Episode 1 The Last Miners

-Are we ready for the Northern calypso?

-We're ready, Kevin.

# Hey, Mrs Micklethwaite will tha feed ma whippet?

# Daylight comes and I'm still down pit

# I go down pub and I drink ten pints

# I think I'm getting plastered

# And I go home an' I beat my wife Cos I'm a big, fat Northern... #

-LAUGHTER

-Well done, Kevin.

David Cameron, you might take our jobs

but you won't take our sense of humour.

Too true, Sheldon.

Half a mile beneath North Yorkshire's countryside,

a rare breed of men are at work...

-Five strips, Rob. No accidents.

-Right.

..but not for much longer.

The last deep coal mine in Britain is about to close...

..burying the once proud industry

and terminating the job of every worker.

They'll be bored stacking shelves, these lads.

They need some hard graft. It's good for t' soul.

As the men work their final shifts, we discover their hidden world.

Get on. We've got jobs.

An unexpected band of brothers.

Come on! Get out of the way!

Who does that look like? Who does it look like?

LAUGHTER

And the final opportunity to be alongside the men

who spend their days in the dark to keep our lights on.

They put all the hard work in, put the effort in,

and it would be a real travesty

if they didn't get paid at the end of it.

We seem to have taken eye off ball

and now it's dropping and dropping back.

-What's going on?

-It's the end.

What did you think would happen? A gold watch, engraved?

This is the story of the last miners.

'Can you feel the pressure a bit?

-'Cos it sounds like there's things going wrong.'

-That's mining.

This programme contains some strong language

MUSIC: Tainted Love By Gloria Jones

I grew up, obviously, in the '70s, '80s.

I grew up listening to Northern soul from a young age,

when we used to go to the youth club.

They were good times, they were carefree times.

There were no Xboxes, there were no mobile phones,

but there was also lots of work about at the time.

There were jobs.

Sheldon's taken this same journey to Kellingley Colliery

in North Yorkshire for nearly a decade.

If I go somewhere and somebody says, "Hi. What are you doing, Sheldon?

"What are you up to? Where are you working?"

"Well, I work at Kellingley Colliery."

"Eh?! They're all shut!"

"No, they will be shortly, but they're not all shut at the moment."

There you go. Twin towers at Big K.

As a young man in the '70s,

he joined the ranks of thousands of miners

working in the British coal industry.

Now, there are only 450 deep coal miners left,

and Sheldon is worried about his future.

It'll hit me, I think, on the Monday morning when I get up

and I've no routine to go through.

I'll get up and walk Monty,

come home and think, "What am I going to do now?"

Good morning, boss.

No need to call me boss.

You're a bit late this morning, Sheldon.

You're normally here about 9:30 to make me a cup of coffee.

Unfortunately, I am a bit late

because I've had company at home this morning, Russ.

What time did you swipe on?

I swiped on about five to ten, actually.

For the last eight years, shift manager Jonesy and Sheldon

have started their day like this.

Do you want to go through all the transport, Sheldon?

Yes, please.

Your safety contact is Pro-Active Safety.

Throughout their mining careers, they've endured strikes,

pit closures and a shrinking workforce.

Now, like everyone at Kellingley, Jonesy is facing unemployment.

-Sheldon, where tha going now?

-To Jane from Careers Plus.

-When I went, somebody were there.

-Yeah.

And obviously I don't get as much time as you to...

-No, that's right.

-..mess about down there.

-Come a bit earlier, then.

-Come a bit earlier?!

You're joking me!

Listen, I've got to contact

the National Careers Service directly myself,

not go to my own job centre.

-Will you get me a contact number?

-I will sort that out.

-Thank you, Sheldon.

-Cos I love you.

LAUGHTER

No, it's really stressful at the moment.

There's not enough hours in t' day for us.

We're doing 12-hour shifts. It's all catch-up, but...

it passes time, keeps us out of mischief.

-Doesn't it, Rusty?

-Yeah. Keeps us out of mischief.

-Keep coming here.

-Keep coming here.

-12 hours a day.

When Kellingley Colliery began production in 1965,

it was the largest coal mine in Europe -

earning the nickname the Big K.

But now Britain has turned its back on deep coal mining,

and Kellingley is the last pit standing.

In just five weeks, it will be forced to close

and its remaining 450 workers will lose their jobs.

THEY WHISTLE

The mine operates every day of the year,

with four shifts working around the clock.

-Morning!

-Morning.

The night shift finish, and Jonesy's men head underground.

This is it now. This is where it gets exciting.

Have a nice day, Kev.

Jonesy's right-hand man is Kev. Together they run a tight ship.

I've been here nearly ten years.

-'Is it a good job?'

