Byline

Alan Bennett:
This film is not about class, which I don't like, but classes, types, which I do. I've never been able to get worked up about class and its distinctions. But then I've never felt that the conventional three-tier account of social divisions has much to do with the case. My mother's scheme of things admitted much finer distinctions than are allowed by the sociologists. She'd talk about people being "better class", "well off", "nicely spoken", "refined", "educated", "genuine", "ordinary"... and the ultimate condemnation, "common".