Helen Sutherland is given a suitably important role in The Pitmen Painters (2007), the hugely successful play by Lee Hall (who also wrote Billy Elliot). Hall was inspired by William Feaver's 1988 book which makes clear the significance of her patronage and generosity without strings or condescension. Unlike art world figures such as Kenneth Clark, Helen Sutherland recognised that the group was producing an outstanding and unique record of miners' lives and of pit villages and towns such as Ashington. This is a scene from one of the many productions of the play.