Q&A with Director Helen Tither

Emmeline Pankhurst: The Making of a Militant has been a real passion project for Producer/Director Helen Tither and Executive Producer Caroline Roberts-Cherry, who both feel strongly about representing more female voices on TV.

Manchester-based Saffron-Cherry TV is an award-winning independent TV production company producing quality entertainment and factual programming from the North for the BBC, Sky and other channels internationally.  Founded by former BBC Exec Producer, Caroline Roberts-Cherry, the company has a passion for bringing fascinating and untold stories to the screen.

Recent programmes include the award-nominated documentary Passions: Noel Coward by Julian Clary for Sky Arts, the RTS-nominated Invented In The North West for BBC1 and the RTS-nominated King Lear, a three-hour stage to screen adaptation for BBC4 and BBC iPlayer.

During her time at the BBC Caroline worked in commissioning and production, including Exec Producing A Question of Sport (2003-2010) and Mastermind (2003-2012). Last year she won an RTS and Bafta award for her work on the BBC’s Ten Pieces music project.

Director Helen has worked in Manchester for 18 years, first as a journalist and Women’s Editor at the Manchester Evening News, before moving into TV.  Previous credits include winning a Bafta for My Life: Me, My Dad & His Kidney and the RTS-winning Educating Yorkshire.  More recently she directed a series of music and football films for BBC Music and was extremely proud to direct the RTS-nominated Invented in the North West for Saffron Cherry, revealing previously untold stories of the region’s amazing inventors.

How important do you think it is to tell Emmeline Pankhurst’s story on screen – now in particular?

Helen – With the centenary of some women getting the vote this year, it obviously feels like a significant moment to be looking again at Emmeline’s story.  But, when I came up with the idea for the film, I actually couldn’t believe that more programmes hadn’t already been made.  Her life story is so amazing, and she is such an internationally recognisable figure that I thought there must have been many many programmes made about her.  But, when I started researching it her great-granddaughter Helen Pankhurst told me there hadn’t been any documentaries on her personal life that she could remember at all. I just found that incredible that this amazing woman’s real-life story had never really been told on screen.  So, I think it’s incredibly important that we tell it now and encourage people to think again about this figure whose name we all know but has so much more to tell us.

Everybody knows Emmeline as a global icon – why do you think we know so little about her personal story?

Helen – Several reasons.  Firstly, I think her personal story has been largely overlooked in the history books.  She caused such a sensation – creating an army of women on the streets that has never been seen before or since, and I think once women had won the vote finally in 1928 there was probably a feeling among the powers that be that that kind of female movement shouldn’t happen again.  So rather than being celebrated she has been reduced really to an image, even a caricature.  Which is incredibly sad because she was such a passionate and inspiring person – and really digging into her personal story for this programme makes you realise what an amazing part she played in history – precisely because she was a real woman, with loves and losses like the rest of us.

Did you come across any journalistic revelations while making the film?

Helen – Tracing Emmeline’s story around Manchester was absolutely fascinating!  We have uncovered some absolutely amazing archive in the vaults of Manchester’s Central Library that shows a woman voting here in Manchester 50 years before it became law in 1918.  Our brilliant researcher, former Manchester Evening News journalist Sarah Walters, worked tirelessly digging through archive material and personally delved through eight boxes of Victorian voting records to find the register itself, which we believe has never been seen on TV before.  Not to give too much away but it’s an amazing moment when you do see it!

What kind of response have you had to the film so far?

Helen – I’ve always felt that Emmeline’s story is one that people would want to hear but even I’ve been bowled over by the response we have had.  The support from Helen Pankhurst, for instance, from our initial pitch idea has been incredible, she is really an amazing woman. But also the enthusiasm from everybody we asked to be filmed who wanted to share what they knew about Emmeline.  Even filming on the streets of Manchester was phenomenal with people stopping us all the time to ask when they could watch it.  I think the fact that the premiere screening sold out within hours shows just how much people want to find out more about this incredible woman.

There is a campaign at the moment to get more female voices on screen – how do you feel this programme contributes to that with Sally as presenter and the dramatic representation of Emmeline?

Helen – That’s something we feel really passionate about personally – it is incredibly hard to even get stories commissioned about incredible women.  I think Sally does a fantastic job as presenter and brings a real interest and warmth to the programme.  But I’m also really proud that we have so many female historians in the film, as it creates a really strong voice.  One of the main things though, in terms of telling female stories, was to include Emmeline’s own words.  I think that’s incredibly important – to have women telling their own stories.  So to have Frances bring Emmeline to life so well and to have her speaking direct to the viewers I think is a really powerful way to tell women’s stories on screens in a different way.

Manchester has a strong history of TV production – how significant is it, do you think, as a place for giving women a voice in the industry both on and off screen?

Helen – There are so many amazing, inspiring and creative women working in TV in Manchester, I can’t think of a better place to be. I’ve worked with Caroline for a number of years now at Saffron Cherry and have always loved how passionate she is about representing more women on and off screen – she has given me personally some amazing opportunities.  In documentaries, which is my area, I think there are lots of opportunities for women in Manchester in particular and I’ve worked in several all-women teams.  Having said that, this production has been a real team effort of amazing men and women, working together equally behind the scenes, on camera and in the edit and I think that’s what Emmeline would have wanted!

As a production company based in Manchester, how important is it to you to tell these amazing regional stories and get them out to the wider world?

Caroline - It’s obviously great to have been given this opportunity to make such a film from Manchester and we would like to do more - it’s the most exciting time I can remember to work in TV outside London and it also feels like a changing time to be a woman working in TV.

Do you have plans for the film beyond TV transmission?

Caroline – I know that Sally would like to take this film into schools and we have been invited to screen it in the Isle of Man, where Sophia Goulden, Emmeline’s mother is from.  Plus we have plans for a screening in London ahead of transmission.

The hashtag for the programme is ‘Be More Emmeline’ – how have you been inspired by making the film?

Helen – That’s my own personal motto in life now!  From coming up with this initial idea it has been a long road of us working to get it on the screen and at times people told us that “everybody knows who Emmeline Pankhurst is”.  But I think we both thought what would Emmeline do?  Thinking about her resilience and determination made us even more determined to get this programme made and to do her story justice and it paid off in the end!  So, I’m going to be even more resilient in future to make sure we get more women’s untold stories on TV