-It's fantastic.

It's absolutely fantastic.

I was actually going to make a career of mining,

but seeing as this is shutting,

I think I'll have a bit of a change now, I've decided.

-INDISTINCT CHATTER

-Come on, Johnny.

-Come on, then.

-All aboard. Come on!

Packed into cages,

Jonesy and his shift plunge over half a mile

beneath the surface of the Earth...

..a drop the height of the world's tallest building.

On your way down, you'll see a darkness

down here which you don't see anywhere else.

If you're ever down a mine and you're on your own in a gate

and your light goes out, it is black.

Miners are a breed apart.

They're not scared of cold, hot, dirty, damp conditions.

It's what they've done all their lives.

THEY LAUGH

CHATTER AND LAUGHTER

From the bottom of the shaft,

they catch a train to go a further four miles into the mine.

WHISTLE BLOWS, HORN BLOWS

It's taken them over an hour,

but finally Jonesy, Kev and Sheldon

arrive at the heart of the mine...

..the coalface.

For generations,

men with pickaxes chipped away at the face

that formed millions of years ago.

Now, a machine called the shearer tears the coal from its seams.

When British mining was at its peak,

over a million men worked in hostile conditions like these...

..and they produced over half of the world's coal supply.

Jonesy's men work under a hail of splintering coal shards

and temperatures that can reach 33 degrees.

It becomes a way of life.

It's an alien environment to what most people know.

The humidity,

the heavy industrial machinery we work with.

They'll be bored stacking shelves, these lads.

They need some hard graft. It's good for t' soul.

The hostile conditions at the coalface are not the worst.

At the bottom of the lift shaft,

Jack is facing a more extreme environment.

HE COUGHS AND GAGS

I can't be here.

This is the only toilet!

'So, how many men work here?'

About 400 men.

It's not ideal, really,

but if you need to go, you need to go, I'm afraid.

If you're on t' face,

you're talking you're six miles away from this toilet.

Six miles - not far away enough from that thing.

Oh, no.

At the coalface, there's a problem.

Just hours into the shift, without warning,

the shearer suddenly powers down and comes to a complete stop.

Ask him what's wrong with the chain, Andy.

Nick, what's wrong with the chain?

-Right, OK. Thank you.

-'We'll have a look now.'

They've got a plate come loose, outby,

so they're running a new plate out to it

and they'll fit that with no delay.

It's too expensive to stand.

£400 a minute if we stood.

Whoa, Kevin!

'It's very quiet when it's not moving, isn't it?'

It's terribly quiet, yeah. A deathly quiet.

The mine is losing money.

This breakdown is a costly delay, as Kellingley is already in debt.

When its owners, UK Coal, went into administration in 2013,

they asked the Government for help to stay open.

That help came in the form of a £4 million loan...

..but it was only enough to prolong the pit's life for two more years.

Now the mine will close.

The men have to produce enough coal to pay back the loan

or part of their redundancy money will be at risk.

Some of these lads, they could've actually finished in July.

They've given us their commitment to continue working up to December.

For all their hard work, they put the effort in,

as everyone at the mine has,

and it would be a real travesty

if they didn't get paid at the end of it.

It is my role to make sure that we hit the plan,

that's basically my job.

And I do feel under pressure, just as anybody else does,

but that goes down to the guys who work in the stockyard,

it goes down to the guys who operate the shearer.

Everybody at the pit is feeling the pressure

because we know we've got a deadline to hit by the 18th.

It's a tight schedule.

We can't afford many mistakes or many glitches to go wrong.

But if we don't hit the plan,

then potentially there's a lot of people going to lose a lot of money.

Some of these guys here have worked up to 40 years in a coal mine,

and I want them to really get as much money as they can,

whether it's from a redundancy, whether it's a pension plan.

So, it means a lot to me

that the workmen get what they deserve, yes.

Back at the coalface, and the shearer is static.

-And again, mate.

-BEEPING

ENGINE STARTS

Something has jammed the mechanical crusher,

but Kev is on hand to put things right.

-It's broken down. We picked it out.

-Yeah.

-No damage.

-Rest stood off.

-Rest stood off. We've counted for it.

The broken flight has just come down.

Fortunately, it spat it out.

We've recovered the broken flight, checked it.

We're ready to start coaling again now.

'How much money do you think that's lost you?'

Five minutes. Only a couple of grand.

We'll get that back.

We'll just ramp the machine up a bit faster now and get it back.

Leave it with us.

'How much stress do reckon it's added to Pete's day?'

Pete? Pete won't even know about it. He don't need to know about it.

I've sorted it.

We're coaling.

With the shearer cutting coal,

Jonesy, Kev and Sheldon have earned themselves a break.

