Phil Davis Remembers - The Firm

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Summary

Phil Davis pays tribute to maverick film director Alan Clarke as he looks back on his time filming the 1989 drama, The Firm. He recalls how he was cast in the role of 'Yeti' and how excited he was to work on this film about football hooliganism. Phil gets under the skin of the characters, explaining why they were attracted to mindless violence and how the cast all relished the opportunity to play these divisive roles and work with Clarke

Review

Jack Seale

The Firm, a one-off drama for the Screen Two strand, was the last film made by political director Alan Clarke. On its release in 1989, it caused quite the stir, tackling as it did the then white-hot issue of football hooliganism: its depiction of a West Ham “firm”, fighting to be the nation’s most feared fans, implied that football itself was less to blame for violence at games than the wider problems in Margaret Thatcher’s Britain.

The lead performance is by Gary Oldman as violently delusional gang leader Bex, representing the ugly id of the era: his day job as an estate agent has brought him a flash Ford Sierra and a wife (Lesley Manville, who was Oldman’s actual wife at the time) and son, but Clarke sees that lifestyle as indicative of a selfish society. When Bex’s dark side comes out, it’s authentically terrifying and it’s a phenomenal turn by Oldman, although he is ably matched by Phil Davis as Bex’s nemesis, Yeti. Davis provides the recollections here to introduce a repeat screening.

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rolenameParticipantPhil DavisSeries producerSimon GoretzkiProducerShelley TaltonProducerAlex Crone

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