The Navigators

The Navigators follows a crew of railway maintenance workers in South Yorkshire whose working lives are upended by the privatisation of British Rail. Paul, Mick, Len, Gerry and their colleagues handle track upkeep and signalling, and despite the daily grind they take pride in the job, with the older Len overseeing operations and Gerry acting as the union voice pressing management for better conditions. When the familiar British Rail signage gives way to a private company's name, the depot learns that the network is being carved up between competing firms. The men face a choice between accepting the new terms and walking away with a payoff, opening the way to casual contract work. As cost-cutting and efficiency become the order of the day, the group's solidarity comes under strain and the gains and losses fall unevenly.

Ken Loach directed, working from a screenplay by Rob Dawber, with Rebecca O'Brien producing. It is the eighth of the twenty films Loach directed, arriving between Bread and Roses and Sweet Sixteen. Dean Andrews, Thomas Craig, Joe Duttine, Steve Huison, Venn Tracey and Andy Swallow play the central crew.

Released in 2001 and running 96 minutes, the drama holds a critics' rating of 6.9/10 from ten reviews, close to the 6.9/10 audience score on TMDB, while on IMDb it stands at 7/10 from roughly 3,300 votes.