Ken Loach will be a special guest on the panel of Question Time when the current affairs show is presented from The Customs House in South Shields this Thursday.
The director, well known for his political views and films of searing social realism, will take his seat for the BBC debate, led by presenter Fiona Bruce, just the day after his latest drama Sorry We Missed You screened in Newcastle.
He will join former Conservative MP and ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer Norman Lamont; Labour's Richard Leonard who is a member of the Scottish Parliament; Lib Dem Caroline Voaden - member of the European Parliament - and Kate Andrews, associate director at the Institute for Economic Affairs.
And at such a turbulent economic time, viewers can expect some extra-fiery debate with just days to go before the UK's due date to leave the EU.
On Wednesday night, Loach was at Tyneside Cinema for a special showing of Sorry We Missed You which he made in the region and which focuses upon one family's struggle to survive on zero hour contracts in the delivery van and care work industries.
The 83-year-old was joined on the red carpet by Paul Laverty - who wrote the story and that of their previous Newcastle-made film I, Daniel Blake as well as other former hits such as The Wind That Shakes The Barley - alongside the predominantly local cast of first-time actors who are now finding themselves in the spotlight.
There he told how screenings of the film in Europe have been attracting huge audiences, including crowds of nearly 1,000 in central Paris, as it taps into very similar issues of low pay and insecurity within other countries' courier and care work sectors.
And, as the film prepares to go on general release across the UK on November 1, Loach said: "People are fed up listening to the politicians.
"The Brexit discussion might drive them out of the house to the cinema!"
Question Time from South Shields can be seen on BBC1 at 10.35pm. The programme will be repeated on the BBC Parliament channel on Sunday at 6pm.
