My Beautiful Laundrette, written by Hanif Kureishi and directed by Stephen Frears, was one of the early films produced for Channel 4. First screened in 1985, it tells the story of a young British Pakistani, Omar, played by Gordon Warnecke, who is given a failing laundrette to run by his entrepreneurial uncle. Omar recruits an old school friend Johnny (Daniel Day-Lewis) to help him turn the business round and a gay relationship between them develops. Francis Lee, director of God's Own Country and Ammonite, tells Francine Stock about the impact it had on him as young gay man, the sexual and social issues in the film and his own encounter with Stephen Frears.
Producer: Harry Parker