Cathy Come Home at 60: many of the housing issues the film exposed still exist today

By Jessica Field, Research Associate, Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute, University of Manchester

“You don’t care. You only pretend to care!” an exhausted, homeless Cathy shouts at a board of welfare officials just days before her children are taken from her. It’s a scene from Cathy Come Home, the 1966 BBC drama that remains – 60 years on – a touchstone for discussions on homelessness.

Written by Jeremy Sandford and directed by Ken Loach, the television play follows Cathy and her husband Reg, who are expecting a child when Reg loses his income through injury. The couple then lose their home, the first…

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