Cast & creator
Ken Loach
Best known for The South Bank Show, Play for Today, The Wednesday Play
Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936; Nuneaton) is a retired British film director, screenwriter and producer. His humanist values and socialist political views are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty (Poor Cow, 1967), homelessness (Cathy Come Home, 1966), labour rights (Riff-Raff, 1991; The Navigators, 2001), and revolutionary struggle (Land and Freedom, 1995; The Wind That Shakes the Barley, 2006). Kenneth Charles Loach was born on 17 June 1936 in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, the son of Vivien (née Hamlin) and John Loach. He attended King Edward VI Grammar School and at the age of 19 went to serve in the Royal Air Force. He read law at St Peter's College, Oxford and graduated with a third-class degree. As a member of the Oxford University Experimental Theatre Club he directed an open-air production of Bartholomew Fair for the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford, in 1959 (when he also took the role of the shady horse-dealer Dan Jordan Knockem). After Oxford, he began a career in the dramatic arts. Loach's film Kes (1969) was voted the seventh greatest British film of the 20th century in a poll by the British Film Institute. Two of his films, The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006) and I, Daniel Blake (2016), received the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, making him one of only nine filmmakers to win the award twice.
Also known as: Kenneth Charles Loach, 켄 로치, Kenneth Loach, 肯·洛奇, Кен Лоуч
121
film credits
27
television credits
57
1962–2026 · acting roles
6.7
average across scored titles
Signature credits
Known for
Across film & television
Filmography (148)
Showing 148 of 148 credits
The South Bank Show
1978
Play for Today
Director
1970
The Wednesday Play
Director
1964The Wednesday Play
Writer
1964
Question Time
Self - Panellist
1979
Z-Cars
Director
1962Film '72
Self
1971
ITV Saturday Night Theatre
Director
1969
Dispatches
Director
1987
Modern Times
Director
1995
Faut Voir - L'Hebdo cinéma
Self - Guest
2023
Square
Self
2012
John Bishop: In Conversation with...
Self
2016
The Story of Film: An Odyssey
Self
2011
The Limey
Thanks
1999Split Screen
Director
1986
Television
1985
British Film Forever
2007Full House
Director
1972Full House
Writer
1972
The Wind That Shakes the Barley
Director
2006
Palestine 36
Thanks
2025
The Angels' Share
Director
2012
Jane Austen: Rise of a Genius
Self
2025
Sorry We Missed You
Director
2019
I, Daniel Blake
Director
2016
The Old Oak
Director
2023
Days of Hope
Director
1975Days of Hope
Creator
1975
To Each His Own Cinema
Director
2007
Forgotten Spaceman
Executive Producer
2026
Kes
Director
1970Kes
Screenplay
1970
Land and Freedom
Director
1995
Jimmy's Hall
Director
2014
Cannes Uncut
Self
2023
It's a Free World...
Director
2007It's a Free World...
Producer
2007
Reel Britannia
Self
2022
Poor Cow
Director
1967Poor Cow
Screenplay
1967
McLibel
Director
2005
September 11
Director
2002September 11
Writer
2002
Sweet Sixteen
Director
2002
Looking for Eric
Director
2009
Hidden Agenda
Director
1990
Ladybird Ladybird
Director
1994
My Name Is Joe
Director
1998
Film: The Living Record of Our Memory
Self
2022
Riff-Raff
Director
1991
Bread and Roses
Director
2000
Diary of a Young Man
Director
1964
Tickets
Director
2005
The Spirit of '45
Director
2013The Spirit of '45
Writer
2013
Ae Fond Kiss...
Director
2004
The Legend of the Palme d’Or Continues
Self
2025Teletale
Director
1963
Versus: The Life and Films of Ken Loach
Self - Film Director
2016
Route Irish
Director
2011
Once upon a time... "I, Daniel Blake"
himself
2021Auditions
Producer
1980Auditions
Director
1980
Water and Sugar – Carlo Di Palma: The Colours of Life
Self
2017
40 x 15: The Forty Years of the Directors' Fortnight
Self
2008
About Cinema
Self
2015
Raining Stones
Director
1993
Right to Work March
1972Censoring Palestine
Self
2024
What Do You Know About Me
Self
2009
Cathy Come Home
Director
1966
Loach vs Corbyn: The Bad Patriots
HIMSELF
2024
Who Killed British Cinema?
Self
2018
To Make a Comedy Is No Fun
Self
2016
I Get Knocked Down
Self
2023
A Special Day
Self
2012
A Tap on the Shoulder
Director
1965
Carla's Song
Director
1996
The Navigators
Director
2001
Jordi Dauder, la revolució pendent
Himself
2012
Thatcher's Not Dead
Self
2022
Il était une fois... « Rosetta »
Self
2015
Family Life
Director
1971
The Rank and File
Director
1971
The Red and the Blue
Director
1983
The Making of 'Hidden Agenda'
Self
1990
Great Directors
Self
2009
Drama Out of a Crisis: A Celebration of Play for Today
Self – Director
2020
Victoria Wood: The Secret List
Self
2020
A Turnip Head's Guide To The British Cinema
Self
1986
Fatherland
Director
1986
The End of Arthur's Marriage
Director
1965
The Coming Out Party
Director
1965
We Are Many
Self
2014
Vittorio D.
Self
2009Making Reel History
Self
2006
The Dream Palace: A People's History of Tyneside Cinema
2018
Carry On Ken
2006Idyll
Writer
2014
Greg Davies: Looking for Kes
Self
2019
Shooting from the Heart: Chris Menges, Cameraman
Self
1985
The Price of Coal, Part 1: Meet the People
Director
1977Carry On Ken
2006
The Price of Coal, Part 2: Back to Reality
Director
1977
Wear a Very Big Hat
Director
1965
Talk About Work
Director
1971
The Great NHS Heist
Himself
2019
The Save the Children Fund Film
Director
1971
Which Side Are You On?
Director
1985Which Side Are You On?
Producer
1985
C'era una volta in Italia - Giacarta sta arrivando
Sé stesso
2022
Oh Jeremy Corbyn - The Big Lie
(himself)
2023Another City: A Week in the Life of Bath's Football Club
Director
1998
Black Jack
Director
1979Black Jack
Writer
1979
Up the Junction
Director
1965
The View from the Woodpile
Director
1989The View from the Woodpile
Producer
1989
Celuloide colectivo: el cine en guerra
Himself
2009A Contemporary Case for Common Ownership
Director
1995
The Big Flame
Director
1969
A Question of Leadership
Producer
1981A Question of Leadership
Director
1981
Citizen Ken Loach
Self
1997
Looks and Smiles
Director
1981
The Flickering Flame
Director
1996The Flickering Flame
Screenplay
1996
The Bad Patriots
2024
A Bolsa ou a Vida
Self
2021
Ken Loach, le vent de la révolte
Self
2023
Uomini in Marcia
2024
In Conversation With Jeremy Corbyn
Director
2016In Conversation With Jeremy Corbyn
Writer
2016In Conversation With Jeremy Corbyn
Producer
2016
End of the Battle... Not the End of the War
Director
1985
Ken and Rosa
Himself
2001
In Two Minds
Director
1967
CzechMate: In Search of Jiří Menzel
Self
2018
Three Clear Sundays
Director
1965
The Gamekeeper
Director
1980The Gamekeeper
Writer
1980
Making Kes
Self
2010
The Golden Vision
Director
1968
The Arthur Legend
Director
1991How to Make a Ken Loach Film
self
2016
Catastroika
Self
2012
Time to Go
Director
1989