Ken Loach Early life, The Wednesday Play and Kes where did he spend his early life in? Loach was born in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, what were the significant aspects of his early life? He attended King Edward VI Grammar School and went on to study law at St Peter's College, Oxford. what does the article say about Wednesday play Loach's ten contributions to the BBC's Wednesday Play anthology series include the docudramas Up the Junction (1965 what more is known about this ? They portray working-class people in conflict with the authorities above them. what was the outcome of this portrayal? was broadcast at a time when the debate was at a height in the United Kingdom. what is the most interesting aspect of this section? Loach began to direct feature films for the cinema, with Poor Cow (1967) and Kes (1969).
was kes successful?
was Ken Loach’s feature film Kes in 1969 successful?
Loach was born in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, the son of Vivien (nee Hamlin) and John Loach. He attended King Edward VI Grammar School and went on to study law at St Peter's College, Oxford. He graduated with a law degree in 1957. After Oxford He spent 2 years in the Royal Air Force.  Loach's ten contributions to the BBC's Wednesday Play anthology series include the docudramas Up the Junction (1965), Cathy Come Home (1966) and In Two Minds (1967). They portray working-class people in conflict with the authorities above them. Three of his early plays are believed to be lost. His 1965 play Three Clear Sundays dealt with capital punishment, and was broadcast at a time when the debate was at a height in the United Kingdom. Up the Junction, adapted by Nell Dunn from her book with the assistance of Loach, deals with an illegal abortion while the leading characters in Cathy Come Home, by Jeremy Sandford, are affected by homelessness, unemployment, and the workings of Social Services. In Two Minds, written by David Mercer, concerns a young schizophrenic woman's experiences of the mental health system. Tony Garnett began to work as his producer in this period, a professional connection which would last until the end of the 1970s.  During this period, he also directed the absurdist comedy The End of Arthur's Marriage, about which he later said that he was "the wrong man for the job".  Coinciding with his work for The Wednesday Play, Loach began to direct feature films for the cinema, with Poor Cow (1967) and Kes (1969). The latter recounts the story of a troubled boy and his kestrel, and is based on the novel A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines. The film was well received, although the use of Yorkshire dialect throughout the film restricted its distribution, with some American executives at United Artists saying that they would have found a film in Hungarian easier to understand. The British Film Institute named it No 7 in its list of best British films of the twentieth century, published in 1999. CANNOTANSWER
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Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936) is an English filmmaker. His socially critical directing style and socialist ideals are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty (Poor Cow, 1967), homelessness (Cathy Come Home, 1966), and labour rights (Riff-Raff, 1991, and The Navigators, 2001).

Loach's film Kes (1969) was voted the seventh greatest British film of the 20th century in a poll by the British Film Institute. Two of his films, The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006) and I, Daniel Blake (2016), received the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, making him one of only nine filmmakers to win the award twice.

Early life
Kenneth Charles Loach was born on 17 June 1936 in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, the son of Vivien (née Hamlin) and John Loach. He attended King Edward VI Grammar School and at the age of 19 went to serve in the Royal Air Force. He read law at St Peter's College, Oxford and graduated with a third-class degree. As a member of the Oxford University Experimental Theatre Club he directed an open-air production of Bartholomew Fair for the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford, in 1959 (when he also took the role of the shady horse-dealer Dan Jordan Knockem). After Oxford, he began a career in the dramatic arts.

Career
Loach worked first as an actor in regional theatre companies and then as a director for BBC Television. His 10 contributions to the BBC's Wednesday Play anthology series include the docudramas Up the Junction (1965), Cathy Come Home (1966) and In Two Minds (1967). They portray working-class people in conflict with the authorities above them. Three of his early plays are believed to be lost. His 1965 play Three Clear Sundays dealt with capital punishment, and was broadcast at a time when the debate was at a height in the United Kingdom. Up the Junction, adapted by Nell Dunn from her book with the assistance of Loach, deals with an illegal abortion while the leading characters in Cathy Come Home, by Jeremy Sandford, are affected by homelessness, unemployment, and the workings of Social Services. In Two Minds, written by David Mercer, concerns a young schizophrenic woman's experiences of the mental health system. Tony Garnett began to work as his producer in this period, a professional connection which would last until the end of the 1970s.

During this period, he also directed the absurdist comedy The End of Arthur's Marriage, about which he later said that he was "the wrong man for the job". Coinciding with his work for The Wednesday Play, Loach began to direct feature films for the cinema, with Poor Cow (1967) and Kes (1969). The latter recounts the story of a troubled boy and his kestrel, and is based on the novel A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines. The film was well received, although the use of Yorkshire dialect throughout the film restricted its distribution, with some American executives at United Artists saying that they would have found a film in Hungarian easier to understand. The British Film Institute named it No 7 in its list of best British films of the twentieth century, published in 1999.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Loach's films were less successful, often suffering from poor distribution, lack of interest and political censorship. His documentary The Save the Children Fund Film (1971) was commissioned by the charity, who subsequently disliked it so much they attempted to have the negative destroyed. It was only screened publicly for the first time on 1 September 2011, at the BFI Southbank. Loach concentrated on television documentaries rather than fiction during the 1980s, and many of these films are now difficult to access as the television companies have not released them on video or DVD. At the end of the 1980s, he directed some television advertisements for Tennent's Lager to earn money.

Days of Hope (1975) is a four part drama for the BBC directed by Loach from scripts by dramatist Jim Allen. The first episode of the series caused considerable controversy in the British media owing to its critical depiction of the military in World War I, and particularly over a scene where conscientious objectors were tied up to stakes outside trenches in view of enemy fire after refusing to obey orders. An ex-serviceman subsequently contacted The Times newspaper with an illustration from the time of a similar scene.

Loach's documentary A Question of Leadership (1981) interviewed members of the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation (the main trade union for Britain's steel industry) about their 14-week strike in 1980, and recorded much criticism of the union's leadership for conceding over the issues in the strike.  Subsequently, Loach made a four-part series named Questions of Leadership which subjected the leadership of other trade unions to similar scrutiny from their members, but this has never been broadcast. Frank Chapple, leader of the Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union, walked out of the interview and made a complaint to the Independent Broadcasting Authority. A separate complaint was made by Terry Duffy of the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union. The series was due to be broadcast during the Trade Union Congress conference in 1983, but Channel 4 decided against broadcasting the series following the complaints. Anthony Hayward claimed in 2004 that the media tycoon Robert Maxwell had put pressure on Central Television's  board (Central was the successor to the original production company Associated Television), of which he had become a director, to withdraw Questions of Leadership at the time he was buying the Daily Mirror newspaper and needed the co-operation of union leaders, especially Chapple.

Which Side Are You On? (1985), about the songs and poems of the UK miners' strike, was originally due to be broadcast on The South Bank Show, but was rejected on the grounds that it was too politically unbalanced for an arts show. The documentary was eventually transmitted on Channel 4, but only after it won a prize at an Italian film festival. Three weeks after the end of the strike, the film End of the Battle ... Not the End of the War? was broadcast by Channel 4 in its Diverse Strands series. This film argued that the Conservative Party had planned the destruction of the National Union of Mineworkers' political power from the late 1970s.

Working again with Jim Allen, Loach was due to direct Allen's play Perdition at the Royal Court Theatre in 1987. In the play Jewish leaders in Nazi-occupied Hungary allow half a million Jews to be killed in pursuit of a Zionist state in Palestine. However, following protests and allegations of antisemitism, the play was cancelled 36 hours before its premiere.

In 1989, Loach directed a short documentary Time to go that called for the British Army to be withdrawn from Northern Ireland, which was broadcast in the BBC's Split Screen series.

From the late 1980s, Loach directed theatrical feature films more regularly, a series of films such as Hidden Agenda (1990), dealing with the political troubles in Northern Ireland, Land and Freedom (1995), examining the Republican resistance in the Spanish Civil War, and Carla's Song (1996), which was set partially in Nicaragua. He directed the courtroom drama reconstructions in the docu-film McLibel, concerning McDonald's Restaurants v Morris & Steel, the longest libel trial in English history. Interspersed with political films were more intimate works such as Raining Stones (1993) a working-class drama concerning an unemployed man's efforts to buy a communion dress for his young daughter.

