I'd lost the plot.

You didn't recognize yourself...
in that moment.

Growing up, you didn't attack the police.
It was unthinkable.

But then,
the police didn't attack the people.

People say, "You did this
and you did that, during the strike."

I said,
"Well, I can look me son in the eye

and say, 'Son, I fought as hard as I could

for a job and a future for you.'"

'Cause it was never about wages,
it was about jobs.

I was fighting for...

your sons, your daughters, a future.

We just wanted our communities.

We just wanted our miners welfares,
that's all we wanted.

Didnae want anything else.

We were now into the afternoon,

and the word came
that they'd proved their point,

made a number of arrests,

the lorries had come and gone,

and now it was time to go home.

And I looked, and I seen
one of my mates talking to the media.

We deplore
the people that's throwing the bricks.

We deplore them,
'cause they're no' miners.

They're only agitators.

I says, "Come on, George."
I said, "Of course it's miners...

but it was in retaliation."

I must have been mid-rant...

when two cops moved round behind me.

And there was just two words spoken.
"Take him."

The miracle is
that no-one has been killed here today,

either by being trampled on in the surges

or struck by some of these enormous bricks
that have been thrown.

Half-house-bricks and that sort of thing.

Uh, you obviously
saw the barrage coming over,

and the shields were taking
the full weight of those things.

Without those shields being there,

there would have been
a lot of policemen in hospital.

We were told, right,
those who've arrested people

need to go to this area

this particular building,
which was sort of like a school building.

- There was desks, I think, from memory.

We started, yeah, writing our statement...

and then, a person came in...

who was introduced as a senior officer
from South Yorkshire Police,

and he said, you know, "Stop writing."

And he said,
"Right, this is an instruction.

All statements must contain
this paragraph, or two paragraphs."

A few of us actually sort of stood up
and said,

"Well, no,
that's not how statements are done."

Very vehemently, this person said,
"No, this isn't a request."

You know, "This is an instruction."

We were being ordered to do that.

The details of the paragraphs
were effectively the offense of riot.

The person I arrested wasn't,
in that sense, violent towards me.

He was just ignoring
and determined to ignore what I said.

I've never seen
what happened to my statement.

Not since I wrote it.

Would you like to?

- Yeah. Is it handwritten?
It's typed up.

Yeah, no, this is...

I don't recognize... a lot of this.

Um...

It says I told the person I'd arrested him
for threatening behavior.

It wasn't. It was... obstruction.

We ended up driving off
to the main police station at Rotherham.

We were all hoicked out of this place
and went to...

We were put in this...
initially, a huge room.

Oh, there were miners in a mess.

- It were...

Been hit wi' truncheons, their heads
were like... blood all over 'em.

People were shouting,
"He needs a doctor, him."

"Yeah, we'll get one sorted," and...
They weren't bothered.

Treated you like animals.

We were told then that...

there was a solicitor making her way
to us there from London.

I was taken
straight to Rotherham police station...

anticipating a few arrests.

But there were, in fact, 95 men arrested.

The cells were packed,

and there was blood, there was vomit,

there was...

...rampant fear.

Just seemed to be
in there forever, eh?

It was night-time afore
we got put in front of the beaks, eh?

Throughout the day,
we could hear this screaming and moaning.

And as we came out of the cell,

we could see in the other cells then.

You know, the blood and sweat

and urine and snot and whatever.

So, we knew
some of the lads had been beaten up.

Initially, police had been told

this was an unlawful assembly charge,

but it upped to riot for about 25.

And then, much later on,

another 25 or so were charged with riot.

There's one set of papers which show that,

on the 30th of May,
a government representative

called Peter Wright
to discuss more serious charges.

So, again, there's questions over

how much the government
influenced Wright's decision

on what charges to apply.

We've not charged riot lightly.

We've looked at the nature of the events
that took place,

and we've measured them and we've...

discussed them
with the county prosecuting solicitor,

and they can only be at a level of riot.

We've never charged riot before.

And Peter Wright,
along with his colleagues,

decided that it was more appropriate
to charge for riot...

