A Capacity to Visualise (Amber, 2009, 16 mins)

When Amber made its film T Dan Smith in the 1980s, it videoed hours of interviews with the politician who drove forward so many of the changes in the North East during the 1960s. In 2009 Amber revisited the interviews, and those with some of his fellow leftwing Newcastle councillors, to create this exploration of what happened and how, starting with Dan’s childhood and following the story through to his downfall, imprisoned for corruption in 1974. Episode 6, A Capacity to Visualise, sees the development of the City Plan in the early 60s. Episodes 1 to 5 can be seen here, too. The story continues next month.