Seacoal

The ber Collective: A Lost World on Film, More4’s week-long season of films celebrating Amber’s 40th birthday, concludes with this haunting and beautiful film about seacoalers on the beaches of Northumberland. Escaping a violent relationship, Betty and her daughter Corinna are introduced to seacoaling by new boyfriend Ray. A rough caravan above a blackened Northumberland beach seem just about preferable to what she has left behind. Commissioned by Channel 4 in 1985, Seacoal was Amber’s first feature film and marked a huge step forward in the collective’s exploration of the possibilities of mixing drama and real life documentary on screen. Seacoal sets Betty’s struggle for survival against the wider struggles of the Lynemouth seacoalers, surviving on the raw fringes of capitalism.