On 28 May 2006, Loach won the Palme d'Or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival for his film The Wind That Shakes the Barley, a political-historical drama about the Irish War of Independence and the subsequent Irish Civil War during the 1920s. Like Hidden Agenda before it, The Wind That Shakes the Barley was criticised for allegedly being too sympathetic to the Irish Republican Army and Provisional Irish Republican Army. This film was followed by It's a Free World... (2007), a story of one woman's attempt to establish an illegal placement service for migrant workers in London.

Throughout the 2000s, Loach interspersed wider political dramas such as Bread and Roses (2000), which focused on the Los Angeles janitors strike, and Route Irish (2010), set during the Iraq occupation, with smaller examinations of personal relationships. Ae Fond Kiss... (a.k.a. Just a Kiss, 2004) explored an inter-racial love affair, Sweet Sixteen (2002) concerns a teenager's relationship with his mother and My Name Is Joe (1998) an alcoholic's struggle to stay sober. His most commercial later film is Looking for Eric (2009), featuring a depressed postman's conversations with the ex-Manchester United footballer Eric Cantona appearing as himself. The film won the Magritte Award for Best Co-Production. Although successful in Manchester, the film was a flop in many other cities, especially cities with rival football teams to Manchester United.

The Angels' Share (2012) is centered on a young Scottish troublemaker who is given a final opportunity to stay out of jail. Newcomer Paul Brannigan, then 24, from Glasgow, played the lead role. The film competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival where Loach won the Jury Prize. Jimmy's Hall (2014) was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or in the main competition section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. Loach announced his retirement from film-making in 2014 but soon after restarted his career following the election of a Conservative government in the UK general election of 2015.

Loach won his second Palme d'Or for I, Daniel Blake (2016). In February 2017, the film was awarded a BAFTA as "Outstanding British Film".

Film style

In May 2010, Loach referred in an interview to the three films that have influenced him most: Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves (1948), Miloš Forman's Loves of a Blonde (1965) and Gillo Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers (1966). De Sica's film had a particularly profound effect. He noted: "It made me realise that cinema could be about ordinary people and their dilemmas. It wasn't a film about stars, or riches or absurd adventures".

Throughout his career, some of Loach's films have been shelved for political reasons. In a 2011 interview with The Guardian newspaper he said: 

Loach argues that working people's struggles are inherently dramatic: 

A thematic consistency throughout his films, whether they examine broad political situations or smaller intimate dramas, is his focus on personal relationships. The sweeping political dramas (Land and Freedom, Bread and Roses, The Wind that Shakes the Barley) examine wider political forces in the context of relationships between family members (Bread and Roses, The Wind that Shakes the Barley, Carla's Song), comrades in struggle (Land and Freedom) or close friends (Route Irish). In a 2011 interview for the Financial Times, Loach explains how "The politics are embedded into the characters and the narrative, which is a more sophisticated way of doing it".

Many of Loach's films include a large amount of traditional dialect, such as the Yorkshire dialect in Kes and in The Price of Coal, Cockney in Up the Junction and Poor Cow, Scouse in The Big Flame, Lancashire dialect in Raining Stones, Glaswegian in My Name Is Joe and the dialect of Greenock in Sweet Sixteen. Many of these films have been subtitled when shown in other English-speaking countries. When asked about this in an interview with Cineaste, Loach replied:

Loach was amongst the first British directors to use swearing in his films. Mary Whitehouse complained about swearing in Cathy Come Home and Up The Junction, while The Big Flame (1969) for the BBC was an early instance of the word shit, and the certificate to Kes caused some debate owing to the profanity, but these films have relatively few swear words compared to his later work. In particular, the film Sweet Sixteen was awarded an 18 certificate on the basis of the very large amount of swearing, despite the lack of serious violence or sexual content, which led Loach to encourage under-18s to break the law to see the film.

Feminist writer Julie Bindel has criticised Loach's recent films for a lack of female characters who are not simply love interests for the male characters, although she praised his early film, Cathy Come Home. Bindel also wrote, "Loach appears not to know gay people exist".

Political activities

Affiliations before 2015
Loach first joined the Labour Party from the early 1960s. In the 1980s, he was in the Labour Party because of the presence of "a radical element that was critical of the leadership", but Loach had left the Labour Party by the mid-1990s after being a member for 30 years. During the 1960s and 1970s, he was associated with (or a member of) the Socialist Labour League (later the Workers Revolutionary Party), the International Socialists (later the Socialist Workers Party or SWP) and the International Marxist Group.

He was involved in Respect - The Unity Coalition from its beginnings in January 2004, and stood for election to the European Parliament on the Respect list in 2004. Loach was elected to the national council of Respect the following November. When Respect split in 2007, Loach identified with Respect Renewal, the faction identified with George Galloway. Later, his connection with Respect ended.

Together with John Pilger and Jemima Khan, Loach was among the six people in court who offered surety for Julian Assange when he was arrested in London on 7 December 2010. The money was forfeited when Assange skipped bail to seek asylum in the Embassy of Ecuador, London.

Loach supported the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition in the 2012 London Assembly election. With the support of the activist Kate Hudson and academic Gilbert Achcar, Loach launched a campaign in March 2013 for a new left-wing party which was founded as Left Unity on 30 November. Left Unity candidates gained an average of 3.2% in the 2014 local elections. Loach gave a press conference during the launch of Left Unity's manifesto for the 2015 general election.

Campaign for boycott of Israel

In a letter sent to The Guardian in 2009, Loach advocated support for the Palestine Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) along with his regular colleagues Paul Laverty (writer) and Rebecca O'Brien (producer).

In 2007, Loach was one of more than 100 artists and writers who signed an open letter calling on the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival "to honour calls for an international boycott of Israeli political and cultural institutions, by discontinuing Israeli consulate sponsorship of the LGBT film festival and not co-sponsoring events with the Israeli consulate". Loach also joined "54 international figures in the literary and cultural fields" in signing a letter that stated, in part, "celebrating 'Israel at 60' is tantamount to dancing on Palestinian graves to the haunting tune of lingering dispossession and multi-faceted injustice". The letter was published in the International Herald Tribune on 8 May 2008.

Responding to a report, which Loach described as "a red herring", on the growth of antisemitism since the beginning of the Gaza War of 2008–2009, he said: "If there has been a rise I am not surprised. In fact, it is perfectly understandable because Israel feeds feelings of anti-Semitism". He added that "no-one can condone violence". Speaking at the launch of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine on 4 March 2009, he said that "nothing has been a greater instigator of antisemitism than the self-proclaimed Jewish state itself".

In May 2009, organisers of the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) returned a £300 grant from the Israeli Embassy to fund Israeli filmmaker Tali Shalom Ezer's travel to Edinburgh after speaking with Loach. He was supporting a boycott of the festival called for by the PACBI campaign. In response, former Channel 4 chief executive Sir Jeremy Isaacs described Loach's intervention as an act of censorship, saying: "They must not allow someone who has no real position, no rock to stand on, to interfere with their programming". Later, a spokesman for the EIFF said that although it had returned £300 to the Israeli Embassy, the festival itself would fund Shalom-Ezer's travel from its own budget. Her film Surrogate (2008) is a comedy set in a sex-therapy clinic which is unconcerned with war or politics. In an open letter to Shalom-Ezer, Loach wrote: "From the beginning, Israel and its supporters have attacked their critics as anti-semites or racists. It is a tactic to undermine rational debate. To be crystal clear: as a film maker you will receive a warm welcome in Edinburgh. You are not censored or rejected. The opposition was to the Festival’s taking money from the Israeli state". To his critics, he added later: "The boycott, as anyone who takes the trouble to investigate knows, is aimed at the Israeli state". Loach said he had a "respectful and reasoned" conversation with event organisers, saying they should not be accepting funds from Israel.

