Billy Elliot burst onto cinema screens 25 years ago today (September 29) – and it’s fair to say that it has stood the test of time as one of the most famous flicks shot in our region.
Set in the fictional Everington (and filmed in Easington) against the backdrop of the 1984 Miners’ Strike, the story follows young Billy’s struggle against the odds to make his dancing dreams come true.
The film, the brainchild of Newcastle writer Lee Hall, starred Billingham-born Jamie Bell as Billy and award-winning Julie Walters as Mrs Wilkinson.
The plot follows eponymous hero Billy, 11, who lives with dad, Jackie, and older brother, Tony.
After being sent to the local gym to learn how to box, Billy joins a ballet class and finds out he not only has a talent for dance – but loves it too.
Billy Elliot writer Lee Hall.(Image: UNIVERSITY OF SUNDERLAND)
Then, conflict quickly builds when when Billy’s old man learns that his son has forsaken boxing gloves for ballet shoes, he is distraught: dancing is not a manly pursuit, certainly not for a miner’s son.
The successful film, which grossed nearly $110m at the box office later became a hit musical, which premiered in 2005 at London’s Victoria Palace Theatre.
It then took 11 years, until 2016, for the show to finally come home to Sunderland.
Writer Lee Hall previously told The Northern Echo: “We originally wanted to open the musical 11 years ago in the North-East, but for technical reasons we couldn’t.
Matthew Lyons as Billy with Annette McLaughlin as Mrs Wilkinson in Billy Elliot the Musical(Image: )
“So, the second-best was opening in the West End, and I suppose that the success of the show is why it’s taken so long to return. I’m so thrilled it’s coming back to the North-East.
“I do think why it’s been such a success across the world – even next year (2017) there are plans to open in Japan and Germany – is because it’s imbued with the spirit of the people of the North-East. It’s seeing the real resilience and humour, creativity and talent of the North. I’m very proud of that obviously.
He added: “Unlike a poet or a novelist, I totally rely on brilliantly talent people to do my work. If it wasn’t for them I’d literally be nothing.
“I’m always interested in young people who are breaking through. There is nothing more exciting, and it happens all the time in Billy Elliot that young people do things they didn’t know they could do.
“Now, I’m a bit older maybe I can help these young people with my experience. Theatre is a collegiate thing where you are always helping each other.”
To mark the anniversary, the film is being re-issued at Cineworld and Odeon cinemas – with tickets on sale now.