I thought you told your wife

you'd stopped chewing chewing tobacco.

Yeah, I don't tell Wendy I chew. She don't think...

Remember, I don't chew. I don't smoke. I don't swear.

I don't talk about other women and I all I eat is salad.

-How much is there, Russ? How much did that cost you?

-A fiver's worth.

About a fiver's worth.

We can survive down the mine without food, without water

as long as we've got chewing tobacco.

It actually takes away the taste of dust.

Russ is going to chew it now.

You chew it and you spit the juice out.

Americans, they tend to chew sweet tobacco,

which is a bit effeminate for us.

'Can only think of cowboys that have done this.'

Well, there's no bigger bunch of cowboys than us lot.

You've never worked with men's men.

You've never worked with men who bathe together like us.

-You see me more naked than June does.

-Yeah.

I see June more naked than you see June, an' all, let me tell you.

It's the end of another shift down the mine.

After eight hours in darkness, the men resurface,

but they have one more job to do.

-'Jack, what's the rush?'

-That's it. Shower time, innit.

It's hard, it's tiring, it's frustrating...

-'What have you got there, Jack?'

-Tea tree oil.

..but when you've had a shift and you've had a load of problems

chucked at you and you've resolved them,

I think there's a sense of pride that we've succeeded for that shift.

Let's go.

-'What do you use for shower gel?'

-Washing-up liquid.

Best de-greaser ever.

And my face wash for my skin, do you know what I mean?

To not get here and to not hurt your colleagues

and all to come out at the end of your shift and bath together

and to have cut some coal,

It's still something to be proud of, I think.

Come on. Get out of the way!

ALL CHEER AND LAUGH

-It's always, always the same.

-It's every day.

Can't even have a shower in peace.

-'You're going to miss it, aren't you?'

-Yeah. Yeah.

Shan't miss getting up at three o'clock

to go to work on days.

Shan't miss driving home

at three o'clock in the morning off of nights,

but our world, we'll miss, and the comradeship we'll miss.

Cleaning.

Cleaning.

Any stain you've got, any mark you've got, I can get it off.

-'Are you a bit obsessed, Kev?'

-Eh?

-Are you obsessed with cleaning?

I think so, yeah.

I've got several hoovers.

I've got me Dyson, I've got me Gtech AirRam.

I've got me Dyson Animal and I've got a steamer.

And I've got two more in t' garage.

I think it's something psychological,

because he gets dirty at work.

It's nice to get dirty at work but it's nice to be clean, as well!

It's me other world.

Me mining world is a dirty, grimy, hot, dusty one.

I like this to be a clean one.

Oh, look. It's got brewer's droop.

'Wendy, what was the pecking order again?'

Pit, Ben - or he calls him Willard.

Yes, I know. I know.

Me and then t' kids.

'Is that right? Pit first?'

No. No.

It's going to be really, really sad

and a big gap in us lives when we're finished,

but the problem is, I would've gone on forever.

I think I'd have gone till I dropped.

You've got to look at positives

and that's one of the positives, I suppose.

I might even start jogging.

It's not just a place of work for him, is it?

All the mates are there.

Yeah, it's going to be like

running into a brick wall, I think, but...

we'll just see what comes of it.

Have we got a fairy for t' top?

I'm not having a fairy on the tree.

I've got a few fairies at work I could have brought home for you.

You're going to have a big shock

coming to you when you get another job

because you're not going to be able to talk like that

in t' next workplace.

-Like what?

-Like you do now.

-I didn't swear.

-I kn...

You don't have to. It's just the way of the world these days.

-Maybe I'm a dinosaur.

-THEY LAUGH

I don't think I'll ever enjoy a job as much as the one I've got now.

We've been through hard times, good times together.

And just enjoying your work, really,

but enjoying it with the men you've got around you

in a completely different world 800 metres underground,

I just think it's... I just think it's amazing.

Just two miles from the pit,

Jack lives with his mum in the house he grew up in.

Oh, yeah. It's brill.

Best deal I'll ever get given, I think.

Getting looked after here for now.

-There you go.

-Thanks, Jack.

I always imagined Jack to be in a collar and tie

working in an office or in a bank,

and to see him now...

The robust, good-looking young man I am.

-SHE LAUGHS

-Oh, God.

'There's talk of Jack moving up North to maybe look for some work.

'What do you think of that?'

I'm not looking forward to it, but he's got to give it a try,

see if he can get work up there.

There's a lot of heavy industry.

It's up there, you know, up North with everything.

But there seems to be a lot more job opportunities, as well.

It's just, like, finding work for me, really, that's it,

because there's not a lot around here.

You're the first one, really, to move away, aren't you?

