Biography
Jim Allen (1926–1999) was an English socialist playwright and screenwriter. Born in the Miles Platting area of Manchester, he worked as a miner, builder's labourer and docker before turning to writing. He began submitting scripts in the mid-1960s and contributed episodes to the Granada Television soap opera Coronation Street (1965–67).
Allen is best known for his long collaboration with director Ken Loach. Their joint works include the television plays The Big Flame (1969) and Days of Hope (1975), and the feature films Hidden Agenda (1990), Raining Stones (1993) and Land and Freedom (1995). His screenplays often drew on working-class experience and explored socialist and trade-union themes.
