Skip to main content
Work with the NEU
Urgent messages from Peterloo
Mike Leigh's stirring film on the 1819 massacre in Manchester has striking contemporary resonances, says PAUL FOLEY
Sceptical: Maxine Peake as Nellie in Peterloo

Peterloo
Directed by Mike Leigh

IT'S fitting that the British premiere of Mike Leigh’s epic film Peterloo should be screened in Manchester.

It was in the heart of the city on St Peter’s Fields on August 16 1819 that the ruling class sent in sabre-wielding troops to disperse a massive yet peaceful demonstration calling for social and political reform. By the end of the evening, at least 18 people were dead and many hundreds more injured. Coming four years after Wellington’s victory over Napoleon, it was dubbed the Peterloo Massacre.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
round up
Cinema / 13 August 2026
13 August 2026

MARIA DUARTE and ANDY HEDGECOCK review Sunny Dancer, Tony, Songs of Forgotten Trees, and The End of Oak Street

Synthetic Sincerity
Cinema / 16 July 2026
16 July 2026

ANDY HEDGECOCK, MARIA DUARTE and ANGUS REID review Synthetic Sincerity,  Our Hero, Balthazar, Heartstopper Forever, and A Year In London

Clark in action / Pic: Will Stone
Music review / 26 November 2025
26 November 2025

WILL STONE enjoys a set by an artist too eclectic to be pigeonholed