Saturday Night and Sunday Morning 1960

Arthur Seaton [Albert Finney] is a young machinist at the Raleigh bicycle factory in Nottingham. He is determined not to be tied down to living a life of domestic drudgery like the people around him, including his parents, whom he describes as “dead from the neck up”.

“dead from the neck up”

He spends his wages at weekends on drinking and having a good time.

Arthur is having an affair with Brenda [Rachel Roberts], the wife of Jack [Bryan Pringle], who works at the same factory as Arthur. He also begins a more traditional relationship with Doreen, [Shirley Anne Field], a beautiful single woman closer to his age. Doreen, who lives with her mother and aspires to be married, avoids Arthur’s sexual advances, so he continues to see Brenda, as a sexual outlet.

Brenda becomes pregnant by Arthur, who offers to help raise the child or terminate the unwanted pregnancy (abortion was not legal in Britain at the time the film takes place). Seeking advice, he takes her to see his Aunt Ada [Hylda Baker], who has Brenda sit in a hot bath and drink gin, which does not work. Brenda asks Arthur for £40 to get an abortion from a doctor.

After Doreen complains about not going anywhere public with Arthur, he takes her to the fair, where he sees Brenda with her family. When he manages to get Brenda alone, she reveals that she has decided to have the child, and then leaves Arthur to go back to her family before she is missed. Arthur follows her on to an amusement ride and gets in a car with her. Brenda’s brother-in-law and his friend—both of whom are soldiers—notice her enter the ride and, following, catch Arthur riding with his arm around Brenda. Arthur escapes the ride, but the soldiers catch him later and beat him up in a vacant lot.

Arthur spends a week recovering from his injuries. Doreen visits him, and he makes the moves on her, but is interrupted by his cousin, Bert [Norman Rossington]; they finally consummate their relationship later, at her house, after her mother goes to sleep. Back at work, Arthur runs into Jack, who tells him to stay away from Brenda, as they are staying together. Although he still has mixed feelings about settling into domestic life, Arthur decides to marry Doreen, and, on a hill overlooking a new housing development, they discuss their differing ideas of what their life together will look like.