...which attracted a life sentence.

That, I've got to say...

put the fear of Christ up me,
it really, really did.

There's been the worst violence so far

at the Orgreave coking plant
near Sheffield.

5,000 pickets clashed with police
in a pitched battle.

It was the worst violence
yet seen outside the Orgreave coke plant,

and the plan to blockade the works

had obviously been carefully orchestrated
on a national scale

by the mineworkers union.

I mean,
the worst thing that happened after it

was watching it on the news,

and then realizing, "Oh, Christ,
the bloody BBC. This isnae how it went."

The violence began
as the lorries entered the plant.

A barrage of stones and other missiles
fell into the lines of police.

Police on horseback were sent in

in an effort to disperse
the fighting miners.

I remember going home
and watching the news

thinking, "What?!

You bastards!"

The violence
reached a new peak,

as miners surged forwards
against the riot shields.

Policemen fought with truncheons
under a barrage of stones and missiles.

By mid-morning,
the picketing had turned to rioting.

More riot squads were needed
as reinforcements in the front line

as the pressure increased.

It were always, like,
us bully-boys on the poor old cops,

and the cops responding.

Eventually, senior officers
ordered in the mounted police

to disperse the miners.

The facts of the matter,
undisputed,

are that the police charged
against the miners.

It wasn't the miners
throwing bricks and stones at the police.

The police charged.

The police became involved

in some of
the most vicious hand-to-hand fighting

of the entire miners' dispute.

The attacks on individual policemen
were horrific.

The police commanders said
it was a marvel that no-one was killed.

It was really very galling,
to say the least.

To get a complete doing, and then
getting the blame for the violence,

when it was the police
that had started it.

That was just... shocking.

Mrs. Thatcher,
one of her ugliest phrases, I think

was to describe the miners
as "the enemy within."

The violence and intimidation we have seen

should never have happened.

It is the work of extremists.

It is the enemy within.

The Prime Minister...

saw the miners' strike

in roughly the same way that she had seen

the invasion of the Falklands.

An attack on Britain.

Britain is not prepared
to be pushed around.

We have dealt with the enemy
without the Argentinian forces.

Now we must deal with the enemy within.

That's a phrase that... I found shocking.

It is always easier
to defeat the enemy without

because they can be seen and identified.

And everyone is absolutely united
in defeating the enemy without.

When you get violence and intimidation
and extremism and militancy within,

it is very much more difficult to defeat.

But violence and intimidation within

are the enemy of the ballot.

They are the enemy of democracy,

and anyone or any union
that gives in to them

- has very little future.
- If I can get this perfectly clear...

You don't...
Liberty doesn't have any future

if you give in to that.

Moderate trade unions have no future
if we give in to that.

"The enemy within"
was a deeply damaging and poisonous way

in which you begin to isolate
and caricature a group of people.

How did you feel
when the miners were described

- as "the enemy within"?
- Oh, f...

Thumping.

How do I feel?

After serving...

...tours in Northern Ireland...

wearing...

Her Majesty's uniform,

and for her to come out
with a statement like that.

I was also a part-time
fireman at the time,

so I was doing my bit.

And we didn't want oodles of money.
We just wanted to carry on.

We wanted a job. That's all we wanted.

That hurt a lot of miners, that.

It just shows the contempt
what Thatcher and the Tories

have got for the working class,
what they really think about you.

It were coal miners
helped them out there through wars,

they dug coal through wars, for England.

And then to be
portrayed as the enemy within.

We weren't the enemy.

A part of history forgotten.

After Orgreave,

next part of Thatcher's strategy
was to get people back to work.

Bribe people back to work,
beat people back to work,

starve people back to work.

Whatever it takes,
the green light was given.

The number of striking miners
going back to work this week

is still increasing.

1,600 men have now
given up the strike this week

according to the Coal Board.

There were letters coming to us
from the Coal Board, saying,

"If you go back, we'll give you
three months' back pay," or whatever.

We'll pay all your debts,
give you holiday money,

just to say, "This-- there's a guy back."

