A play made for the BBC by Ken 'Social Realism' Loach in his early career, Cathy Come Home is notable for being a piece of work that highlights the plight of homeless people. They are not down and out drunks in the film - as would be the stereotypical vision people have of homeless people. Cathy is a working class young mother who loves her children and her man, but finds herself through a series of depressing events, spiralling downwards in her lodgings until she is in a hostel and her children are ripped away from her. The play made a tremendous impact upon the public's imagination and provoked much debate and discussion. Cathy Come Home focused on a vulnerable section of society that nobody had considered before and Cathy was portrayed by the attractive Carol White which added to the shock value. Widely regarded as the best drama the BBC ever produced, the film is still shocking nowadays but the blow is buffered by the knowledge that the British social security system would be more kind to Cathy today with income support, housing benefit and child benefit. Nevertheless, the film distressed many people when it was shown on the Beeb.