Brassed Off

(Image credit: Contract Number (Programme))

As its Yorkshire pit faces closure, the Grimley Colliery Band - led by a magnificent Pete Postlethwaite in the performance of his career - plays on

As its Yorkshire pit faces closure, the Grimley Colliery Band - led by a magnificent Pete Postlethwaite in the performance of his career - plays on.

Community spirit, uproarious farce and anti-government anger are here aplenty, but it's in the soaring musical scenes that this ebullient comedy drama really comes into its own.

There's boisterous romantic sparring between Ewan McGregor and Tara Fitzgerald and the outstanding sequence in which she plays her first solo with the band is magical and moving.

Featuring the real Grimethorpe Colliery Band, this is a worthy movie epitaph for a once great industry.