And the media would blow it up, saying,
"That pit's working. That pit's working."

So it's in the mindset of the men,
well, everyone's going back to work.

Looking back, I mean, I quite accept
that I had become a bit of a cheerleader

because I was reporting
the government's agenda

by encouraging a return to work.

The Coal Board seems to be
getting towards last Monday's record,

when 2,000 miners went back to work.

As you say,
1,200 already so far this morning.

I would
almost call it propaganda,

because it played an enormous part

in terms of
setting the views of many people

who were not actively involved
in supporting the miners.

That they were traitors,
they were disloyal.

But it could have been different.

We repeatedly asked Arthur Scargill,

"Couldn't we, the media,
have a better relationship with the NUM?"

And we always got a dusty answer.

He told me, "It's just a waste of time,

because, you know,
you're just agents of Mrs. Thatcher."

We have seen in the media...

time and time again, suggestions...

miners are drifting back to work.

Rubbish!

It must be right,
it's in the Daily Express.

And then, Thatcher wanted to start
breaking the most militant areas.

That meant a lot of police
sent into mining communities,

creating, again, the arrests,
the atmosphere of intimidation.

In Yorkshire,
police were waiting.

Three men went to work here yesterday.

Over 2,000 pickets
were out to stop them today.

But they couldn't get near the gates,

penned into a side street
by row upon row of police,

with reinforcements
standing by, determined...

More and more people
were required to go.

I mean, in the end,
they were taking people out of offices.

They used to chase men
and baton them...

...to the degree that people would open
their doors and let them in and hide them.

I don't know whether they were
trying to terrorize us all,

or think, well...

you know, you're gonna do as you're told.

Everybody got really, really worked up.

I remember
we had to pass our village green,

which was quite a big area,

and I had me two sons in the car,

and the little 'un says, he was nine,

"Mam, look at the green. It's black."

And when I looked, it was.
It was black with police.

We turned the corner,
and the street was cordoned off.

I had to stop the car.

"Where you going? How long will you be?"

I said, "I'm going to me mam's,
I'm dropping the bairns off."

"Okay."

And just as I'm winding the window up,
the little 'un says,

"But, Mam, you didn't tell that policeman

we're going
to the picket line first, did you?"

Um, so, that started it.

2,500 police in your village.

The battle over
the few miners going back

reached a new peak this morning.

A thousand police had to face
barricades of burning cars

to get one man into work.

Scabbing bastard!

By that time, it seemed
the police were no longer worried

about seeing as being partisan.

And to have your village invaded

when you're going to be hungry,
you're going to be...

worried that it's
not going to go your way now.

Stop throwing missiles!

You can see
how violence would escalate there...

and how people would respond

to a thousand policemen turning up
to take one person back to work.

We've got it.

The village became
a bit like a hornet's nest.

And... and the scabs started to go in.

I mean,
that really set the village on fire.

It really, really did.

You know, the hate we had for these people

that were going in, were going in to work.

Lots of people in Shirebrook
have been harassing working miners.

After weeks of broken windows

and insults
from people who were once your neighbors,

at least two of them
have moved to other villages.

And sadly,
as we got further into winter...

the more people did drift back to work.

- What's driven you to go back to work?
- Money.

- You say money?
- Money. Financial problems.

I suppose everyone's got
their reason for going back.

To me, there's no excuse for going back.

Scabby bastards!

Weeks turned into months...

and nothing was happening.

And I'm... at home...

not earning, obviously,
as nobody else was.

I said to me dad, I said,
"Look, I want to go back into work."

And he said, "Well...

no son of mine is going to scab,

and if you're going to scab,
I'm not having a scab under this roof.

You better move out,
and I suggest you do it now...

there and then."

Because of me dad being a big union man,

I knew that it would be embarrassing.

And that was
one of the contributing factors

to me not going back earlier.

On that particular Thursday,
I remember it vividly,

I picked the phone up, dialed the number,
I said, "I'm coming back to work."

And I knew, I thought...

"There's no going back now."

