70 Up

I'm not a fan of reality television, mainly because it seems to me to present a false version of 'reality', but I have long admired 7 Up, the long series of documentaries which have followed the lives of a group of British children, from the age of seven, sixty-three years ago, to today. The show began as a 'World in Action' documentary, with a political axe to grind - an examination of the nature and future of the 'class system' in Britain - but evolved over the years into something more fascinating and thought-provoking. It's really a study of humanity.

Michael Apted, the film-maker whose achievements included a Bond film and Gorillas in the Mist, was the key figure who kept the show on the road, although it has now been revealed that by the time 63 Up was shown he was in the early stages of dementia, and he died in 2021. 70 Up makes clear that he did make mistakes, and he admitted himself that he was excessively judgmental in his early days. To some extent, clips were chosen selectively to make specific points (much to the annoyance of John, for instance, the public schoolboy who became a KC and felt - with some justice - that he was exploited, and that of the women who were challenged about their willingness to marry young). So even this 'reality' show is not beyond criticism.

Overall, though, Apted did a great job. One or two of the participants dropped out over the years, but most stayed the course. It was very sad to learn that Nick, the young Yorkshire lad who became a scientist in the US, had died of cancer just three days after filming his final clip. He was one of the characters who fascinated me particularly, as did Neil, an equally likeable but more obviously vulnerable person who has struggled with depression for many years. Andrew, the solicitor, seems on the surface to have had an unusually untroubled life, while Tony, the charismatic former jockey, was as engaging as he was outspoken. Everyone had a story to tell that was well worth hearing.

Of course you can question some of the choices made at the start of the series, which helped to define the way it developed, as well as the rather patronising way that Michael Apted interviewed some of the young women in the early shows. But as a window in the lives of real people over the course of a lifetime, this series is unmatched. I can't be the only viewer who felt a great deal of warmth towards everyone who took part over the years. The final sequences were poignant, the whole exercise genuinely impressive.