Yeah. Yeah, aye. I haven't really thought about that.

Mm.

Got to let go of me baby sometime, haven't I?

All right, you've said enough, now. Oh, my God.

-'Are you getting a bit embarrassed, Jack?'

-A little bit, aye.

The history that we've got,

you'll not find in any other industry.

You've got people that have come and joined the industry

at a very young age, often from school.

When these guys started, they came, they went underground,

and all they know is mining.

Phil has worked in the mining industry for 25 years.

During his time, he's witnessed many men lose their jobs.

Now, his responsibility

is to make Kellingley's last miners' redundancy official.

Not a time when you'd really want to be an HR manager, I guess.

I've got 439 letters to produce.

Every single one of these letters is somebody losing their job.

They will be made redundant around about the 18th December.

Including myself.

I'm a great believer in, you know, there's a new opportunity.

There's a new door opening

and you've just got to grasp that challenge.

I think the people that we've got will find it very difficult.

These guys have got 30, 40 years within the same industry,

and all they know is mining.

They're going to miss the team that they're working with.

I think it will be really hard for them.

'Would you mail out one of the redundancy letters to me?'

I'll... I'll give you mine.

"Mr PJ Needham,

"the plan remains on course to complete coaling at Kellingley

"on or around the 18th of December.

"I can confirm that you are now at risk of redundancy.

"Subject to final confirmation nearer the time,

"you may be dismissed by redundancy.

"This notification is subject to the successful completion of..."

Somebody that worked here about five years ago,

he adopted two cats that somehow came into the shop,

and they had two kids, so we've had to feed them now.

'What's going to happen to them once this place closes?'

I have no idea, but they're not a protected species.

Yet.

Andy is the youngest man at the pit, and he comes from a mining family.

His father worked underground for over 30 years.

Now their mining tradition ends with him,

and, like all his workmates, he needs to start again.

30 years where they've just done mining,

and mining is not really a transferable skill

compared to being an electrician or a fitter.

I hope they do get jobs, if they want jobs, of course.

I think a lot of them could live off the pensions

they're going to be getting.

I've got to get a job, unfortunately.

I'd rather retire, but I'm not a millionaire, so...

-Yet.

-I've got to work for a living, yeah.

And there's not only himself to worry about.

Yeah.

His fiancee and two young children depend on him.

His wage pays for all of it at the moment.

I don't want to end up on the street or owt like that

cos we can't afford to pay the mortgage,

cos I ain't got a job, cos I'm looking after these two,

so there'll be no income once...

if he doesn't get a job again for a few months.

It's not exactly the best time to lose a job, at Christmas, is it?

Ah, don't touch the tree.

Don't touch it. Don't touch it, don't touch it, don't touch it.

Your mum will kill you.

Although he's applied for several new jobs,

Andy's been struggling to find work.

-I'm feeling confident.

-Are you?

-Are you feeling confident?

No.

Today, he has an interview at a glassworks factory

and he's keen to make the right impression.

Nearly. Got the blazer to go on to look the part.

'So, you don't do the tie up on you, no?'

No, just...up it goes.

'What do you think they're looking for today?'

An electrician. I don't know if they'll find one.

I don't want to be overconfident,

because if I put myself down

I'm not going to overestimate what's going to happen.

But if you're not confident,

you're not going to come across confident, are you?

I will do when I'm there.

Well, start feeling confident now, then, before you leave.

What are you doing? You bringing all your toys in now?

I think it's really sad for him

to be made redundant at such a young age

from something that he really enjoys.

-Love you.

-Love you.

-Bye, little man.

-Good luck.

-See you later.

Good luck.

-I'm going to need it.

-No, you won't.

I think he'll be fine. I really do.

He's so clever that they'd be silly not to want him,

but it's how he comes across today, isn't it?

Do you love him?

It's 5am, and the mine has been cutting through the night.

Jonesy and his men have just started the morning shift,

but already, Sheldon has got a problem.

-20...22 minutes.

-PHONE RINGS

We take it in turns to buy sleeves of coffee.

It seems to be my turn all the time.

'Is that right, Sheldon?'

I bought six sleeves last week. They're all gone.

Who's this, here?

Who does that look like? Who does it look like?

HE HUMS WALLACE AND GROMIT THEME

That's the first time I've ever seen that, Sheldon. It's quite good.

All you need is a green tank top on, Sheldon.

It's nice to see you've got a sense of humour, Jonesy.

That's why we call him funeral face.

He calls me all sorts.

Eagle cheek, funeral face. I've been called worse.

Hello, Wendolene!

Kellingley is under a lot of pressure to pay off its debts.

Pete is determined to keep the closure plan on track.

I rung the pit this morning at 4:00 when I got up.

