Pamela Rooke
Acting
Biography
Known as Jordan, Seaford born Pamela Rooke was the Vivienne Westwood model, punk performer, band manager and actress credited with helping to create the W10 London punk aesthetic. She made a cameo appearance in Derek Jarman's debut film Sebastiane, and played the lead role in his follow-up film Jubilee as the punk "anti-historian" Amyl Nitrate, after the drug Amyl Nitrite. She can also be seen in Julien Temple's The Great Rock and Roll Swindle wearing an "only anarchists are pretty" T-shirt and appearing on stage with the Sex Pistols during their first live television performance of "Anarchy in the U.K." in August 1976 on Tony Wilson's So It Goes Granada TV programme
Known For
Rome, AD 303. Emperor Diocletian demotes his favourite, Sebastian, from captain of the palace guard to the rank of common soldier and banishes him to a remote coastal outpost where his fellow soldiers, weakened by their desires, turn to homosexual activities to satisfy their needs. Sebastian becomes the target of lust for the officer Severus, but repeatedly rejects the man's advances. Castigated for his Christian faith, he is tortured, humiliated and ultimately killed.
Sebastiane
Queen Elizabeth I visits late 1970s England to find a depressing landscape where life has changed since her time.
Jubilee
Julien Temple's second documentary profiling punk rock pioneers the Sex Pistols is an enlightening, entertaining trip back to a time when the punk movement was just discovering itself. Featuring archival footage, never-before-seen performances, rehearsals, and recording sessions as well as interviews with group members who lived to tell the tale--including the one and only John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten).
The Filth and the Fury
A rather incoherent post-breakup Sex Pistols "documentary", told from the point of view of Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren, whose (arguable) position is that the Sex Pistols in particular and punk rock in general were an elaborate scam perpetrated by him in order to make "a million pounds."
The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle
As night falls, the receptionist of a small hotel dutifully performs her routine tasks while strange lodgers descend upon the dark corners of the inn.
Nightshift
Short documentary film on the fashionable nightclubs and the trendy pop culture scenes that were famous in London on the late 70's. Released as a support feature to the first Alien (1979) movie.
Steppin' Out
A compilation of performances by bands taken from his previous TV shows in the late 70's, such as "So It Goes", hosted by Tony Wilson. Featuring: Sex Pistols, Elvis Costello, Buzzcocks, John Cooper Clarke, Iggy Pop, Wreckless Eric, Ian Dury, Penetration, Blondie, Fall, Jam, Jordan, Devo, Tom Robinson Band, Johnny Thunder, Elvis Costello, XTC, Jonathan Richman, Nick Lowe, Siouxie & the Banshees, Cherry Vanilla & Magazine.
The Way They Were: Punk and the New Wave 1976-1978
A one-hour documentary narrated by Ralf Little about the Sex Pistols gig at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester which changed the face of music forever.
I Swear I Was There
This film was shot on Super-8 by Derek Jarman in 1977 and is considered to be the inspiration for Jubilee. Jarman often showed his films silent or with different musical accompaniment - one of Jarman's suggestions was Brahms' "Violin Concerto."
Jordan's Dance
Documentary about fetish clothing scene in 70s Britain.