In June 2009, Loach, Laverty and O'Brien withdrew their film Looking For Eric from the Melbourne International Film Festival, where the Israeli Embassy is a sponsor, after the festival declined to withdraw that sponsorship. The festival's chief executive, Richard Moore, compared Loach's tactics to blackmail, stating that "we will not participate in a boycott against the State of Israel, just as we would not contemplate boycotting films from China or other nations involved in difficult long-standing historical disputes". Australian politician Michael Danby also criticised Loach's tactics stating that "Israelis and Australians have always had a lot in common, including contempt for the irritating British penchant for claiming cultural superiority. Melbourne is a very different place to Londonistan". An article in The Scotsman by Alex Massie noted that Loach had not called for the same boycott of the Cannes Film Festival, where his film was in competition with some Israeli films.

Loach, Laverty and O'Brien subsequently wrote that:

Association with Labour under Jeremy Corbyn
Loach had rejoined the Labour Party by 2017, and was a member until his expulsion in the summer of 2021. In August 2015, he endorsed Jeremy Corbyn's Labour leadership campaign. In September 2016, Loach's one-hour documentary In Conversation with Jeremy Corbyn was released during the second leadership election.

In May 2017, he directed an election broadcast featuring a profile of Jeremy Corbyn for the Labour Party's general election campaign. In all, he has made three broadcasts for the party.

In interviews in September and October 2019 Loach said MPs around Corbyn had not acted as a team and that most would prefer a rightwing leader. He said the Labour leadership had "compromised too much with the Labour right". He accused the right of the party, including Tom Watson, of aiming to destroy the socialist programme put forward by Corbyn. He suggested that sitting Labour MP's and councillors should reapply for their jobs before each election so that they could be judged on their record. He also demanded that Labour people make a case for socialism including "[en]hancing trade union rights, planning the economy, investing in the regions, kicking out the privatised elements of the NHS". He considered issues such as health, schools, poverty, inequality and climate change as more important than Brexit.

In November 2019, Loach endorsed the Labour Party in the 2019 UK general election. In December 2019, along with 42 other leading cultural figures, he signed a letter endorsing the Labour Party under Corbyn's leadership in the 2019 general election. The letter stated that "Labour's election manifesto under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership offers a transformative plan that prioritises the needs of people and the planet over private profit and the vested interests of a few."

In August 2021, Loach was expelled from the Labour Party because of his membership of an organisation, Labour Against the Witchhunt, proscribed by the party the previous month, saying he was removed for failing to "disown" Labour members who had been expelled from the party. In an interview with Jacobin the same month, Loach stated that he was not a member of any of the organisations which had recently been proscribed by the party, but that he "support(ed) many of the people who have been expelled, because they are good friends and comrades". He also argued that his expulsion was an ex post facto action as the evidence the party cited in their letter informing him of their decision dated from before the organisations he was accused of being a member of had been banned by the party. Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell said, "To expel such a fine socialist who has done so much to further the cause of socialism is a disgrace". His expulsion was also opposed by the Socialist Campaign Group but supported by the Jewish Labour Movement.

Views on allegations of antisemitism in the Labour Party
 
At the Labour Party Conference in September 2017, Loach said he had been going to Labour Party, trade union and left wing meetings for over 50 years and had never heard antisemitic or racist remarks, although such views certainly existed in society. When asked about allegations of antisemitic abuse made by Ruth Smeeth MP, he suggested that they were raised to destabilise Corbyn's leadership, due to his support for Palestinian rights. He was also asked about a conference fringe event at which Miko Peled suggested people should be allowed to question whether the Holocaust had happened. Loach responded: "I think history is for all of us to discuss. The founding of the state of Israel, for example, based on ethnic cleansing, is there for us all to discuss, so don't try and subvert that by false stories of antisemitism". Following the publication of articles by Jonathan Freedland and Howard Jacobson which were critical of him, he said it was not acceptable to question or challenge the reality of the Holocaust, which was as real an historical event as the Second World War itself.

Loach was an official sponsor of the group Labour Against the Witchhunt, launched in 2017 to campaign against what it sees to be politically motivated allegations of antisemitism in the Labour Party.

In April 2018, Loach was reported to have said, at a screening of I, Daniel Blake organised by Kingswood Labour Party, that those Labour MPs who had attended a rally in Parliament Square the previous month opposing alleged antisemitism in the Labour Party should be deselected or, as he reputedly expressed it, "kicked out" because of their lack of support for the current manifesto. Asked for clarification, Loach said the quoted remarks "do not reflect my position" and that “Reselecting an MP should not be based on individual incidents but reflect the MP’s principles, actions and behaviour over a long period.”

In July 2019, BBC's Panorama aired an episode entitled "Is Labour Anti-Semitic?", in which eight former members of Labour Party staff said that senior Labour figures had intervened to downgrade punishments handed out to members over antisemitism. Loach commented saying "it raised the horror of racism against Jews in the most atrocious propagandistic way, with crude journalism … and it bought the propaganda from people who were intent on destroying Corbyn".

In February 2021, Judith Buchanan, the Master of St Peter's College, Oxford, apologised to Jewish students for interviewing Loach.

Political views
In 2016, Loach, a social campaigner for most of his career, said the criteria for claiming benefits in the UK were "a Kafka-esque, Catch-22 situation designed to frustrate and humiliate the claimant to such an extent that they drop out of the system and stop pursuing their right to ask for support if necessary".

Personal life and honours
Loach lives with his wife, Lesley, in Bath. His son Jim Loach has also become a television and film director. A younger son died in a car accident, aged five, and he also has another son and two daughters, one of whom is Emma Loach (born 1972), a documentary film maker who is married to the actor Elliot Levey.

Loach is a patron of the British Humanist Association and a secularist, saying "In particular, the indoctrination of children in separate faith schools is pernicious and divisive. I strongly support the British Humanist Association."

Loach turned down an OBE in 1977. In a Radio Times interview, published in March 2001, he said: 

Loach has been awarded honorary doctorates by the University of Bath, the University of Birmingham, Staffordshire University, and Keele University. Oxford University awarded him an honorary Doctor of Civil Law degree in June 2005. He is also an honorary fellow of his alma mater, St Peter's College, Oxford. In May 2006, he was awarded the BAFTA Fellowship at the BAFTA TV Awards.

In 2003, Loach received an honorary doctorate from Heriot-Watt University and received the 2003 Praemium Imperiale (lit. "World Culture Prize in Memory of His Imperial Highness Prince Takamatsu") in the category Film/Theatre. In 2014, he was presented with the Honorary Golden Bear at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival. The Raindance Film Festival announced in September 2016 that it would be honouring Loach with its inaugural Auteur Award, to recognise his "achievements in filmmaking and contribution to the film industry." He was also made Honorary Associate of London Film School.

Turning down Turin Film Festival award
In November 2012, Loach turned down the Turin Film Festival award, upon learning that the National Museum of Cinema in Turin had outsourced cleaning and security services. The museum outsourced this labor after dismissing workers who opposed a wage cut, in addition to raising allegations of intimidation and harassment. Loach publicly stated that his refusal to accept the award from the museum was an act of solidarity with these workers.

Honorary doctorate from Free University of Brussels
In April 2018, Loach was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Université libre de Bruxelles (Free University of Brussels). Belgium's Prime Minister Charles Michel objected. Belgian Jewish organisations campaigned for Loach not to receive the honorary doctorate. The previous evening, during a speech at Brussels Grand Synagogue, to mark the 70th anniversary of Israel's foundation, Michel said: "No accommodation with antisemitism can be tolerated, whatever its form. And that also goes for my own alma mater". His office told the Belgian De Standaard news website the comments could apply to Loach's honorary doctorate. At a press conference before the award, Loach asked: "Is the law so badly taught here? Or did he not pass his exam?" In a press release, Loach said the claim about his alleged antisemitism was "malicious". The rector of the Free University of Brussels, Yvon Englert, supported Loach.