I got here then about 5:15 this morning.

'Do you get a day off?'

I get weekends off, yes.

'But it's Saturday today.'

I want to make sure that I've got all the information.

If there's bad news I'd rather have the bad news than someone tell me

that everything is all right when it isn't.

-Hello?

-I expected a trouble-free weekend.

-Yeah, things have changed.

-Yeah, they have. They've got worse.

There's been a major mechanical fault,

causing a halt to production at the coal face.

-Hello.

-I thought I seen them start-up.

They've manually opened the top door.

This is the same problem we had a couple of weeks ago.

We've had a lot of problems underground

which we would not normally have.

We've had a bad week this week,

but it is the first bad week we've had for nine weeks.

Have they cut it yet?

I hope so, Kev.

-Fuckin' hell.

-Can't cut, we ain't cut.

If we don't succeed, I'm part of the problem, not succeeding.

I really want everybody to get as much money as they can,

because it's only right that they do that,

because of the effort what they've put in.

Not all problems can be solved from his office.

Sometimes Pete has to get his hands dirty and join his men underground.

-Number one.

-Peter.

-Are you well?

-Aye, not bad.

All present and correct?

All present, but there's not many correct here.

Get home. They've got jobs done.

WHISTLE BLOWS

HORN BLOWS

Mr Clayton, keep your hands to yourself.

The conveyor belt that carries the coal is broken...

..and the shearer has once again ground to a halt.

Is that just a case of putting power back on, then?

-No, there's no power off.

-There's no power off?

No, the power was on, but we are getting through.

I say, give us some juice and let's get fucking running.

Leave it with us.

That's a technical mining term, that.

Hidden within hundreds of metres of cabling is an electrical fault...

But it's still showing an open circuit, is it, on signals?

Yes, mate, yeah.

OK.

..but finding it could take hours.

OK.

We've got people walking in now looking for this fault

and it could be anywhere along the length of the conveyor.

It's not that I'm worried. I'm frustrated.

We'll have lost something like 6,000 tonnes.

It'll be between £350-400,000 we've lost in revenue

with this delay we've got at the minute.

Hell of a lot of money.

It's every time we fanny about with electrics, innit?

We ought to be digging now, Kev, didn't we?

-Hello.

-You got the lock on there?

We're trying to get the belt running to get some weight off.

Get the right tension and see what it's looking like,

so we can check at all round.

That's what happens here. If there's a problem everybody sort of gels

together just to make sure that we can hit our targets.

That really is the commitment of these people.

Absolutely fantastic.

Hello, Tripper Two. Hello, Tripper Two.

Are we in a position to try the belt so we can put some tension into it?

It's been nearly an hour.

They've found the fault,

and can finally restore power to the conveyor.

Hello, Control, put a start on it.

It stopped, don't slip, though.

It's burning through the belt, Rob.

Listen, Neill.

Just put a start until we get some slack

and we're going to have to keep stopping and starting it.

We'll end up burning through it.

I were frustrated earlier, I'm really frustrated now.

But I have got great lads on the job now.

We'll sort it.

-Keep going.

-Keep going.

How's that?

Cutting again now. We're making money.

The smile's back on us face.

That was on me.

Time up for these two lads.

Russ can have Monday off

because he's come back to work and jinxed us,

so he can have Monday off

because he's a bad influence on us at t' minute.

We don't work on a Monday.

He's that generous.

That is a normal shift off.

I'll tell them they can have Monday off,

but they've got Monday off anyway, so it's just a bit of banter.

Tell you what, it would be a shock

if he said, "I want yous to come," though!

Well done, chaps.

With the belts back in motion, coal can reach the surface.

While for the miners, it's a short cut to the coalface.

Back up and running. We've been able to open the conveyor for man riding,

and these lads will be riding the conveyor to go to the coalface.

MUSIC: Miner's Song by Woody Guthrie

It is good fun. Yeah.

You would pay to do something like that at Blackpool.

# ..hard to find

# Precious metal is hard to find

# Down in the hole and down in the mine

# I dig my life away-o... #

I want the same as what these lads want.

It's just get it up and running.

So we're all the same when we're down here.

-'Do you love it?'

-I do love it, I do love it.

Every time you say that,

that's why I get a smile on me face because I do love it, yeah.

# A good shaped diamond's hard to find... #

Hey. Come on!

Come on, big boy. Come on!

Fucking come on - you're doing it fucking half Nelson.

-Come on, Kev.

-Come on, big boy.

Yargh!

THEY LAUGH

The mechanical problems underground are now solved.

On the surface, there is a more serious issue for Pete to deal with.

It's 4:50 now. Around about quarter to four,

I got a phone call to say that someone had fell down in the baths.

