Made In Dagenham

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In 1968 there were 55,000 women at Ford. One of which is machinist Rita O'Grady (Hawkins, Happy Go Lucky), who toils away with 157 other women at the sweaty Dagenham factory (the factory floor gets so hot the women work in their underwear... Until the leaky roof decides to let the rain in, that is). When a new management structuring renders the machinists 'unskilled', the Union is up in arms. However it's when Rita, urged on by Shop Steward Albert (Hoskins), decides that women should be paid the same as men, she finds herself up against not only the factory management, but Ford's American top brass (The West Wing's Richard Schiff) and her own husband and co-worker Eddie (Mays).

Directed by Nigel Cole (although it looks and moves like a Stephen Frears film), who has given us the likes of A Lot Like Love and Calendar Girls, Made In Dagenham is a bubbly drama-comedy that tackles real issues (are you watching, SATC?). It kicks off in a real party atmosphere - the women are all friends, regularly taking the piss out of each other, and Hoskins' Albert (an absolute delight when on screen but he's underused) has a perpetual twinkle in his eye. It's knockabout fun at work and home with Hawkins throwing water over a hungover, bed-ridden Mays, and then is chased around their council flat. Then Cole, and he does this very discreetly, drains the film of fun and colour - the games stop and Made In Dagenham moves into more serious territory.

Cole over-eggs the pudding, though. Thankfully trimming back on the expected speech scenes, it's when the director (and writer Billy Ivory) nails home the point that although women had come far since The Suffragette Movement, they hadn't (by 1968) come far enough. Not nearly far enough. That said, the perpetual condensation and belittlement women suffer at hands of men here is overdone. Cole and Ivory don't abide by the 'less is more' adage.

But the performances can't be faulted. Hawkins' transformation from an unsure, mouse-like wife into a no-nonsense powerhouse is not only seamless but believable, too, and she's backed up by a subtle turn by Geraldine James. Schiff, forever the serious man, brings such a threat to his quiet delivery. Andrea Riseborough and Jamie Winstone, who are basically the same person, are nothing more than shouty caricatures, however.