The Essay: Heffer on Film

10.45PM, RADIO 3

The film The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner, based on the short story by Alan Sillitoe, came out in 1962. It was a bleak and cynical work, and an early success for the young Tom Courtenay, who plays the part of talented runner Colin. In his week-long series on kitchen sink cinema, Simon Heffer looks at this film about a talented athlete who is put in a juvenile detention centre, but gets special treatment because of his sporting ability.