One of the guys called Ray.

Probably 63, 64 years old, really conscientious guy.

When I got up there, he were laid on the baths floor.

Looks as though it was a suspected heart attack.

After 47 years at Kellingley Colliery,

Ray is one of its longest serving miners.

They got the respective equipment on him and they were carrying out CPR

at the time. So obviously these guys have known Ray for a long time.

The only thing they wanted were to make sure

that he pulls through this, give him the best chance,

and then dispatch him to hospital.

When he got into the air ambulance, he was breathing.

We could see that obviously something major has happened,

but all being well, get him to LGI

and hopefully we'll get him pulled round now.

It's not something what's nice.

But he's like one of the family.

Jack was among the first men to find Ray unconscious on the floor.

I just got here after, you know, he went down.

Two men were working on him, and just looking at him

you could just see the life had gone from his eyes.

It were just so surreal after speaking to him 10 minutes before,

and he were fine, and then...

and we got the defib on him and it just suggested, you know,

to give him a shock. It weren't nice.

Everybody has done our training with Ray.

Everybody has known him long as we been here

because he's been one of the longest men to work here

over the years - and he's just a genuinely nice bloke.

Really nice bloke.

Would do owt for anybody, really.

The mine rescue team managed to resuscitate Ray.

After being flown to hospital he remains in a critical state.

Everybody is absolutely devastated by it,

because Ray is an absolutely lovely, smashing bloke.

Works every single day,

and every single day he is at work he does two hours overtime.

He is of an age where he could retire and take his state pension

but it's a way of life for Ray.

He's institutionalised, like some of us.

What's happened to Ray...

..in my opinion, is stress.

And it's the stress that will affect a lot of people that work here.

Because it's the way of life. It's a reason to get out of bed.

It's a purpose to get up in the morning.

And that purpose is being taken away from people.

And obviously, it's stressing a lot of people out.

A lot more than what they're prepared to tell.

They won't tell you they're stressed.

They won't share their financial difficulties with you.

They're big, tough, hard, miners.

Despite recent events,

management must stay focused on reaching the target.

The setbacks have caught the eye of Sean, the colliery manager...

..and this morning, he has called a meeting with senior staff

to get some answers.

Good morning, team.

ALL: Morning.

Take us through t' figures, then, Steve.

As you're aware, 320 conveyor joint, that broke last night.

Yep.

We're looking at about...

..11am before the joints are fully back together this morning.

Do we know why it's broke?

We had an instruction on Saturday morning

for the tail end to be cleaned out, and it's not been done.

It's an own goal, that.

We need to take it up with those involved, then, don't we?

Because we got ourselves well in front,

and we seem to have taken eye off ball,

and it's dropping and dropping back.

We've got to finish this target on time.

As of this morning, 134 metres retreat left.

It's within touching distance.

'So you're all feeling quite confident

'that you'll make that deadline for the 18th?'

Yes. Yes.

'Does everyone feel the same way?.

MURMURS OF ASSENT

There were a quietness around the room then, weren't there?! Yeah!

We'll tell you on t' 18th!

No, we'll hit it.

'Even if it means no sleep?'

I don't sleep anyway.

No, we will hit it.

We've had a few setbacks,

but we'll catch that back and we'll get going again.

Everybody is working so hard to it, that date.

Kellingley Colliery will close.

It is Britain's last working pit,

and now the last 450 men are set to work their final shift.

These are the men who have kept the coal industry going

till the very end.

Younger men who started as apprentices just a few years ago...

..but also many older men who worked in the coal industry for decades.

And frankly, I think that these miners have been betrayed.

It's the miners at Kellingley

who have saved the government

from having to pick up the cost of closure.

It's the miners at Kellingley who have kept UK Coal going long enough

in order to pay off its bills and pay the taxes it owed.

And what have they got in return?

They've got the worst deal of any of the hundreds of thousands of miners

who've left the industry over many decades.

When Margaret Thatcher closed the pits in the 1980s

on a massive scale, even she made sure

that the miners got full redundancy pay and pensions.

They have worked so hard,

they feel in return that all they're getting right now

is a kick in the teeth.

There's tough times ahead for the workers at Kellingley -

and, for Andy, securing a job outside the mine

is not going to plan.

They didn't like me on that job.

They didn't want me. I must have not been good enough.

Their loss. Never mind.

I couldn't have give any more indication to them

that I wanted the job, so it must be something that I've done or said.

Must not be good enough!

I'm guessing it was my age and experience,

but I hope it something else.

So I know I'm not going to get turned away from other jobs

-because of my age and my experience.

-'What did Lucy say?'

She was upset.

She'd have preferred me to got the job

so the worries were out the window, but...