Filmography

Television
Catherine ("Teletale", 1964)
Z-Cars (series episodes, 1964)
Diary of a Young Man (series, 1964)
Tap on the Shoulder (The Wednesday Play, 1965)
Wear a Very Big Hat (The Wednesday Play, 1965)
Three Clear Sundays (The Wednesday Play, 1965)
Up the Junction (The Wednesday Play, 1965)
The End of Arthur's Marriage (The Wednesday Play, 1965)
The Coming Out Party (The Wednesday Play, 1965)
Cathy Come Home (The Wednesday Play, 1966)
In Two Minds (The Wednesday Play, 1967)
The Golden Vision (The Wednesday Play, 1968)
The Big Flame (The Wednesday Play, 1969)
The Rank and File (Play for Today, 1971)
After a Lifetime ("Sunday Night Theatre", 1971)
A Misfortune ("Full House", 1973)
Days of Hope (serial, 1975)
The Price of Coal (1977)
The Gamekeeper (1980)
Auditions (1980)
A Question of Leadership (1981)
The Red and the Blue: Impressions of Two Political Conferences – Autumn 1982 (1983)
Questions of Leadership (1983/4, untransmitted)
Which Side Are You On? (1985)
End of the Battle... Not the End of the War ("Diverse Reports", 1985)
Time to Go ("Split Screen", 1989)
The View From the Woodpile (1989)
The Arthur Legend ("Dispatches", 1991)The Flickering Flame (1996)Another City: A Week in the Life of Bath's Football Club (1998)

CinemaPoor Cow (1967)Kes (1969) (as Kenneth Loach)Family Life (1971)Black Jack (1979) (as Kenneth Loach)Looks and Smiles (1981) (as Kenneth Loach)Fatherland (1986)Hidden Agenda (1990)Riff-Raff (1991)Raining Stones (1993)Ladybird, Ladybird (1994)Land and Freedom (1995)Carla's Song (1996)My Name Is Joe (1998)Bread and Roses (2000)The Navigators (2001)Sweet Sixteen (2002)11'09"01 September 11 (segment "United Kingdom") (2002)Ae Fond Kiss... (2004)Tickets (2005), along with Ermanno Olmi and Abbas KiarostamiThe Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006)It's a Free World... (2007)Looking for Eric (2009)Route Irish (2010)The Angels' Share (2012)Jimmy's Hall (2014)I, Daniel Blake (2016)Sorry We Missed You (2019)

DocumentaryThe Save the Children Fund Film (1971)Time to go (1989)A Contemporary Case for Common Ownership (1995)The Flickering Flame (1997)McLibel (2005)
The Spirit of '45 (2013)

Filmmaking awards and recognition

Loach is arguably the most successful director in the history of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. Films of his have won the Palme d’Or, the festival's top award, a joint-record twice (The Wind That Shakes the Barley in 2006 and I, Daniel Blake in 2016), the Jury Prize a joint-record three times (Hidden Agenda in 1990, Raining Stones in 1993, and The Angels' Share in 2012) as well as the FIPRESCI Prize three times (Black Jack in 1979, Riff-Raff in 1991 and Land and Freedom in 1995) and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury twice (Land and Freedom in 1995 and Looking for Eric in 2009). Loach's collaborators have also won awards at the festival for their work on his films: Peter Mullan won Best Actor for My Name Is Joe in 1998, and Paul Laverty won Best Screenplay for Sweet Sixteen in 2002.

While Loach's films have only occasionally been entered into the Venice and Berlin Film Festivals (generally regarded as the main rivals of Cannes), he has won awards at both, including, most notably, their respective lifetime achievement awards: the Honorary Golden Lion in 1994, and the Honorary Golden Bear in 2014.

Other major awards won by Loach include the BAFTA for Outstanding British Film (I, Daniel Blake in 2016) and BIFA Award for Best British Independent Film (My Name is Joe in 1998 and Sweet Sixteen in 2002), the Cesar Award for Best Foreign Film (Land and Freedom in 1995 and I, Daniel Blake in 2016), the European Film Award for Best Film (Riff-Raff in 1992 and Land and Freedom in 1995), and the Belgian Film Critics Association Grand Prix (Raining Stones in 1993).

In addition, Loach's 1969 classic Kes was judged the 7th best British film of the 20th century by the British Film Institute, and the 4th best British film ever made by Time Out, while his 1966 television play Cathy Come Home was ranked the second best British TV programme, also by the BFI, and the best ever single television drama in a readers' poll conducted by the Radio Times. Loach's 1997/2005 documentary McLibel, meanwhile, featured in the BFI's landmark Ten Documentaries which Changed the World series.

See also
 Kitchen sink realism

References

External links

 Ken Loach – Production Company and DVD box set
 
 
 Ken Loach at MUBI
 Ken Loach Filmography
 Extensive Ken Loach Biography and Filmography
 Interview with Loach about My Name is Joe
 Interview with Loach from 1998
 Posters and Stills Gallery from the BFI
 Interview: Ken Loach about Media, Culture and the Prospects for a New Liberatory Project, Democracy & Nature, Vol. 5, No.1 (March 1999). [Ken Loach was interviewed by Theodoros Papadopoulos in December 1998].
 Interview with Ken Loach, interview about Route Irish with Alex Barker and Alex Niven in the Oxonian Review

1936 births
Living people
20th-century Royal Air Force personnel
Alumni of St Peter's College, Oxford
BBC people
BAFTA Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award
BAFTA fellows
César Award winners
Directors of Palme d'Or winners
English film directors
English humanists
English republicans
English social commentators
English socialists
English television directors
European Film Awards winners (people)
Honorary Fellows of St Peter's College, Oxford
Honorary Golden Bear recipients
Labour Party (UK) people
People from Nuneaton
Prix Italia winners
Respect Party parliamentary candidates
Social realism
Kes (commonly known as Kes the Band or KTB) is a Caribbean soca group formed in 2005, and known for their unique blend of soulful vocals, calypso inspired melodies, rock riffs and island beats, with hints of reggae. The band hails from the twin island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and consists of founding members, brothers Kees Dieffenthaller (lead vocals), Hans Dieffenthaller (drums), and Jon Dieffenthaller (guitar), along with long-time friend Riad Boochoon (bass guitar). Kes’ style has elevated them to mainstream popularity, allowing Kes to become a household name in their country and throughout the Caribbean circuit. The band constantly captivates and wins over their audiences, with their electric and high-energy performances.

Kees Dieffenthaller has collaborated with major industry talents such as songwriter Desmond Child.  Kees and Child joined forces to produce a song for the album of Ace Young who appeared on the fifth season of American Idol. In 2011, the title song from their fourth album Wotless, was one of the most popular songs for Trinidad and Tobago's Carnival. "Wotless" was created through a collaboration between Kes and Trinidadian born singer/songwriter/producer Kerwin Dubois. Kees was crowned King of International Soca Monarch at the International Soca Monarch competition that year. "Wotless" was also nominated for a BET Soul Train Music Awards in the same year, for the category of best Caribbean Performance. Kes released their fifth album, Stereotype, in August 2011, which included the track "Loving You", a collaboration between Kes and Jamaican songstress Tessanne Chin, winner of Season 5, The Voice.

In 2012, Kes teamed up with Snoop Dogg on a remix of their carnival release "Stress Away". The single was well received and marked new territory for the band.

In 2014, Kes hosted their first annual concert which bears the namesake of their track "Tuesday on the Rocks". The concert is held annually on the Tuesday before Trinidad and Tobago Carnival and features a cast of popular international, regional and local artists.

The band has performed and sold out some prestigious venues in New York City such BB Kings (2013) and the PlayStation Theater (formerly known as the Best Buy Theater) in Times Square (2012). Kes has released six albums to date, Three Baldheads and a Dread, Lion, On in 5, Wotless, Stereotype and Wired. On 9 June 2016, Kes released their international single "Major" from their upcoming album Windows to the World.

