Writing the British New Wave: David Storey and This Sporting Life

This article dislodges the assumptions of authorial cohesiveness and centrality that have defined the scholarly and critical reception of the New Wave and suggests ways of reframing our understanding of British realism and the collaborative labours that underpin it. It does so through consideration of This Sporting Life (Lindsay Anderson, 1963), the adaptation of David Storey’s 1960 novel of the same name, which concerns the rise and fall of miner and rugby league player Frank Machin (Richard Harris), and his doomed relationship with his landlady, Mrs Hammond (Rachel Roberts). Drawing primarily on Storey’s archive, held at the University of York, this article considers the role of the writer in shaping the film, and by extension, the hugely significant but often less heralded contribution made by writers to the ethos and aesthetics of the British New Wave.