BBC To Mark Classic Ken Loach Drama

The BBC is to screen a drama to mark the 40th anniversary of the screening of Ken Loach's film Cathy Come Home. The new drama will centre on a London hostel and will be made for a season celebrating the powerful 1966 film, which led to a national debate about homelessness.

Bridget Jones' Colin Firth is among the actors in talks to appear in the programme, to be shown later this year.

A BBC spokeswoman said: "It will not be a remake but an original drama raising issues about poverty in Britain today."

The spokeswoman said the programme would look at "social exclusion and inequality" and would be "the centrepiece" of the season.

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Dominic Savage, who made the 2002 youth offenders' drama Out of Control, starring Tamzin Outhwaite, will direct the drama, with Anne-Marie Duff from Shameless also in talks to appear.

Screened in December 1966, Cathy Come Home showed how an average family ended up homeless, sparking widespread public concern about the scale of the problem.

The charity Shelter was set up as a result of the debate.

A poll conducted by the British Film Institute in 2000 found Cathy Come Home was the second favourite programme of all time for UK TV industry figures.