History
Hans, the oldest of the three Dieffenthaller brothers, discovered his talent for playing the drums at the age of 10. He and his younger brother Jon were asked by a childhood friend to form a band.  Jon joined the band as a bass player at the age of seven where he found his love for music. Although these youngsters had musicians for their garage band, they needed a lead singer. At the age of five, Kes had been a member of numerous choirs, theatre productions, and other musical projects he became the lead singer of his brother's band at the age of six. Performances were usually held on a stage that was built in the backyard of the Dieffenthaller home. These talented brothers eventually outgrew their first band, however, their musical abilities would continue to grow.

Kes's parents encouraged him to explore and develop his craft and at the age of 13, he formed an R&B group called KLAS, and the group performed material that was composed by Kes.

Hans, Jon and Kees Dieffenthaller attended Presentation College, San Fernando where they met Riad Boochoon. Riad, who as a classically trained pianist shared a mutual interest in music, which sealed the relationship with the Dieffenthaller brothers. Hans, Jon, Kees and Riad continued their passion for music and their love of performing by becoming involved with several musical ventures which included the Anchorage Pop/Rock award-winning band, Limestone, and the dynamic, fusion band Rydimorai.

Music

2006–2007
In 2006, Kes launched their debut album titled Three Baldheads and a Dread (a reference to the hairstyles of the band members). This album featured tracks such as "Stay with Me" and "Heads High". "Stay with Me" retained the number one position on the Toronto website charts for nine straight weeks, a new record for the band. The track, "The Calling" was featured on the soundtrack for the EA Sports FIFA 2006 Edition.

2007–2008
Kes released their second album, Lion, in 2007. The title song was popular among fans due to its inspiring and motivational lyrics.  "My Land" a collaboration with Nadia Batson was a hit during the carnival season that year. "My Land" placed Kes and Nadia second in the Trinidad and Tobago International Soca Monarch Competition. Kes released other tracks such as "Our Prayer", and reggae influenced songs "Limin" and "Bigger Brighter Day" from this album which received heavy rotation on local radio stations. Later in 2007, Kes released tracks that were more diverse, such as "Come a Little Closer" which also dominated local radio stations. In 2008, Kes’ carnival releases included "Right Dey" and "De Remedy". Kes also released their music video for the single "Lion" in May. Kees joined forces with major industry songwriter Desmond Child. Kees and Desmond produced a song for the new Ace Young album. Ace Young appeared on the fifth season of American Idol.

2009–2010
The band's third album, On In 5, was released on 10 February 2009. On In 5 featured a mix of new and old releases as well as live performances. In 2010, the band's song "Let Me Know" was selected by Six Flags and was played throughout their amusement parks.  "Let Me Know" was also chosen by American Airlines and was played during their programmes. In this year, Kes performed live on BBC World Channel. This was a significant achievement for the band as the programme was viewed by millions worldwide. The band acquired international attention and several awards including the USA 4 Real "Most Promising Artist" Award for their song "Stalker", a track released from On In 5.

2011–2012
In 2011, Kes continued to show growth with the release of their fourth album Wotless. The album's title song was one of the most popular during the Trinidad and Tobago's 2011 carnival season as well as many other carnivals in the Caribbean.  "Wotless" was created from collaboration between Kes and Trinidadian born singer/songwriter/producer Kerwin Dubios. Kees won the International Groovy Soca Monarch competition that year with "Wotless", following a performance on Carnival Friday (Fantastic Friday) at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Trinidad.  "Wotless" was also nominated for a BET Soul Train Music Award in 2011. "Wotless" maintained a steady position on the iTunes world charts in 2011 reaching to number six on the chart. In September of that year, Kes was featured on Fox5 Good Day New York making them the first Caribbean band to perform on their programme. The Wotless album produced many favourites during the carnival season such as "Where Yuh From" (an anthem piece promoting national pride) produced by Kes and Madmen Productions, "Ah Ting" featuring Kerwin Dubios and "Come Gyal" which was produced by Kes and 1st Klase Productions.

Kes released their fifth album, Stereotype, in August 2011. Stereotype was an experimental album which showcased the band's versatility. Stereotype is a combination of Caribbean rhythms, pop music and R&B. Featured tracks on the album include "Let me Know", "Take me Away" and "Loving You", a collaboration between Kes and Jamaican songstress, winner of The Voice, Tessanne Chin. The album was produced alongside the Madmen Production team. The music video for "Take Me Away" was selected as a finalist in the International Song Writing Competition. In 2012, Kes collaborated with Snoop Dogg on the remix of their carnival release "Stress Away" (produced by Kes and 1st Klase). The single was well received and marked new territory for Kes. The band also began raising the bar locally with respect to music videos, with the release of the video for "Stress Away" (original version) in February 2012. Kes released their sixth album entitled Wired in February 2012, which included tracks such as "Precision Wine" "Stress Away" and "Coming Over" which were heavily rotated on local radio stations.

2013 – 2014
The music video for "Stress Away" was selected to appear in the 2013 BBC Music Video Festival. In 2013, the band released the well-received track "Tuesday on the Rocks" off the Bambino Musik's "Gyall Season Riddim". The groovy, pop-reggae inspired track remains one of the band's more popular songs, and has inspired the band's annual concert "Tuesday on the Rocks", which is held on the Tuesday before Trinidad and Tobago Carnival. The concert began in 2014 and continues to grow every year. The show features a cast of popular international and regional acts, young, up and coming artists, as well as local favourites.

2014 ushered in another hit for the band, by way of the Ricky Blaze produced track "Endless Summer" on the "Uptown Julie Riddim". The Fader described "Endless Summer" as an easy-on-the-ear, yet heavy-on-the-rum soca music tune. The band collaborated with noted photographer and film director, Johnathan Mannion for the music video, which also features cameo appearances by Anya Ayoung Chee, winner of Project Runway, season nine and Major Lazer member, Jillionaire. In that year Kes, collaborated with Jamaican reggae singer Gyptian, on a track entitled "Wet Fete" which was featured on Gyptian's album, Sex Love & Reggae. Kees appeared alongside Gyptian for the music video of "Wet Fete" which was filmed in Tobago.

2017
Carnival, proved to be another successful year for Kes, as their music was well received locally and throughout the Caribbean. Tracks such as "Wine up", "Incredible", "How We Like it" and "Ramp Up" were in heavy rotation on local radio stations.  2017 also saw two major collaborations between Kes and Kernal Roberts on the track entitled "Shake", and "Workout" which featured Nailah Blackman. "Workout", a mixture of Soca music and Afrobeat quickly became one of the more popular songs coming out of Trinidad and Tobago Carnival 2017, generating over 3,000,000 views on YouTube. During his performance at "Tribe Ice" (Fete), Kees invited Jamaican Olympic Games gold medalist Usain Bolt on stage side during his segment with Kernal Roberts. This caused a buzz in the international community as video footage of this event was featured on popular gossip blogs.

The Florida Caribbean Students Association featured Kees as their keynote speaker of the 43rd annual Leadership Conference, which was held at the University of Florida in March 2017.  Kees delivered his remarks on his life's work in music and business, and served as a guest judge at the FCSA annual Banquet and Miss FCSA Pageant.

Another artist pairing occurred at the Decibel Entertainment Exposition in Trinidad in May, 2017. Will Smith, who was a featured speaker at the event, made a surprise appearance during Kes’ performance. Will performed a medley of his hit songs while accompanied by Kes.