"Here's what's going to happen.

The bus will come," he said,
"There'll be policemen outside your house.

Don't get worried about that.
That's just here for protection.

You'll drive through the picket lines,
and that's not going to be easy.

Um, there'll be a lot of shouting,

there may be a few missiles
thrown at the bus as you're going in."

And I'm thinking, "Oh, crikey."

The following Monday, I opened the door,
and there were two...

um, uniformed officers.

He says, "Are you ready, young man?"

You know, total...
It's just part of normal daily life.

To me, it were a life-changing decision.

And that walk from the front door
to the end of the garden path...

I felt like I were walking to t'gallows.

Got on the bus, and as I sat down...

the chaperone came down to me,

and he put his hand on my shoulder,
and he says,

"You've done t'right thing, lad.
You're in good hands now."

He said, "Just one word from me.

If we get overrun,

there are baseball bats
in t'racks above you."

If I said I weren't petrified,
I'd be lying.

But there were no violence,
there were no...

Nothing was thrown at the bus,
no missiles as such.

From what I'd seen on t'news,
it was totally different.

There was no missiles.

Yeah, they'd push at the police lines
to get to the buses.

But it turns out all they wanted to do

was to get onto the bus
to try and persuade us to change us mind.

You believe in
what the comics are telling you.

I can see with me eyes.

Yeah, but if you're not looking,
you can't see the wood for the trees.

You're forgetting
to shove it aside and look.

You know,
it pitted brother against brother.

It pitted father against son.

It even split communities.
It destroyed communities.

After the strike, a reporter
from the Radio Times asked me dad,

"Should the worst thing happen,
and you pass away,

would you be happy
for Steven to come to your funeral?"

And he says, "I'd rather go to his."

And that, even to this day,
even just recalling that day,

And I think, "Really?"

That was the line drawn under it.

It was a bit bleak there
towards Christmas.

But miners are very resilient.
They help each other.

Four times a week,

Ronnie Mott and his two friends,
Alan Horcroft and Trevor Diamond,

set out in search of coal.

One bag will keep their families
warm and washed for two days.

There were people there, you know,
trying to keep your spirits up.

We had the women.

Women's support groups,
women's action groups,

women on picket lines.

I ended up going to London
quite a lot, fundraising.

Eventually,
I ended up in Germany, Belgium,

Holland, twice in America.

We needed that money for the food.

Otherwise,
we would have been starved back,

and we didn't want that.

It was so hard
watching people...

who you love,
who you think so much about, who...

At first, we're all like this.

But as weeks went on,
you could see it's... getting worse.

So, we then had to become

like an advice center
as well as a food center.

One man, he'd waited
till his wife had gone to bed.

He rang to say
he was going to kill his-self

'cause they couldn't
pay the electric bill, you know?

So, I would get up
in the middle of the night

and go to see these people,
and try and help out.

What was it like financially and...?

Horrendous. Horrendous.

I live with the guilt of that.

You're putting your wife,
and at the time, me son,

through hell for something you believe in.

When it come to the Christmas time,
we had nothing.

Nothing.

I had no coal, nothing to burn.

Uh, nothing in the cupboards.

It was...
It always sits heavy with me, this.

My husband knew that I was suffering,
he knew I was tired.

But he didn't know just how bad I was.

I didn't want him to know.

So, I thought,
"Shall I go to see the Catholic father?"

And I did.

And every Friday night
for the rest of the strike,

I went to Father O'Conn...

Father O'Connor's house...

for a cup of tea and a chat.

He just listened,
and that helped to keep me going.

I can always remember sitting having
a conversation with the wife,

a couple of weeks after,
when the dust had settled.

And she says,
"Would you ever do that again?"

I says, "I would, yes."

She says,
"I don't think I could support you."

Oh, I'm getting choked up here!

Can you give us a minute.

It just gets us sometimes.

Yeah, it was...

wasn't the best of times, that.
The reality of it, you know.

Can you just imagine living on £7 a week?

