{"id":1190884,"date":"2026-09-07T05:53:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T05:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1190884\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T05:53:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T05:53:18","slug":"its-the-bayeux-tapestry-of-tv-after-six-decades-the-seminal-series-bows-out-with-70-up-television","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1190884\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s the Bayeux tapestry of TV!\u2019 After six decades, the seminal series bows out with 70 Up | Television"},"content":{"rendered":"

Described as the Bayeux tapestry of television, the groundbreaking ITV documentary series Seven Up<\/a> is coming to its final conclusion.<\/p>\n

In 1964, a group of randomly chosen seven-year-olds from different backgrounds were brought together and filmed in an attempt to answer questions about the effect of fate, class and environment on people\u2019s aspirations and outcomes.<\/p>\n

Designed to test the Jesuit maxim of \u201cgive me the child until he is seven and I will show you the man\u201d, it began as a one-off World in Action film for the regional ITV company Granada. But the producers then returned to the children every seven years, charting their progress and creating a snapshot of Britain\u2019s social history.<\/p>\n

Viewers\u2019 own lives, loves and losses have been reflected in the experiences of the contributors, such as Neil Hughes<\/a> \u2013 the bright Liverpudlian schoolboy who dreamed of attending Oxford University but became homeless and then a local councillor \u2013 and Jackie Bassett<\/a>, the straight-talking Londoner who was ahead of her time in challenging conventional norms.<\/p>\n

Jackie Bassett in 1978, when she was 21. Photograph: ITV<\/p>\n

Now the series is bowing out with 70 Up, which has noticeable differences from previous iterations. The Oscar-winning director Asif Kapadia<\/a> has taken over from his long-running predecessor Michael Apted<\/a>, who died in 2021. Many thought Apted\u2019s death meant the end of Up, but the producer Claire Lewis \u2013 the custodian of the brand since 28 Up \u2013 got a call from one of the group, Nick Hitchon<\/a>, who had terminal cancer and wanted to record a final interview.<\/p>\n

Hitchon died hours after Lewis recorded his thoughts, which she said was heartbreaking, so \u201cwe all decided that we should make another film and [began] looking for a director\u201d.<\/p>\n

Knowing the concluding series needed someone skilled in archive and interviewing, she tracked down Kapadia \u2013 as his films about Ayrton Senna, Diego Maradona and Amy Winehouse \u201cblew me away\u201d \u2013 and discovered he was a fan of the series and that Apted had met and admired him.<\/p>\n

With Kapadia secured, Lewis then had to persuade the contributors to take part one last time. There may yet even be another incarnation of their stories, she said.<\/p>\n

Kapadia\u2019s involvement helped convince Hughes to do 70 Up, \u201cbecause I knew this was going to be a fresh start, a very different sort of enterprise\u201d. It was also \u201ca chance to meet some of the other participants, probably for the last time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Neil Hughes at 14 and 49. Composite: ITV<\/p>\n

But he also reveals he feels that the portrayals of the struggles he has faced mean \u201cI constantly try to clean up my image\u201d. Hughes thinks Apted was very professional but \u201cknew what he wanted\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMichael was selectively using the material he had. Now I don\u2019t criticise that; that is within the gift of a director.\u201d But Hughes \u201crelished the chance to say to people, \u2018Well, I\u2019m not quite maybe what you think I am\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the greatest respect to viewers of the show \u2026 they didn\u2019t see the real me. There\u2019s a me here who Michael never discovered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now living in France, Hughes does not watch TV, not even the Up series. He says it is \u201cpartly a self-defence mechanism\u201d but also that \u201cI\u2019m very sensitive to screens. I don\u2019t have a mobile phone\u201d.<\/p>\n

Hughes has spoken before on screen about his struggles with depression and says in 70 Up: \u201cIf somebody has a mental health problem, it doesn\u2019t mean they are odd. It doesn\u2019t mean they have chosen to be weird or antisocial \u2026 It\u2019s not something they chose. It\u2019s what they are.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m as happy as I could be given my life \u2026 I\u2019m still quite lonely at times, but this is a common characteristic of our age.\u201d<\/p>\n

I ask him if he thinks his life might have been different if there had been more understanding of neurodiversity when he was younger.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I think so,\u201d he said. Because now \u201cit is about recognising people\u2019s individuality\u201d.<\/p>\n