Performance 
Kes live shows incorporate additional musicians Mario Callender (keyboards), Robbie "Styles" Persaud (DJ and samples), Ricardo Rameshwar (keyboards and musical director) and Aaron Vereen (percussion).  For Kes and other local acts the Trinidadian Carnival season, which typically starts from Boxing Day until the beginning of Lent, is usually the most hectic and demanding period. Thousands of visitors arrive for the annual festival and weeks of concert events. Though each Kes performance is highly energetic, it is common during this period to perform two or three shows nightly. During the carnival festival, Kes also makes multiple appearances and performances on various music trucks as masqueraders and spectators parade thought the streets. Kes has performed all over the Caribbean, United States, Canada, Europe and parts of Asia including Japan and China. The band has opened for acts such as Sugar Ray (2005), Musiq Soulchild (2008), Sean Paul, Rihanna, (2006), John Legend (2006), Maroon 5 (2010), Evanescence (2011) and Ne-Yo (2013). In 2016, Kees shared the stage with British music sensation, Joss Stone, where they sang a duet, of their carnival 2016 hit song, "For the Love of the Music".

Discography
Three Baldheads and A Dread (2006)
Lion (2007)
On In 5 (2009)
Wotless (2011)
Stereotype (2011)
Wired (2012)

Collaborations
"Jepp Sting Naina" - Kes ft. Hunter (Lalchan Babwa) and Ravi Bissambhar
"Tessanne Chin" - Lovin' You
"Wet Fete" - Kes ft. Gyptian
"Ah Ting" - Kes and Kerwin DuBois
"Heaven" ft. Nadia Batson 
"Stress Away"-Kes ft. Snoop Dogg.
"Head Bad On De Road" ft. Michelle X
"Island love" ft. Jenna De Leon 
"Body Talk" ft. Chris Hierro
"Work Out" ft. Nailah Blackman 
"Shake" ft. Kernal Roberts
"Go Dung" with Major Lazer
"Close To Me" - Kes and Shenseea
"Mrs. Parker" - Rooftop ReP and Kes 
"Stage Gone Bad"- Kes and Iwer George
"Dear Promoter" - Voice and Kes
"Baila Riddim Mega Mix" - Motto, Kes & Skinny Fabulous
" Magic "- Kes and Jimmy October ft (feat. Etienne Charles)

References

Trinidad and Tobago musical groups
Musical groups established in 2005
2005 establishments in Trinidad and Tobago Kes is a fictional character on the American science fiction television show Star Trek: Voyager. She is portrayed by actress Jennifer Lien. Set in the 24th century of the Star Trek universe, the series follows the crew of the starship USS Voyager, stranded far from home and struggling to get back to Earth. Kes is a member of the Ocampa (a telepathic alien species with an average life expectancy of nine years) who joins the crew in the series' premiere episode along with her Talaxian boyfriend, Neelix. She subsequently works as the Doctor's medical assistant and develops her mental abilities with Tuvok's assistance.

Kes' storylines focus on her relationships with Neelix, the Doctor, Tuvok, Tom Paris, and Captain Janeway. Her psionic powers are also central and secondary themes of some episodes. Lien was removed from the series in the fourth season, but reprised her role in a season six episode, "Fury". Kes has been featured in non-canon novels and short stories adapted from the show.

Critical response to Kes was mostly negative, though some critics praised Lien's performance. Although Kes' relationship with Neelix was panned, critics had a more mixed reaction to her friendships with Tuvok and Tom Paris. Kes' relationships with members of Voyager's crew and her psionic powers attracted attention from academics.

Development

Creation and casting 
Early development of Star Trek: Voyager, including the Ocampa, began in July 1993. Producers initially imagined the Ocampa as an androgynous alien species. In later meetings, they agreed on the idea of the Ocampa having a short lifespan, similar to a mayfly. Kes was intended to live for only seven years, and changes in her appearance were planned for each season, emphasizing her age progression. The androgyny concept was dropped, as the first cast description identified Kes, who was initially named Dah, as a female. Producers proposed a second Ocampa, shown near the end of his lifespan, as part of the main cast, though this idea was abandoned in favor of Neelix, who was a late addition to the series. Kes was initially created as a scout for Voyager journey through the Delta Quadrant, before Neelix assumed the role instead. Kes was then reimagined as a medical intern. In an August 1993 memo, series creator Jeri Taylor suggested Kes have a superhuman ability and be caught in a war between two factions. Producers debated the nature of the character's psionic powers, leading them to ask production associate Zayra Cabot and the Joan Pearce Research Associates to gather information on parapsychology. They later agreed to portray Kes with "some measure of telepathic ability" for the pilot episode ("Caretaker"), and planned to address it further in future episodes.

When casting Kes, "Caretaker" director Winrich Kolbe looked for an actress who was "fragile, but with a steely will underneath". The casting call was for only women in their early-twenties or younger. Producers hired Jennifer Lien based on their belief that she could embody the character's "somewhat childlike and fragile" qualities. Lien was one of the first cast members hired for the series; at the age of nineteen, she was the youngest actor on the show at the time of its debut. Lien only had a basic understanding of the Star Trek franchise prior to receiving the part. She said this allowed her to approach her performance without anxiety. She had auditioned for the show due to the opportunity to play a new alien species, and explained "it meant that anything could happen, offering me the chance to learn and grow as an actress". Jennifer Gatti was considered as a runner-up for Kes, and she would later guest star in the episode "Non Sequitur".

Series creator Michael Piller was concerned the pilot was  too "passionless" due to its focus on an action-adventure storyline over individual character development; he explained: "The biggest danger in the pilot was in creating a story that nobody cared about." Part of Kes' role in the episode, for Piller, was to encourage the audience to care about Neelix. The costumes in "Caretaker" were created by Robert Blackman. He said designing Kes' clothing was a challenge since producers were still unclear about the character and Lien was very introverted. Although he had difficulty with Lien, Blackman said the cast and crew enjoyed working with her. Kes' original costume was pastel colored and based on a sprite, but the producers rejected it after a wardrobe fitting.

The Ocampa prosthetics for "Caretaker" were designed by Michael Westmore. While the early scenes of "Caretaker" were filmed, Lien tested various combinations of wigs and prosthetics; cinematographer Marvin V. Rush filmed each version for series creator Rick Berman to receive his final approval. During the show's first two seasons, it took Lien three hours a day to get into her character's hair, make-up, and wardrobe. As the series progressed, Lien developed an allergic response to the ear prosthetics; starting with the episode "Before and After", Lien no longer wore the ear prosthetics and Kes was portrayed with longer hair to cover her ears and hide this.

Characterization and relationships 
The "Caretaker" script stated Kes was a "dazzling, ethereal beauty, waifish and fragile", with a "dignity – her bearing, an alertness in her look, that suggests a being of powerful intelligence". On the Star Trek official website, the character is identified as a "tough survivor and a bit of a rebel". In a 1996 interview, Lien characterized Kes as "strong and curious and intelligent" despite still being "a child in a way with the same fears and inhibitions and worries that we all have". She saw the character's lack of "cynicism or precociousness or pretentiousness or sarcasm" as different from typical young female roles. Although she found "this kind of diversity in a character" difficult to play, Lien enjoyed the process and said: "It's a joy to pretend to be this extraordinary creature, so open and everything so new."

Lien was not given information about her character's future storylines prior to receiving the final copies of the scripts. Unlike the show's other actors, she did not campaign for changes to her character, explaining "I felt my contribution was more in the acting, and not in the writing". She viewed Kes' developing mental abilities as representing "her confidence in being able to choose a path for her life", and identified temptation as a key part in her character arc. Author Paul Ruditis summed up Kes through the paradoxical phrase "fragile power".

Kolbe said Kes and Neelix brought romance and comedy to the series. Lien and Neelix's actor Ethan Phillips said they enjoyed filming their scenes together. Writer Kenneth Biller wanted to establish the pair as living together and sexually active, but Taylor and Berman thought Kes looked too young for those storylines. Biller proposed scenes in which the characters talk about sex for the first time as a way to explore "the weirdness of alien sexuality". This discussion led to dialogue being included in the episode "Elogium". Despite this, the sexual relationship between Kes and Neelix is never clearly defined.

After Kes breaks up with Neelix in "Warlord", Phillips asked writers to provide closure for the couple in a subsequent episode. He believed the end of their relationship was too "muddy", since Kes was possessed by an alien, and thus unable to control her actions, during the break-up scene. The writers denied his request, saying: "No, let's just drop it, let's move on." Producers had planned a scene for the episode "Fair Trade" in which Kes and Neelix discuss the end of their romantic relationship, but it was removed due to time constraints. Berman discussed the couple during a 1997 interview, saying: "There was a relationship with Neelix that didn't work out that well."

