I can't overestimate how important it was for him to be a presence, not just for his contribution to the work, but for his influence upon us. It was very, very important. Jim's television play United Kingdom was shown in 1981, just at the beginning of the Thatcher era. It was really the last left-wing epic, before the period where most TV drama has to either have the commerciality of movie, the softness of a 'soap' or the pedigree of a great novel. It is the story of a group of councillors who take on the running of their town.
Swords come in handy sometimes.
I mention this to say that in the end, Jim was not about the medium, he was about the message. He didn't care about the profession. He didn't care about a career. He tried to make something happen and I think he was still planning a revolutionary saga on his deathbed. We should honour him and we should go on honouring him.