page_title: The Mighty Redcar
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: The Mighty Redcar / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: Blast Furnace. Teesside's steel blast furnace.
context_page_description: The Mighty Redcar is a 2018 British documentary series first aired on BBC Two. Marketed by the BBC as a "real-life soap opera", the four part series focuses on young people from the town of Redcar and nearby Grangetown, an area with high unemployment following the 2015 closure of SSI Redcar steelworks. The show was praised for its portrayal of the area and for avoiding the poverty porn stereotypes associated with similar documentaries.
context_section_description: Like many former industrial areas in the UK, Redcar – formerly a popular seaside resort and a centre for steel and chemical production – has seen a downturn in its fortunes following deindustrialisation and now suffers from deprivation. Following the closure of the steelworks in 2015, which was a significant employer in the town, Redcar attracted a number of news crews and documentary makers, including a 50-day series of reportage from Panorama. The tone of the Panorama documentary and other reports was negative and pessimistic, and the BBC wanted a more optimistic documentary to balance it and to shine a light on the under-represented North East of England. They commissioned filmmaker Dan Dewsbury to produce a series about life in the town, focusing on the next generation.
caption: The now-closed blast furnace at Redcar steelworks, seen in operation in 2005.
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