The film director talks to Matthew Sweet about his career and his approach to dramatising history. His new film Peterloo depicts the 1819 massacre at a rally in Manchester where a crowd of 60,000–80,000 were demanding the reform of parliamentary representation. It follows his film about the painter Mr Turner and the 2004 film Vera Drake which depicted the 1950s - a period when abortions were illegal in England.
Peterloo is in UK cinemas from 2 November
Jacqueline Riding's Peterloo - The Story of the Manchester Massacre is available now
Producer: Debbie Kilbride
Published on Wednesday, 24th October 2018.
Available Podcasts from Free Thinking
We are not the BBC, we only list available podcasts. To find out more about the programme including episodes available on BBC iPlayer, go to the Free Thinking webpage.