The only car documentary where a poet laureate and a punk rocker argue about boot space.
A ski run in Italy, a supermarket manager in Luton, a sandwich bar in London EC2, Arena opens the bonnet of the Ford Cortina, Britain's most popular, most stolen, and most misunderstood car. 'Dagenham dustbin'? 'Poor man's Rolls-Royce'? In the year that may well see the end of a legend, some of the motoring public, including Sir John Betjeman, Tom Robinson, Alexei Sayle, Sir Terence Beckett and Magnus Magnusson take apart the Ford Cortina: Life and Works 1962-1982.
Direction
Nigel Finch finds poetry in motorway service stations.
Production
BBC Arena at its peak: intellectually curious, gently absurd.
Director
Nigel Finch
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The Cortina was Britain's best-selling car of the 1970s, shifting over 4 million units—yet by 1982, Thatcher's Britain was already erasing its industrial legacy.
John Betjeman had never actually owned a Cortina; he was chauffeured everywhere. His participation was pure performance, which arguably makes his tribute even better.
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