Sort of pinned her hopes on my hopes, so, never mind.

She was upset.

For Andy, life beyond the pit is not just about a new job.

It's about walking away from his past and the memory of his father.

-NEWSREADER:

-Not one ounce of coal left the pits today,

and not one miner was allowed in,

while inspectors try to find out what caused a roof to fall,

killing Gerry Gibson.

On 27 September 2011,

the father of two had been working underground

in this coal mine in North Yorkshire

when a roof collapsed, trapping him under 15 tonnes of rock.

That for me? Thank you.

I was working underground.

I was doing my underground training at the time, in the pit bottom.

Going around with the electrician there, on the same shift as my dad.

They sort of did that,

so, car sharing sort of thing they did it for.

'Were you and him close?'

Yes. Very close.

I always sort of said, when I were younger, I would be a miner.

My dad always said, "There'll be no mines left by the time you grow up,"

and when I got a chance of an apprenticeship at the pit,

my dad was the first one to tell me to take it.

'Did you actually work together?'

No, I never got the chance.

It was just... Got to go down in the cage with him, you know,

but, no, I never got the chance, unfortunately.

It's obviously something that

happens all the time, but it's just...

-Do I have to answer?

-'No, you don't, mate.'

-No.

-'Is it hard for you to talk about?'

-Yeah.

Yeah.

I don't think he's accepted that he's really gone.

It wasn't like he had something wrong with him.

It wasn't an illness, so you had time to prepare for him leaving.

He was suddenly taken and it was before his time, so it's sad.

I thought he wouldn't have gone back, but he did.

And in my head I think maybe he went back

because that's where his dad was,

and maybe that's where he feels closest to him.

But the fact that it's closing down, he's losing part of his dad, really.

The only part he has left is where he worked.

That's where his dad is.

That's the last thing connecting him with his dad, is the mine.

I want him to move on, but I think he'll do it in his own time.

It takes some people years, doesn't it?

So he could be one of them people.

But he don't talk about him, so I'm not going to press him on it.

Unwilling to leave it behind,

the NUM are moving the miners' memorial to a nearby museum.

Sad day for t' lads, sad day for t' industry, sad day for Kellingley.

When you've lost such a rock in your life, you know,

as his father probably was.

You know, I mean...

..it's, you know, you can't describe it.

Thank you.

I think what Gerry would have said to Andy is, "Look, son.

"You're young." Right? "You've got a trade at your back.

"You're an electrician, make yoursen known.

"Go out there and see if you can find as quality a job

"as what you had at the Big K."

I'm not saying that's going to give him any solace,

but, you know, he might move on from that.

Before the government decided to end its reliance on coal by 2025,

Kellingley had made plans to continue mining coal for decades.

The water that is above the seam forms stalagmites and stalactites.

'So, how old are these?'

I would say about 18 months old.

One of Sheldon's jobs underground

is to safety check the parts of the mine

that were abandoned two years ago.

The Eggboroughs were the future of Kellingley Colliery.

That was the next seam that we were going into.

Unfortunately, we stopped them on the day they announced the closure.

The seams are all just sat there

as if somebody has just turned off the electricity and that's it.

We need to find diverse,

secure sources of energy and cut the impact of carbon on our planet.

We're powering our country through an out-of-date, inefficient grid

and ageing, polluting power stations.

For a man who seemingly is never away from Europe,

why is it that he has never took the opportunity when he's been there

to put in a claim for state aid

to save British miners' jobs?

He's the man who, during the election campaign,

masqueraded as the workers' champion

and he hasn't got the guts to help those miners.

Very good to see the Labour Party in full voice

cheering on Jurassic Park.

That's the machine on the day it was stopped.

That was the future of Kellingley Colliery.

That is how we left it 18 months ago.

And as you can see, there's the coal.

That was what it was all about.

Black diamonds.

That's what used to keep the lights on.

That's what used to keep everybody's electricity going.

That's what it was all about.

That's the last piece off the face.

The last piece to ever come off of this seam.

There's no future for coal.

We all understand about carbon emissions and global warming.

We all accept that we've got to clean us act up.

But why is it only us that has to clean us act up?

Why doesn't China have to clean their act up?

Why is Germany investing heavily in coal-fired power stations?

There was a marketplace for ten years -

there was a good, good argument

for keeping Kellingley Colliery open for ten more years.

'Is the thought of a new future that isn't mining, scary?'

Of course it's scary, Wes.

Most people won't say to each other

that they're scared of what the future holds.

We put on bravado and we try to be positive

or manly and macho,

but deep down, of course, people are scared and concerned.

Especially people that have got young children at home,

have got mortgages to pay.

'Are you scared?'

