What to watch
Emmeline Pankhurst: The Making of a Militant
BBC FOUR, 7.30PM
The life, times and legacy of Emmeline Pankhurst, the globally significant, inspiring and politically gifted pioneer of women’s rights, gets a rather hurried but accessible treatment.
Presented by actress Sally Lindsay, the focus is on Pankhurst’s roots in Manchester and how a family background in radicalism imbued her with a deep commitment to political activism. If the characterisation of Pankhurst as “a working mum from Moss Side” doesn’t quite capture the life of upper-middle-class privilege that afforded Pankhurst the platform from which to conduct her campaigns, the depiction of her happy marriage to campaigning lawyer Dr Richard Pankhurst and busy home life give a more rounded view of her.
At its best the film delivers a strong sense of Pankhurst’s genius for promoting the cause of women’s suffrage and how she came to believe that militancy – as enshrined in the slogan “deeds not words” – was the way forward when it came to challenging the intransigence of government. Contributors include her great-granddaughter Helen Pankhurst, who continues to fly the flag for women’s rights. Gerard O’donovan