The North East Film Archive is one of a network of regional film archives established to collect, preserve and show film made in, or about the North East of England. Our collections are non-fiction, and date from the early 1900s to the present day, providing a rich record of life in the region over the 20th century. Many of our films are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.
This film is part of Free

Beamish North of England Open Air Museum
A βliving museumβ at Beamish rides the waves of interest in industrial heritage in the 1970s. [78]
From the collection of:

Overview
A world away from Disney, a theme park of a different kind takes shape in County Durham. The inspirational director Frank Atkinson is creating the Beamish open-air museum, a theatre of memory for the late industrial society in North East England. The bricolage of reconstructed buildings and artefacts on site, all genuine and rooted in the region, include a colliery village (without the coal dust), an electric tramway and Rowleyβs abandoned railway station.
This programme in the Tyne Tees Television series βTreasures in Storeβ was first broadcast on 16 March 1976. Atkinsonβs pioneering British venture was inspired by open-air museums at Skansen in Sweden and Lillehammer in Norway that he first visited in the 1950s. The opening βMuseum in the Makingβ display at Beamish in 1971 attracted 50,000 visitors, a national record prior to the British Museumβs Tutankhamun exhibition.
Related

Miner Miner
Documentary 1950 36 mins Silent Location: Featherstone
Absorbing overview of coalmining in the early years of nationalisation.

Thud and Blunder in Knock off Time Thud and Blunder in Knock off Time
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1964 2 mins
Miners' safety training - marked by stylish animation and gallows humour.

Energy Energy
Advert 1935 42 mins Silent Location: Cardiff/Caerdydd
Coal, between the world wars, makes the industrialised world go round and Cory Bros & Co Ltd, with collieries in south Wales and oil refineries across the globe, is a major player.

Big Pit Big Pit
Industry sponsored film 1978 7 mins Location: Blaenavon
Memories of Blaenavon Colliery, Monmouthshire, as it nears its end.

Guilty Chimneys Guilty Chimneys
Documentary 1954 18 mins
Elegiac sponsored film imploring viewers to "allow the sun to penetrate the haze of ignorance" and relieve British cities of pollution.

People Will Always Need Coal People Will Always Need Coal
Advert 1975 1 mins
Deliriously kitsch recruitment ad for the implausibly glamorous world of coalmining.

All We Imagine As Light - Exclusive Q&A All We Imagine As Light - Exclusive Q&A
Short interview 2025 28 mins
Payal Kapadia discusses her Cannes prize-winning and Bafta-nominated drama with Ashanti Omkar.

Khichdi Khichdi
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2023 16 mins
The interwoven stories of four best friends who reunite in the UK, thirty-five years after training together as nurses during their teens in Ferozepur, Punjab.

Dr XYZ: A Medical Drag Transthology Dr XYZ: A Medical Drag Transthology
Documentary 2023 15 mins
A satirical take on the healthcare service announcements of the 1960s and 70s.

Every Moment Counts Every Moment Counts
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2023 9 mins
A short animation that offers a window into the world of childrenβs palliative care.

Police Story: Panel Discussion Police Story: Panel Discussion
Inside Film 2024 24 mins
Panel discussion on Jackie Chan's 1985 action classic Police Story, with Chase Armitage, Sam Mak and Jadey Duffield.

China O'Brien: The Reunion China O'Brien: The Reunion
Documentary 2024 60 mins
Cynthia Rothrock, Richard Norton and Keith Cooke reunite three decades on from the groundbreaking martial arts classic.