Tony Palmer About Wigan Casino

Palmer's original commission came out of the blue. His documentary history of popular music, 1977's All You Need Is Love, was admired for its evenhandedness by the youthful committee that ran the club. When Granada television came knocking, they specifically asked for Palmer.

"I was auditioned by the committee that ran it," says the veteran film-maker. "This was their private world — they didn't really want it publicised. Yet they also wanted to show a joyful celebration of a kind of music and dancing." Palmer — so uninformed that on his first visit he turned up at 8pm and wondered why the place was shut — was amazed when he experienced the Casino in full flight: "It was packed and pitch dark. What I experienced was mesmerising, this extraordinary dancing."

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