If you just put it down in front of you,

and then think of
what shopping you've got to do,

the bills what's to come out of it,

you can't imagine it.
And it's those people's gone back.

We both went in and out of... depression.

Having to apply for
winter coats for the children.

Don hated it. He absolutely...
"I provide for my children."

I mean, I've,
I've been up till four o'clock,

five o'clock in the morning.

Not because... I'm not tired. Worry.

I mean, who wouldn't be worried
at owing £2,000?

Wondering what the postwoman's
going to bring the following morning.

It's going to be
a threatening letter from,

you know, the building society,
the bank or whatever.

Behind those closed doors,
there's been an awful lot of suffering.

I wonder how many children have seen
parents cry? How much debt they're in?

There's an awful of that gone on.

But no-one's ever said,
"Why have they stayed out?"

They've stayed out because they believe
in what they were fighting for.

Good evening.

There will be no more negotiations
between the Coal Board and the NUM.

That was made quite clear
by Mrs. Thatcher in the Commons during...

I knew that there would be no end to this

unless there was
an unconditional surrender,

either by Mrs. Thatcher,
or by Arthur Scargill.

But if Mrs. Thatcher
wanted unconditional victory...

Arthur wanted it, too, almost.
And I think that was the problem.

The National Executive Committee
of the NUM

are not begging or crawling

to the National Coal Board
for a resumption of negotiations.

She wasn't going to give way,
he wasn't going to give way.

He wanted to carry on.

There's this criticism of Arthur Scargill

of not being prepared to do a deal.

Why did he put the miners
through these six months of hardship

in the autumn and the winter of that year?

After Christmas,
there was definitely a change in mood.

You know, it's...

All that sacrifice, it was just
beginning to dawn on you that...

...it was going to be for nothing.

The miners' strike is over.
The NUM is recommending all its members

to go back to work on Tuesday.

Voting at today's
special delegate conference

was declared a few minutes ago.

98 to 91,

- in favor of an organized return.

Conference has decided...

that the National Union of Mineworkers...

shall organize
a return to work on Tuesday.

I called the boys together.

I said, "Boys, we've got to go back."

"Why, Tyrone? Why should we?"

"Boys...

the democratic decision has been taken.

We're not scabs.

We will accept,"
as much as we didn't want it,

"We will accept the democratic decision."

Okay, boys,
I know it's a bitter pill to swallow,

but we are going back to work

without a negotiated settlement.

But nevertheless...

I was absolutely devastated.
I honestly cried that day.

And Arthur Scargill came out and he said,
"Look," he says,

"I'm sorry,
but yous have got to go back to work."

Well, I was gutted.
Oh, I couldn't believe it.

We had lost, as simple as that.
We had lost.

And they could do anything they wanted.

On the last morning of the strike,

the working miners drive past the pickets.

But tomorrow, they've all got to learn
to work together again.

I think it was an enormous grief.

All the urgings to keep...
You know, "Keep going, keep going.

We can do this. Keep going, keep going."

It was all to no avail, and it was over.

I still believe, to this day, that if
they'd given just that little bit longer,

three or four more weeks,
I think we'd have got there.

I really, really believe that.

But we didn't...

...and we marched back.

They've stood
behind their union for a year.

This morning, their march back to work

was intended as
another gesture of defiance

to the Coal Board and the government.

Meeting at the Miners Welfare,
and we're going to march along to the pit

and march in, carrying the banner,

and we're going to try and be
as jolly as we can.

There was a...
a huge front put on, of joviality.

Behind their champion brass band,

the miners, their mothers,
their children, and their wives,

gathered in their thousands.

Although I stuck my chest out
and me chin up,

and cheered when we marched back
in front of our banner...

...I were dead inside. I were dead.

It was
the toughest part of the strike,

but at least there were
thousands other people like me.

But in Nottingham, my goodness,

these people suffered
massive harassment and intimidation.

For the strikers, the next few weeks
are going to be difficult ones indeed.

Here in the Midlands,
they are very much in the minority,

and many feel, rightly or wrongly,

that they may become
the targets for intimidation.