Kes has a more parent-child relationship with Kathryn Janeway and the Doctor, portrayed by Kate Mulgrew and Robert Picardo, respectively. Ruditis identified Kes' trust in Janeway as representing her desire to explore the universe. Picardo viewed Kes as the Doctor's "sounding board" and "emotional confessor" as she mentored him on being human. Following the removal of Kes in the fourth season, Picardo was concerned the Doctor would be relegated to the role as the comic relief. He suggested producers invert the Doctor's relationship with Kes to show him teaching former Borg drone Seven of Nine about humanity. A darker relationship between the Doctor and Kes was planned for the episode "Darkling". According to writer Joe Menosky, the Doctor's evil alter ego was going to be "perversely sexual and sadistic" and have a "psychosexual" attraction to Kes. Menosky drafted a scene in which the Doctor interacts with holograms of Kes on the holodeck, including performing surgery on one, but this was cut from the final episode. Unlike Neelix, Janeway, and the Doctor, Kes has few scenes with B'Elanna Torres. Roxann Dawson, who plays Torres, requested for further interaction between the two.

Departure and return 
The show-runners reluctantly terminated Lien's contract as a member of Voyager's main cast due to unresolved personal issues that negatively impacted her performances. Chakotay's actor Robert Beltran said changing a lead character mid-season was unusual for the Star Trek franchise, though Taylor believed it was typical for a show in its later seasons. There was speculation in the media that Harry Kim's actor Garrett Wang was going to be replaced instead, but that he was kept due to his appeal to a certain demographic and placement on People's "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" list. Wang said: "The timing of that, right during our hiatus, certainly couldn't have hurt me in terms of them keeping me on the show."

At the time Berman and Taylor said they chose to remove Kes since they felt the character was not properly developed over the course of the show, though this was later revealed be a cover story to protect Lien. Executive producer Brannon Braga said this decision was a "failure of imagination on the writers' part". Braga requested freelance writer Bryan Fuller develop the concept for Kes' departure. Receiving a positive response during a pitch meeting, Fuller helped to rewrite the character's final episode "The Gift". He said he had "really bonded" with Kes during the episode's production.

Some of the series' writing staff were sorry that Kes was removed; Kenneth Biller stated:

I was a little bit regretful when Kes left the show, because I thought she was an interesting character to write for—from a science fiction standpoint—because she had certain... she had telepathic abilities, she had this very compressed lifespan, she had things about her character that often lent themselves to interesting storytelling [....] We lost something in losing the Kes character.

Mulgrew was also disappointed by Lien's departure, describing it as a "great sorrow to me on many levels", describing the departure as the "fracturing of an ensemble cast that was extremely special to me". Tim Russ, who portrays Tuvok, referred to the character's exit as "gracious" and "poignant".

After leaving Voyager, Lien stopped acting to pursue an associate degree in health. Despite this, producers invited her back for an episode because they wanted to use Kes to advance the story. The concept for this episode, "Fury", was developed by Braga and written by Fuller and Michael Taylor. Cinefantastique's Anna L. Kaplan considered Fuller's involvement ironic due to his participation in "The Gift". Lien was uncomfortable with the original script, and requested that it be rewritten. She said it was difficult to play a different version of Kes and interact with the other characters who had changed since her last appearance. Lien did not have the same allergic response to the ear prosthetics since she did not have to wear them for the same length of time. During a 2010 interview with StarTrek.com, Lien said she preferred her performance in "The Gift" to that for "Fury", saying she made "a lot of poor acting choices" in the latter.

Appearances

Star Trek: Voyager
Kes was born in 2369 on Ocampa, a planet in the Delta Quadrant. As a part of the Ocampa species, she is telepathic and has a life expectancy of nine years. Prior the show's pilot episode, Kes lived with her people in an underground city constructed by a Nacene alien known as the Caretaker. He had cared for the Ocampa since inadvertently destroying their planet's ecosystem and atmosphere thousands of years ago; the Ocampa became completely insular and dependent upon him. The Caretaker had sealed the city away from the planet's surface to protect the Ocampa; however, Kes dreamed of leaving the Ocampa enclave to explore the galaxy and develop her psionic powers, with which her ancestors were rumored to have far more proficiency. Finding a way to Ocampa's surface, she was captured and tortured by the Kazon who hope to gain access to the Ocampa city and its resources; Neelix, a Talaxian, rescued her, and they became a couple.

When the Caretaker realizes he is dying, he abducts beings from the Alpha Quadrant in the hopes of finding a compatible mate with whom to produce offspring to ensure someone can continue protecting and caring for the Ocampa. In the show's pilot episode, the Caretaker kidnaps members of a Maquis crew and the Starfleet crew of the starship USS Voyager. Kes helps the ships' captains, Kathryn Janeway and Chakotay, recover their missing crew members. Janeway encourages the Caretaker to allow the Ocampa to care for themselves; although he refers to the Ocampa as children and believes they are unable to survive by themselves, she says that they must be allowed to grow up and learn to care for themselves. When the Kazon attack and attempt to steal the Caretaker's technology, Janeway orders the destruction of his vessel. Stranded in the Delta Quadrant, the Maquis and Starfleet crew merge on their journey back to the Alpha Quadrant. Kes and Neelix decide to serve as guides to the stranded crews. The remaining Ocampa stay on the planet.

Aboard Voyager, Kes starts a aeroponic garden to provide vegetables and fruit for the crew's meals. She also develops a friendship with the Doctor while studying to become his medical assistant. She encourages him to develop a better set of social skills and pushes the crew to recognize him as more than just a hologram. In "Phage", the Vidiians harvest Neelix's lungs, and Kes donates one of her own to save his life. During "Elogium", emanations from space-dwelling lifeforms cause Kes to prematurely enter the elogium, the Ocampa female reproductive state. This condition can only occur once during an Ocampa life cycle. Kes and Neelix disagree over the idea of having children. Neelix eventually agrees to being a father, but Kes decides against conceiving a child. After the ship moves away from the life forms, the Doctor determines that Kes has gone through a false alarm; she will be able to go through a true elogium in the future. Throughout the first two seasons, Neelix becomes jealous of Tom Paris' interest in Kes. Neelix and Paris resolve this tension in "Parturition" while nursing a reptilian humanoid baby together during an away mission.

During the first two seasons, Kes slowly develops her psionic powers. She has visions of a planet's destruction in "Time and Again" and is able to resist a psychoactive trance to save the crew in "Persistence of Vision". Voyager discovers a second Ocampa colony in "Cold Fire", and its leader Tanis teaches Kes to see and control particles on the subatomic level. Kes was previously trained by Tuvok, who took a more cautious approach. Under Tanis' tutelage, Kes develops pyrokinesis, but she is unable to control the power and almost kills Tuvok by boiling his blood. After discovering that Tanis is collaborating with the Caretaker's first mate, Suspiria, to destroy Voyager, Kes subdues him with her powers. Tuvok reminds Kes that she must learn to control, rather than fear, her darker impulses. Tiernan, a former dictator of the planet Illari, takes control of Kes' body in "Warlord". He uses her mental powers to stage a coup against his planet's leader. While under Tieran's influence, Kes breaks up with Neelix. The crew eventually free Kes from Tieran's control and kill him, though she is traumatized by the experience.

In "Darkling", Kes becomes attracted to Zahir, who is a part of a humanoid species called the Mikhal Travelers. She is interested in the Mikhal Travelers for their desire to explore space. The Doctor injures Zahir and kidnaps Kes after developing an evil alter ego while grafting new personalities into his program. Kes considers leaving Voyager to be with Zahir, but later decides against this. While exploring a Nechani holy site in "Sacred Ground", Kes is shocked into a coma by its force field. The Nechani believe Kes is being punished for her sacrilegious behavior. After participating in a religious ritual, Janeway realizes she must rely on her own faith rather than technology to cure Kes. Going against her crew's advice, Janeway carries Kes into the shrine. The force field does not harm them, and Kes recovers.