There have been \u201cpluses and minuses\u201d to being in the series, he said, and he wonders existentially if television\u2019s artifice means taking part has influenced the outcome of contributors\u2019 lives.<\/p>\n

Overall he thinks he has benefited \u2013 notably his friendships with Lewis and fellow participant Bruce Balden. As is common in TV, the participants also were paid so \u201cbecause my life\u2019s been a struggle to keep afloat financially \u2026 the little contributions from Granada have helped from time to time\u201d.<\/p>\n

Bruce Balden in 2012. Photograph: Graeme Robertson\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Duty of care to contributors has been paramount for Lewis. She says it was important to ensure she didn\u2019t influence them at the \u201csame time as having a relationship that was honest and trusting\u201d. Hughes credits her for creating an \u201cextended family\u201d feeling among the group.<\/p>\n

For the 1964 film, \u201call the parents were talked to\u201d about their children being involved, she said. \u201cBut not in the same way that they would be today\u201d. Plus \u201cit was completely innovative\u201d and nobody knew it would run for so long.<\/p>\n

As British TV\u2019s first social experiment, it paved the way for reality shows such as Big Brother and the rise of content creators.<\/p>\n

Kapadia, for whom directing 70 Up is a \u201cdream come true\u201d, says it is a one-off and the \u201cmost beautiful thing I\u2019ve ever made\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people have copied it and been inspired by it. But none of them will ever do this ever again,\u201d he told the recent Edinburgh TV festival.<\/p>\n

His main aim has been to be \u201ctrue to the series [and] answer the question that\u2019s asked at the beginning: is your life defined at seven?\u201d<\/p>\n

Asif Kapadia. Photograph: Tom Jenkins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Born to Indian Muslim parents, Kapadia thinks it is \u201cimpossible not to watch it to think about your own life, your own parents, your relationships, your kids \u2026 it\u2019s about them, but it\u2019s about us and there\u2019s nothing else like it\u201d.<\/p>\n

Lewis feels Kapadia\u2019s fresh viewpoint chimes with questions being asked about authenticity and unconscious bias in the world of television, making Apted the \u201c15th character in the series\u201d.<\/p>\n

Kapadia explains: \u201cWho shoots it [and] who picks who is important\u201d in shaping a documentary, along with \u201chow do you cut it [and] who is judging what\u2019s interesting or what isn\u2019t interesting?\u201d. Unlike Apted, he did not go to Oxbridge and \u201chad free school meals\u201d growing up in east London, so \u201cwhat is your norm is how you always make projects\u201d.<\/p>\n

The biggest takeaways from the participants include Hughes saying it is \u201cremarkable, and maybe this is one of the things that Michael discovered\u201d that he and Balden had become friends despite their different backgrounds. \u201cIt\u2019s good for us to recognise that that can happen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Another key conclusion is some male contributors wishing they had spent less time at work. Lewis says Apted also \u201crealised he didn\u2019t spend as much time with his family as he should have done, and he really regretted that\u201d.<\/p>\n

She thinks one of the most profound concluding statements comes from Symon Basterfield, who grew up in care and now fosters children. He said: \u201cThe one thing I\u2019ve taken from this programme is my story is special because it\u2019s been seen; not because it is special, just because it\u2019s been seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

A vital part of the \u201cbeautiful\u201d and \u201cgenius\u201d films, said Lewis, is that Apted and his original team ensured the series featured \u201cordinary people \u2026 they are somebody you could have been living next door to\u201d.<\/p>\n

Bassett said: \u201cIt\u2019s been wonderful to be part of. It\u2019s been difficult at times, but I think we always knew that while it started about class \u2026 it ended up being about us and how different audiences relate to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The stories of the 14 individuals and Apted may have a new lease of life, as Lewis reveals: \u201cWhat I would like to do now, because we have the material, is to make hour-long films about each person.\u201d<\/p>\n

She is looking for funding from universities or media for the new edits, which will tell the participants\u2019 individual stories and show how the conventions of television and our society have changed.<\/p>\n

As ITV\u2019s factual controller, Jo Clinton-Davis, puts it, the Up series is like the Bayeux tapestry, with all who have worked on it feeling the responsibility of \u201clooking after this hugely important artefact\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sort of belongs to all of us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Described as the Bayeux tapestry of television, the groundbreaking ITV documentary series Seven Up is coming to its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1190885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[9],"tags":[77,16,15],"class_list":["post-1190884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117228208673517513","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1190884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1190884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1190884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1190885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1190884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1190884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1190884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}