We were the most hated men
at that colliery.

- We'll sort that out, right?
- Aye, don't forget.

What we spoke about.

You know, threats of violence towards us,

you know, on the pit-top,
when you were getting changed.

Threats of violence.

Honestly, we were detested.

I dinnae think we can pretend
it was anything other than a defeat.

However, people did see that we fought.

It took the Tories and the whole
of the British state, everything,

it took them more than a year to beat us.

But that year
had cost the people so much.

For some people, it cost them their lives.

Um...

There was a... I know at least four people

that died in the wake of the strike,
that committed suicide.

And I'm not saying it was entirely...

...the strike...

...but that was a huge part of it.

Most of the 90 or so miners arrested

were charged with riot

carrying a possible life sentence.

We'd read the headlines.

We'd heard them
being regurgitated on the news.

Anybody found guilty
at Sheffield Crown Court...

can expect life.

Life, you always thought,
was for murderers and...

guys... you know, serious criminals.

You are powerless, aren't you?

You're just at their mercy, aren't you?

They were terrified.

These were working men,

all different ages,
from a teenager, one of my clients,

up to men in their fifties.

And it weren't only me. There were...

grown men there who were scared,
d'you know what I mean?

A lot of years.

Everyone thought that this was
going to be an uphill struggle.

- But as the prosecution evidence

was served in advance of the trial,

then we could all see there were

various aspects of that evidence

which tended to rather undermine

the core of the prosecution case.

The prosecution had not elected

to make the police video
a part of its case.

One they took themselves
from behind the police lines.

So, we were entitled to see it.

That videotape
was used to devastating effect

on the principal
and most senior police officer,

Assistant Chief Constable Clements.

Clements claimed that the justification
for the short shield officers going in

was because the sky
was black with missiles,

and that was the level of violence,

so they had to do something about it.

And so, we asked him to look at the video.

It was quite clear
that there wasn't much...

in all honesty, in the way of missiles.

Now, not only was that a lie,

but it was a calculated lie.

And then he was asked about
the use of short shields and truncheons

and where that authority came from.

And that's when
he referred to the manual.

And we all went...

"What manual?"

One of the defense team asks

if the Home Office
was involved in the manual,

and that question is shut down.

Prosecution objects, judge agrees.

That's very curious to me.

Why object if the answer was no?

Then we were served
with the actual witness statements

of the various arresting officers,

and it immediately became clear

that large portions of them
must have been dictated.

Officers from differing forces
all over the country

had somehow...

...managed to write

verbatim accounts
in each other's statements.

This became increasingly untenable.

Yesterday,
a policeman, PC Gary Gray,

had admitted that in court
that his statement had been wrong.

He confessed that
the first part of the statement

had been dictated to him by a detective.

The prosecution case collapsed.

Celebration outside
Sheffield Crown Court this week

following the collapse of
the prosecution case against 14 miners

charged with riot
at the Orgreave coking plant.

The case had collapsed.

I suspected that it was to do
with the fact of these...

statements, you know, what was inserted.

There was never any investigation.

Yeah, that's the disturbing picture,

that no-one seems interested
to actually find out

why all this happened
and who made those decisions.

One defence lawyer said
the case was the worst example

of a mass frame-up
in this country this century.

Another talked about wholesale dishonesty
and a spiteful prosecution.

The miners insist

the whole prosecution
was wrongly conceived.

Their ordeal left men in prison
and families broken up.

You know, there's certain feelings
that has left you unsettled

and I mean, I'm married
and I have to keep my job, obviously

and so I mean, I'm just overwhelmed
and I'm glad that it's been this outcome.

As a trial...

...it had achieved really nothing,
other than, and thankfully...

that each and every one of us
was going home to our families.

It was elation.

We were crying. Everybody were crying
and hugging each other.

It were just... an amazing feeling.

Press were outside, and they wanted us
to go out and meet 'em.

And I didn't want that.

I were free, I wanted to go.

'Cause I could go where I want
and do what I want.

