Film

Made in Dagenham

Name: Made in Dagenham
Genre: Comedy, Drama, History
Released: 2010
Cast: Sally Hawkins, Bob Hoskins, Miranda Richardson, Geraldine James, Rosamund Pike

A warm, scrappy dramatisation of the 1968 Ford Dagenham strike, where female machinists downed tools over unequal pay and accidentally kicked off Britain's Equal Pay Act. Sally Hawkins anchors it as an ordinary woman finding her voice, and the film balances genuine anger with sharp comic timing. It's for anyone who wants their history lesson delivered with wit, warmth, and a fair bit of swearing.

TMDb rating

6.7

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Pride2014

Another true British story of an unlikely alliance fighting for dignity at work, told with the same mix of comedy, community and righteous fury that makes Dagenham sing.

But It juggles more subplots and characters, so it's a slightly busier, less focused watch.

Norma Rae1979

Sally Field's Oscar-winning turn as a Southern textile worker turned union organiser is the American cousin to Rita's story — one woman, one factory, one impossible fight.

But Slower and more earnest, without much of the comic relief that softens Dagenham's edges.

Brassed Off1996

A colliery brass band becomes the battleground for community pride during the miners' strikes — same working-class heart, same gift for finding jokes inside genuine hardship.

But Considerably bleaker by the end; the comedy curdles into something much sadder than Dagenham allows.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Salt of the Earth1954

It's the same story decades earlier and dead serious: women stepping into a strike the men can't lead, made by artists risking their careers to tell it. Dagenham's comedy is a luxury this film couldn't afford.

A blacklisted director and writer made this after being purged from Hollywood, dramatising a real New Mexico mining strike where the women took over the picket line when the men were legally barred from it.

But Black-and-white, low-budget and unapologetically didactic — this is agitprop, not entertainment first.

North Country2005

Charlize Theron leads a harrowing but galvanising drama about women fighting sexual harassment in an iron mine, echoing Dagenham's fury at institutional contempt for female workers.

But Far heavier and more distressing in its content; there's little of the levity that carries Dagenham.

Nine to Five1980

Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin turn workplace sexism into gleeful, fantastical revenge comedy — the same grievances, dialled up into farce.

But Broader and sillier by design; don't expect the grounded realism of Dagenham's history.

Billy Elliot2000

Set against the miners' strike, it shares Dagenham's trick of using one small, stubborn story to illuminate a whole community under pressure.

But The focus shifts to a boy and ballet rather than collective action, so the politics stay in the background.

The Full Monty1997

Unemployed steelworkers turn to stripping in a comedy that finds real tenderness and class solidarity beneath the laughs — Dagenham's sense of humour in a different postcode.

But The stakes are personal rather than political, so it lacks Dagenham's activist backbone.

Erin Brockovich2000

Julia Roberts as an unlikely crusader taking on corporate power gives you the same satisfaction of watching someone underestimated prove everyone catastrophically wrong.

But It's a legal drama rather than a labour strike, so the mechanics of the fight feel quite different.

Suffragette2015no page yet

Carey Mulligan and, again, Sally Hawkins-adjacent British history-making — a direct ancestor to Dagenham's fight, showing where the fury for equality first caught fire.

But Much grimmer in tone, with violence and imprisonment replacing Dagenham's comic relief.

The Pajama Game1957no page yet

Same engine as Dagenham — workers, a wage grievance, a strike vote — but run through Broadway spectacle instead of British realism. Proof the factory-strike story has always had room for a tune.

A Technicolor musical about a pajama factory strike over a seven-and-a-half-cent raise, complete with Bob Fosse choreography and genuine union politics hiding inside the song-and-dance.

But It's a full-blown 1950s musical — if singing negotiators sound absurd to you, this will grate immediately.

Sorry to Bother You2018

Same question — what workers are owed and what they'll do to get it — but Riley pushes it through satire and the surreal instead of history, showing how trashy and strange the same anger can look.

A telemarketer discovers his 'white voice' gets him promoted while his workplace unionises beneath him, and the film spirals into surreal, gonzo satire about who labour actually serves.

But It swerves into body-horror sci-fi absurdity in its final act, which is a long way from Dagenham's grounded charm.