Strike Podcast
The 1984-85 miners’ strike was a gamechanger for Britain. For Jonny Owen - who was 13 and growing up in South Wales - it was personal. He seeks to find out what really happened.
The miners’ strike of 1984-5 had a profound impact on Britain’s politics, economy and society. For those on strike, and their families, it felt like an existential struggle to save not only their jobs, but their communities, and the life they knew.
Jonny Owen was just 13 and growing up in Merthyr Tydfil when it began. As it was kicking off, his parents told the family that they were going to give a substantial share of their wages to the striking miners for the duration of the dispute. His father and grandfather had worked underground.
Jonny couldn’t understand how anyone could argue with the decision to strike – after all, they just wanted to keep their jobs.
The miners lost their fight, and today, the South Wales Valleys suffer deep-seated problems – low skills, unemployment, and high sickness rates.
Jonny, a filmmaker, now lives in Nottingham – an area that could not have been more different from South Wales during the strike, with nine out of ten miners going to work throughout the dispute. His friendships cross the divide between the men who went on strike and those who didn’t – and the scars are still deeply felt forty years on.
In this series, he talks to people who were at the heart of the strike – on both sides – as he tries to make sense of what happened and why.
The conflict was bitter, the battle lines were stark, but the old certainties seem to shift like sand beneath his feet. Join him on his journey into the heart of one of the most tumultuous events in 20th-century Britain.
Strike is a Bengo Media Production for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Sounds.
Presenter: Jonny Owen
Series Producer: Clare Hudson
Executive Producer: Steve Austins
Assistant Producer: Ffion Clarke
Development Producer: Branwen Davies
Sound Designer: Meic Parry
Sound Editor: Adam Whalley
Composer: Richard Llewellyn
Series Consultant: Dr Ben Curtis
Commissioning Editor: Bridget Curnow
Episodes to download
-
8. The Reckoning
Tue 14 May 2024
Were the miners doomed from the beginning of the strike? And what happened afterwards?
-
7. Going Back
Tue 7 May 2024
As the miners and their families celebrate Christmas, is the end of the strike in sight?
-
6. A Winter's Tale
Tue 30 Apr 2024
As autumn turns to winter, the going gets tough for the miners on the picket line.
-
5. Deal or No Deal
Tue 23 Apr 2024
Will frantic efforts to get a deal over pit closures bring the strike to an end?
-
4. The S Word
Tue 16 Apr 2024
What was it like to be a Notts miner in 1984? Two men on opposite sides tell their story.
-
3. The Enemy Within
Tue 9 Apr 2024
Memories of Orgreave - the bitterest confrontation of the strike.
-
2. Into The Fray
Tue 2 Apr 2024
Picketing starts and the strike begins. But the row about a national ballot won’t go away.
-
1. Backbone of Britain
Tue 26 Mar 2024
The roots of the strike and why mining for many was the best job ever – and the worst.
-
Introducing Strike
Tue 19 Mar 2024
Jonny Owen tracks the impact of the miners' strike on Britain, on South Wales, and on him