Mike Leigh, the satirist of the suburbs, has been one of the great mavericks and creative geniuses of British stage, cinema and television since his first film, "Bleak Moments", was released in 1970. Since then his works have included "Nuts in May", "Goose-Pimples" and "Life is Sweet". He has worked with many of Britain's leading actors, including Tim Roth, Timothy Spall, David Thewlis and Jane Horrocks, but his longest and most fruitful collaboration has been with his wife Alison Steadman. He is famous for his way of working with actors to produce characters and a script which "emerge" from lengthy working sessions.