Saturday Night and Sunday Morning at the Savoy

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning is one of Nottingham's most iconic films. What inspired you to bring it back to the big screen now?

It's something we've wanted to do for a long time. We've been working with the Savoy for ten years now, and as well as being Nottingham's oldest cinema, it has its own place in the city's cinematic history - something we feel newer audiences may not know. When the Savoy celebrated its 90th anniversary last year, many people asked if they would be showing Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, so it was clear there was an appetite to see it again.

Whenever photos from the film appear on Nottingham community social media pages, you can see how much affection people still have for it. Beyond the local connection, we're also fans of British kitchen sink dramas, and this is one of the best. It's a landmark of British cinema as well as a landmark Nottingham film.

This isn't just any screening. Audiences will be watching the film in one of the locations where it was actually shot. How special does that make this event?

How many times do you get to watch a film in the very city you see on the screen? – and even more special that the cinema itself gets a cameo! It's a genuinely unique experience. People who come and see the film will be walking up the very same stairs that they will see on the big screen!

The film captures a version of Nottingham that has changed enormously over the past 65 years. What do you think modern audiences will notice most when they watch it today?

It’ll be obvious how much the city itself has changed, but it's much more than the buildings. The film captures a completely different industrial Nottingham, different communities and different ways of living. It also reflects changing attitudes towards work, relationships and family life. It feels like a snapshot of a city and a society on the brink of change.

Alan Sillitoe's story is deeply rooted in working-class Nottingham. Why do you think the themes of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning continue to resonate with audiences decades later?

Although the film is rooted in a specific time and place, its themes are universal. It's about navigating work, relationships, family expectations, and wondering whether there's more to life than the daily routine. Arthur Seaton's rebelliousness comes from a frustration that life shouldn't just be about working all week and repeating the same cycle forever. That's a feeling people still recognise today. It's a story about change, ambition and wanting more from life, and those emotions don't belong to one generation.

The Loft Movie Theatre and the Savoy have collaborated on this event. How important is it for independent cinemas and film organisations in Nottingham to work together?

We've been working with the Savoy for ten years now. It's a fantastic independent cinema with affordable ticket prices and a genuinely welcoming atmosphere for audiences of all ages. The Savoy themselves champion classic cinema through their excellent ‘Films on Film’ series, bringing films back to the big screen in their original 35mm format. But as a working cinema, they also have to balance that with their core programme of new studio releases.

Our film club exists purely to celebrate cult and classic cinema. We've spent the last decade bringing beloved films back to the big screen, and we've built a wonderful community of movie lovers in the process. 

Working together allows us to offer something special at the Savoy, and for films like this, with its historic auditorium and sense of tradition, it always feels like the right place.

Nottingham has produced an incredible cultural legacy through its writers, filmmakers and artists. Where do you think Saturday Night and Sunday Morning sits within that wider story?

Alan Sillitoe is one of Nottingham's most important literary voices. He was born in the city, grew up in Radford, and worked as a young man at the local Raleigh bicycle factory. His novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning is one of the defining works of that legacy. In 1960, this film brought his Nottingham to life on screen in a way that audiences hadn't really seen before.

Prior to this, Nottingham was mostly associated in popular culture with Robin Hood and Sherwood Forest. But this new film presented something completely different; a real city, with real people and real lives. It also stood in stark contrast to the polished Hollywood films of the era, and that's one of the reasons it was so influential. 

It's interesting to note that the director, Karel Reisz, was not from Nottingham. He was born in what is now the Czech Republic before coming to Britain as a child refugee. As one of the pioneers of Britain's Free Cinema movement, he was drawn to stories rooted in everyday life, whether it was working-class Nottingham in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning or the streets of New York in The Gambler. We think he had a real gift for capturing the character of a place and the people who lived there. 

If Arthur Seaton walked into the Savoy today, what do you think he'd make of Nottingham in 2026?

He'd probably be astonished by how much the city has changed, especially the disappearance of the industries that shaped his world. More than anything, he'd probably still find plenty to rail against.

For people who have never seen the film before, why is this the perfect opportunity to experience it for the first time rather than streaming it at home?

Watching a film on the big screen, surrounded by an audience who genuinely want to be there, is a completely different experience from watching it at home. We feel a real sense of excitement at all of our screenings, which is down to the wonderful community of film lovers who come along and make it what it is.

For this event, we expect there may be people in the audience who remember the film being released, who may have watched parts of it being filmed, or perhaps even appear in it themselves! We'd love people to share their memories on the day.

Do you hope screenings like this encourage people to look at Nottingham through a different lens and perhaps even seek out some of the locations featured in the film?

Absolutely. The film lets people see a completely different Nottingham while standing in the same city we know today. Many of the locations are still recognisable, even though almost everything about them has changed.

It's a reminder that history isn't as distant as we sometimes imagine. Sixty-five years isn't really that long ago. Films like this give us perspective on where we've come from, what we've gained, what we've lost, and how quickly places can evolve. They also remind us that while cities change, many of the things people care about stay remarkably similar.

Nottingham has changed dramatically since the film was made. Which parts of the city still feel recognisably 'Arthur Seaton's Nottingham'?

Much of the Nottingham Arthur knew has disappeared. The Raleigh factory is gone, and many streets have been redeveloped. But audiences will recognise parts of Derby Road, the Castle and a number of streets around Lenton - including the Savoy itself, of course - and Radford, even though the businesses, industries and communities around them have changed dramatically. It's fascinating to see how much has changed, while still recognising the city's bones beneath it all. 

Of course, the film wasn't entirely filmed in Nottingham. Some scenes were filmed elsewhere - Goose Fair, for example, was recreated at a fairground in London rather than at the real Forest Recreation Ground. 

Could this be the beginning of more heritage screenings celebrating films with strong Nottingham connections? If so, are there any titles you'd love to bring back to local audiences?

There aren't a huge number of films where Nottingham itself is central to the story. Plenty of productions have used the city as a filming location though, and there are more recent filmmakers like Shane Meadows with a strong Nottingham connection, so some of those films could certainly be possibilities.

But we do feel that this screening could mark the start of us bringing a few more films from the 1960s, or even the ‘50s, back to the big screen. For the past ten years, our programme has largely focused on films from the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s, but recently we've really enjoyed exploring earlier cinema. 

One thing we've found is that a great story never goes out of date. If a film has compelling characters and timeless themes, audiences can connect with it regardless of when it was made. We'd love to continue bringing some of our favourite older classics back to the big screen and sharing them with audiences who may be discovering them for the first time.

If you fancy watching Saturday Night and Sunday Morning at the Savoy, then grab tickets for the screening taking place on Saturday 15th August at 2:30 pm.