In "Before and After", an episode in the third season, Kes lives short periods of her life in reverse order, starting with her death and ending with her birth. In this alternative timeline, she is romantically involved with Paris, and they have a daughter, Linnis, who marries and has a son with Harry Kim. During this timeline, Kes participates in Voyager's year-long battle with the Krenim, which takes place in the season four episode "Year of Hell". She is infected with particles from a chroniton torpedo during the Krenim attack; Paris speculates that this exposure to chroniton radiation is the reason why Kes is irregularly jumping back in time. When the Doctor brings Kes back to the present, she documents information about the Krenim and their future attack. At the end of the episode, Tuvok says Kes has seen only one possible future for Voyager. During "Scorpion", Voyager becomes entangled in a major conflict between the Borg and Species 8472. Partially due to her exposure to the powerful telepathic influx of Species 8472, Kes begins to evolve into a different state of being. In "The Gift", she realizes she can no longer remain aboard Voyager, as her powers threaten to destroy the ship. She uses her newly acquired powers to hurl Voyager and its crew safely beyond Borg space, 9,500 light-years closer to Earth, before turning into living energy.

Kes revisits Voyager in "Fury", in which she is near the end of her life cycle and experiencing memory loss. She mistakenly believes that Janeway kidnapped her from Ocampa, and she travels back in time to negotiate with the Vidiians, promising to help them access the ship to harvest the crew members' organs if they take her younger self home. After this plan is stopped, the younger Kes creates a hologram to remind her future self about her affection for the crew and how much they had cared for her. After seeing the hologram, the older version of Kes says goodbye to the crew before taking her ship back to Ocampa.

Non-canonical appearances 
Kes appears in non-canon novels and short stories adapted from Star Trek: Voyager. In Christie Golden's 1997 book Marooned, an alien kidnaps Kes, and during Greg Cox's 1997 novel The Black Shore, she feels a "psychic call" when the crew takes shore leave on a planet. Kes is featured in the novels Mosaic (1996) and Pathways (1998) in which she accompanies an away team on an unknown planet and helps the crew escape a prison camp, respectively. Jennifer Lien contributes recipes for potato salad and a "good-karma lentil soup" for the 1999 cookbook based on the series. Written by Ethan Phillips and William J. Birnes, the book mentions that tubers are Kes' favorite food.

In Christie Golden's novel trilogy Dark Matters, Kes is known as the "Entity", and gathers mutated dark matter. She has forgotten about her past aboard Voyager after turning into living energy, but slowly regains some memories over the course of the books. She does not contact the crew and is told she is a parallel-universe version of herself, separate from the one featured in "Fury". Tuvok, however, does briefly sense her presence before her departure. In Kirsten Beyer's 2012 novel The Eternal Tide, Kes and Q Junior resurrect Janeway after she is assimilated by the Borg and subsequently killed. Q Junior teaches Kes how to pull Janeway's body back together and restore her to her most perfect state.

Kes also features in Heather Jarman's 2006 book Evolution, the third installment of the trilogy String Theory, in which she helps the Doctor and Q with the birth of an Ocampa-Nacene hybrid. When the Ocampan mother is unable to carry the baby to term, Kes merges with her to act as a surrogate. After giving birth to a boy, Kes takes him to Ocampa; a rainstorm on the planet hints at the recovery of its ecosystem. The novel retcons Kes' appearance in "Fury" as the manifestation of her dark side, formed as a side effect of a confrontation with a renegade Nacene. In Penny A. Proctor's short story "Restoration", included in the 2001 anthology Strange New Worlds V, Kes sacrifices herself to revive Ocampa's ecosystem. The mirror universe version of Kes features in the Star Trek: Mirror Universe novel series.

Reception

Critical reception 

Lien received some positive feedback for her performance. In a 1995 review of "Caretaker", Variety's Kinsey Lowe praised Lien's performance as a "beguiling blend of naive wonder and fierce dedication". Screen Rant'''s Alexandra August applauded Lien for trying "her best with what she was given", but felt she could not make Kes "very dynamic" as a character. Kes' removal in season four was praised by critics who believed the character was poorly developed. Rob Owen, writing for Albany's Times Union, criticized Kes as "reduced to a subservient Nurse Chapel role". However, The Virginian-Pilot's Larry Bonko was disappointed by Kes' exit, as he felt the character "gave the series heart".Screen Rant contributors felt Kes had potential if her storylines focused more on her short lifespan and mental powers. Snellgrove cited Kes as an example of how certain Star Trek: Voyager character were underused. August felt she was not given enough screen time or character development to become interesting. Thompson described the Ocampa as one of the more fascinating species introduced on Star Trek: Voyager, and wrote that Kes' departure was one of the five things that hurt the show.

Kes' romance with Neelix was the subject of criticism. Although the relationship was introduced in the pilot, Ruditis felt it was "somewhat undefined as the series progressed". TrekMovie.com's Matt Wright panned the couple as "borderline gross", and Thompson cited them as having the worst chemistry on the series. Thompson and Gizmodo's Tom Pritchard wrote that Kes would have benefited if Neelix was not included on the show. August criticized the frequency in which Kes' storylines revolved around her love life. Kes' relationship with other characters received a better response. Thompson praised Paris' attraction for Kes as "a good setup relationship to guide him into being a better and more responsible man for B'Elanna". August believed Tuvok and Kes could be an ideal couple if he were not already married.

Critics had a mostly negative response to Kes' storyline for "Elogium". Commentators questioned the plausibility of an Ocampa woman only giving birth once as it would cause an inevitable decrease in the species population. Writer David A. McIntee criticized the elogium as a poorly-done metaphor for puberty, PMS, teenage pregnancy, abortion, and menopause. Bustle's Marie Southard Ospina praised the episode's depiction of a woman choosing to not have a baby without receiving judgement. Kes' return for "Fury" also received negative feedback from reviewers who found her characterization to be disappointing. Den of Geek!'s John Andrews likened the episode to a "sad yet compelling character study", although he believed Kes' shift in morality was not believable. August dislike the episode's version of Kes, describing it as "a ham-fisted way of undermining her entire journey after leaving Voyager".

 Analysis 
Kes' relationship with Voyager's crew was the focus of academic discussion. Cultural studies scholar Debra Bonita Shaw wrote Janeway only accepts Kes, Neelix, and Seven of Nine as her subordinates; to gain Janeway's acceptance, these characters must adhere to an established "structure of command" and help Voyager return home. Media studies scholar Aviva Dove-Viebahn was critical of the portrayal of Kes and Neelix as similar to "native informants", a character type that she described as "token and subjugated". However, Dove-Viebahn clarified that Kes had agency through her mental abilities, which are portrayed as stronger than the crew's scientific and medical technology. English literature professor David Greven criticized Kes' relationship with Tuvok, writing their differences in race and age was too uncomfortably similar to Uncle Tom's friendship with Little Eva in the 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Scholars discussed her psionic powers in "Cold Fire". According to media studies scholar Marion Gymnich, the Star Trek franchise depicts telepathy with "infiltrations and mental intrusions". She cited Kes' loss of control in "Cold Fire" as an example of how Star Trek negatively portrays telepathic communication. Analyzing the scene in which Kes boils Tuvok's blood, Greven wrote that he becomes a monster similar to those in Frankenstein, The Phantom of the Opera, and The Monster. Describing the sequence as one of the more disturbing in Star Trek'', Greven criticized the franchise for often changing "the differently-raced into monsters".

References

Notes

Citations

Book sources

External links
 
 Kes at StarTrek.com

Fictional characters with precognition
Fictional telepaths
Star Trek alien characters
Star Trek: Voyager characters
Fictional medical personnel
Starfleet medical personnel
Television characters introduced in 1995
Child characters in television
Female characters in television