The film brings to life the story of a group of people, some of whom in the face of awful working conditions were determined to fight for their basic human rights and went on to sow the seeds for the first ever trades union. The film focuses on mill worker Thomas Redfern and his family, depicting how strike action affected not only employees, but the employers (the ‘Masters’), as well as how the press reported the events at the time. The film examines local and national social history, as well as industrial history at the very beginnings of the trade union movement.

Referencing the modern-day Union movement, the film includes footage from the Silk Mill Rally which annually commemorates the events of 1833-34. Considered one of the first factories in the world. Locked Out features expert testimony from Bill Whitehead, author of ‘The Derby Lock-Out 1833-34 and the Origins of the Labour Movement’ Jonathan Wallis formerly of Derby Museums Trust, and The Rt. Hon. Dame Margaret Beckett MP.