The thought of... The thought
of not going to jail for ten years

when I've got two young kiddies to...
and a family to look after,

yeah, obviously,
it's great from that perspective.

But...

again, to a degree...

it pisses you off, because...

it's done what they wanted to do.

Before the strike...

we worked three shifts,
days, afters, and nights.

And there was always somebody on streets,

coming home from work or going to work.

No one ever had any break-ins.

I can't remember any drugs.

Now you're looking at our villages...

and there's drugs all over the place.

They've absolutely decimated
all our mining villages.

The next generation just became junkies.

There was a lot of junkies in the
village. A lot of people died.

Young men died.

And there wasn't any work.

Decimated. Absolutely decimated.

Now there's not a coal mine in Scotland.

Nothing left. Nae industry.

Nae jobs for the people
that worked in the mining industry.

There's nothing.

It's unforgivable
that you do that to an industry

and then don't support your people

because you don't believe
in what they think.

Had a big effect on my life.

Drinking a lot.

Taking drugs.

Fighting.

Got in lots of...

My life actually got worse after that.

I don't think it'll ever go away.

I think it's going to stick with people
who were involved in that

till they take it to their graves.

I remember,
I eventually took the plunge

and took my redundancy.

How do you feel like this after 40 years?

Silly, innit, really? Um...

And we're stood in Meadowhall
and I look round

and the people spending money, and...

buying things for the kids, and buying...

All I got was... not a job.

No prospects.

That moment in time, I have never, ever...

felt as low in my life.

I think that's why...

it feels so emotional now, you know?

It feel it, it's...

It's immense, you know what I mean?
It hurts, you know what I mean?

Why do you think
it remains this emotional 40 years on?

I dunno...

Anger.

Not having the truth told.

How long is it since you've seen him?

Forty years, almost.

I was 22...

and this lad here was 16.

And he had hair.

He had hair back then.

- How are you?
- How you doin', fella?

- Ey up, mate.
- Nice to see you.

- How are you, mate?
- Come here.

- How you doing?
- I'm good. You?

Yeah, I'm fine.
All the better for seeing you.

Yeah, nice. Long time, mate.

It's... Well, I've just been asked that.
Forty years?

Yeah, 40 year.

You've not changed much.

I had... I had the long hair then.

Yeah, you did.
Only thing that's missing, mate.

That was a bit comical, eh?

- Yeah, you're looking well.
- You could be doing with some of it now.

Yeah, well, you know.

Some good friendships
come out of it.

Not just people who were on trial.

It just got like one massive family.

Everybody stuck together
and helped each other.

- How do, lads?
Hello, guys.

- All right, Craig.
- Changed a bit, eh?

We bonded as a group

and we supported one another as a group.

- Changed massively.
- Yeah.

I'm trying to get it in my mind's eye
how it looked in '84.

Thirty-eight years
is a long time, in't it?

It is.

Well, it's a long time,
and lot's-- a lot's changed.

Can you run any faster?

When I'm-- when I'm getting chased
by the police, yeah.

I think the old pit were there.

Yeah.

Yeah.
- Unbelievable.

It's got to have been there, I think.

The weather was better.

- It was scorching.
- Yeah.

I had my white shirt on there, unbuttoned.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

You only live
in the world you create.

We tried to create a better world for all.

And I have no guilt over that,

I have a clear conscience over that,

and I'm proud of what I've done over that.

I still like to think
the world will change,

but me optimism has waned slightly,
let's put it that way.

Why do you think you remain

so proud of the industry
that's killed your dad?

It's killed members of your family.

Your health in particular
suffers as a result,

and yet you're still so proud of it.
What-- Why do you think that is?

When I started in the coalface...

at 16-- 15, when I went underground,

immediately, my union taught me

the importance of trying to make change.

For 100 years or more,
we tried to make a difference.

Tried to make a better world.

Tried to understand sharing of wealth.

And willing to do something about it.

That's been... my life.

Yeah, you work hard underground,

but also then in your own time,
your family time...

you still try
to make a difference in the world.

So, yeah, I'm proud to be...

proud to be a miner. Very proud.