I'm very, very apprehensive of what the future holds for me.

-We're happy.

-We're all right.

'Has it been a tricky morning for you?'

It's a tricky morning every morning.

We're not strictly going to plan, but we'll catch it back...

THEY LAUGH

..with some hard work and commitment.

We've got one plan, get to the end of t' gate until we're done.

We've got to want it and then we're going to make it happen.

-That's it, Kev.

-That's it, and we're going to do it safely.

And we shan't give in until we've done it.

We know that t' pit's shutting, it's supposed to be December 18th,

but we want to hit the plan what the company has set us,

and get all the coal off what they've asked us to get off.

We don't want to go out and have done 30 odd years, Kev about 37,

Pete same as me, 33, 34 years, and go out on a downer.

We want to go out winning, don't we?

We want to get all the coal off what we can.

So when we walk away from here,

we'll walk away with heads held high.

Because we know we've done it.

And there's a lot wouldn't have been able to do it.

We never give in and we don't do the F-word - fail.

-We don't fail.

-We don't do that. We don't do that.

Clear the bar, everybody. We're taking lockdown off.

You got some engine problems?

Andy's mining career has been cut short.

He will be the last in his family to work at the pit.

But there is new hope,

as today he has received an unexpected phone call.

The National Grid rang me up.

They said, "It's the guy who interviewed you."

I was like, "That's strange.

"Why would the guy that interviewed ring me?"

And he says, "I'd like to offer..."

And I was like, "Wow, hold on there!"

And they've offered me a job.

Which I'm slightly overwhelmed about.

Cos that was the number one job I wanted

out of all the ones I've applied for, so...

You know, you can't beat the National Grid.

I jumped around the house when he told me!

Can't wait to see the bloke, to be honest.

Just to thank him and shake his hand.

I might even cuddle him!

I just want to see the guy that interviewed me

and basically thought, "You're the man for me."

Wee man. How you doing?

'How are you feeling about it all?'

Really good.

Like, really overwhelmed, but happy.

I think it was getting to a scary point.

There's bills that need to be coming out at the end of the month,

it's getting a bit...serious.

Like, "Oh, my God, what's going to happen?"

And now, whether it's three months down the line, it's a job.

It's something to look forward to.

Yeah, it's like a job for life, you know?

A lot of lads 40 years, were told, down the pit.

Job for life.

You can't fit in any of those holes,

it's impossible to get stuck unless you put it under there.

Unless you put it in there.

I haven't had a phone call like that since I got my job at the pit,

so...just quite happy!

For the majority of Kellingley's workforce,

the future looks less certain,

and the pressure of the mine's debt still hangs over them.

-Raymond!

-All right!

-Welcome back.

-Raymond, how we going?

-Nice to see you, our lad.

Nice to see you! Well, you're back to full fitness!

But the men's' morale is lifted.

Ray, who suffered a heart attack, has returned from the hospital.

I thought I was fit as fuck, me.

Never thought I would go down like that.

We got the message, "Oh, it's not looking good."

We all thought that was it.

Nearly gone and had a funeral for you all.

I think shifts and all that is not good for you.

I think it'll do us better not working.

Money don't mean nowt and good wages if you're not right.

When it happened I were on holiday in Gran Canaria.

I got a text message off Wrighty,

I had to stop drinking for half an hour.

THEY CHUCKLE

-All right, mate.

-All right, Russ.

-All right.

-Nice to see you, Ray.

Thanks for t' card, Kev.

I'm glad you're all right, Ray.

-I fucking am.

-All right, Ray.

-Ey up, Ray!

-Come here, Jack.

-I love you too.

You all right?

-You all right?

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

-All right, Pete.

-Now, then, Ray.

-All right, mate?

Am I glad to see thee!

Bloody hell.

-Scared everybody to death, didn't you?

-You did.

-I feel all right.

-Does tha?

-Yeah.

Take it easy, now.

Hang by a bit.

There's no doubt about it, these here the best miners in the world.

They worked in a hazardous industry.

In the past, they'll have worked

with people and lost their colleagues underground,

which is a terrible thing to happen.

All Right.

It would be wrong if we come to a week before the end

and the plan failed

because of the shortfall of a small number of tonnes,

and then people lost their money.

When the mine shuts I really want everybody to go out safe,

go out on time, and to get as much money as they can.

Says it all, doesn't it?

That could be a pile of workers on t' scrapheap.

Right, lads, get changed. He's changed his mind.

We're cutting.

WHISTLE BLOWS

Last whistle.

Wait till we're told that we're not required,

and then we'll all shake hands and go home.

What is going on?

What's going on?

It's the end.

I can't. Just give me a minute.

Britain will regret the day that they've closed their coalmines.