It’s been 50 years since the Sex Pistols played two now-legendary gigs in Manchester. In a more idiosyncratic sort of anniversary, it’s 24 years since the release of the film 24 Hour Party People, depicting, among other things, the first of those two gigs. A new 4K remaster of the film is being released to mark the occasion.
Today, it’s widely known that the much-celebrated Tony Wilson quote – “this is Manchester, we do things differently here” – is nothing of the sort. It’s actually a line from the film, spoken by Steve Coogan in character as Wilson. In real life, Wilson never said it. As such, it’s an invention of the film’s screenwriter, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, who is in fact – gasp! – a Scouser. Northern Soul spoke to Cottrell-Boyce back in 2022 to nail this fact down, whereupon he declared: “My daughter went to Manchester Uni. She’d never seen the film. She quoted it at me and I said ‘I WROTE THAT!’” (the article in question has since cited by historian Brian Groom in his top-selling book, Made in Manchester).
For the record, the scene, from roughly halfway though the film, sees the character of Wilson addressing the camera directly after a painful break-up, saying: “This is a low point for me, obviously. But I think it was Scott Fitzgerald who said American lives don’t have second acts. Well, this is Manchester – we do things differently here.”
But here’s the thing. It turns out there’s a bit more to this particular story, shared here in honour of the film’s re-release (and to mark the seismic events of the Pistols coming to Manchester in 1976 while we’re at it).
Tucked away among the extras on the 24 Hour Party People DVD and Blu-ray is a host of scenes cut from the original film. One, from what would have been towards the start, sees the character of Tony Wilson seeking approval to invite the Pistols on to his Granada arts show, So It Goes. He’s granted a fleeting audience with Granada co-founder Sidney Bernstein (played by veteran British actor Cyril Shaps, right at the end of long career that had taken in Lawrence of Arabia, The Spy Who Loved Me, Doctor Who, and The Young Ones). In a cinema screening room, actually part of the then-closed Granada Studios Tour, Wilson explains that the group’s provocative behaviour has seen them demonised across the land. As he puts it to Bernstein: “The BBC have banned them. Town councils have banned them, city corporations have banned them. Bloody British Rail have banned them. This is Manchester – we do things differently here. This is the home of Chartism, the Great Reform Act. It is the cradle of liberty.”
Presumably, then, the now-classic line was originally meant to make not one but two appearances, echoing between key moments throughout the film, only for the first to have been excised and forgotten (unfortunately, even Cottrell-Boyce can’t remember the exact truth).
Incidentally, the real-life Bernstein once famously declared that “I think that what Manchester sees today, London will see eventually”. In itself, this is a neat enough spin on Disraeli’s Industrial Revolution-era line, “what Manchester does today, the rest of the world does tomorrow,” but you’re not likely to see it emblazoned on a fridge magnet in a souvenir shop any time soon. Nice try, though, Bernstein.
While this deleted scene is a minor point, perhaps it’s still a little piece of Manchester history? So let the record stand: the omnipresent line about doing things differently in Manchester remains the city’s unofficial motto.
Read Northern Soul’s original 2022 piece on ‘This is Manchester…’ here.
The anniversary 4K remaster of 24 Hour Party People comes to cinemas from October 9, 2026, with a home media release to follow on October 26, 2026.
There will also be selected free cinema screenings of the film on October 5 and 6 as part of the Escapes initiative. For more information, click here.
A special preview screening on October 6 will feature Steve Coogan, director Michael Winterbottom and producer Andrew Eaton in conversation as part of the Beyond the Music conference. For details, click here.
