Blakey wrote the screenplay for Sparrows Can't Sing

Taking Pictures TV, my favourite television channel, is showing this British film tonight, starting at 7.10.

One point of interest is the author of its screenplay.

It was Stephen Lewis.

That's right: Blakey off of On the Buses.

As I wrote when Stephen Lewis died in 2015:

Sparrows Can't Sing was a 1963 film starring Barbara Windsor and James Booth that depicted social change in the East End. It is remembered for its premiere, which took place in that part of London and in which the Kray twins tried to play the local seigneurs. 

And who wrote the screenplay for the film? That's right. Stephen Lewis. 

It grew from a play called Sparrers Can't Sing that was put on at at Joan Littlewood's Stratford East . Given her ensemble method of working, I am sure others had a hand in it. 

But have a look at IMDB and you will see that Stephen Lewis got the writing credit. 

He also appeared in the film, playing a caretaker who relished enforcing the regulations that governed his shiny new tower block. You can see where Blakey came from.