- See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source
They never sought to be stars.
asserted
They → see → Source
Indeed, many would regret ever agreeing to have their entire lives chronicled by what has often been described as the 'greatest documentary' ever made, one which has more than stood the test of time.
asserted
which → regret → time
Back in 1964, television cameras revealed the lives and inner thoughts of a cross section of 14 British seven-year-olds for a series called 7 Up.
asserted
cameras → reveal → series
The cameras would come back every seven years, creating a genuine piece of broadcasting and social history, one which will come to an end this month.
asserted
which → come → end
We will finally bid farewell as those cheeky children in grainy black and white now sign off in colour as pensioners in the final series 70 Up.
asserted
children → bid → series
Along the way, they have also charted the trajectory of post-war Britain.
asserted
they → chart → Britain
For it is not the original cast who have changed so much as the world around them.
asserted
who → change → them
The result is a powerful elegy to a generation who, at times, seem entirely removed from the entitled, ill-tempered, serially complaining 21st century society we have become.
asserted
we → seem → society
Regular viewers will see what finally happened to Andrew, the bumptious seven-year-old FT reader forecasting his own career path of public school/Oxbridge/City law firm (spoiler alert: It happened) or Jackie, Sue and Lynn, the three little girls from London's East End with dreams of houses and children or Symon, the quiet mixed-race care home boy who just wanted 'to be liked'.
asserted
who → see → houses
As with all previous iterations of the series, this one will bounce around across the years.
asserted
one → bounce → years
We will see Suzy, the wide-eyed seven-year-old ballet dancer, who morphs from 14-year-old introvert to 21-year-old chain-smoking rebel to 28-year-old Sloane Ranger mum with matching Diana haircut.
asserted
who → see → haircut
Or Nick the whipsmart farmer's boy from Yorkshire who, via Oxford, becomes a nuclear physicist.
asserted
who → become → Oxford
Sadly, allong with East Ender Lynn, he is no longer with us (nor is the former director, Michael Apted; and nor, for that matter, is Jason Arday, the Cambridge University professor who had falsely claimed to have been on the show despite being born more than two decades too late).
asserted
who → claim → show
We will be reminded that others found the series so intrusive, voyeuristic and unsettling that they bowed out along the way.
asserted
they → remind → way
The legendary 'Up' series of documentaries is set to conclude with a poignant finale titled 70 Up
The cast pictured together in 1977 for series 3 of the show titled 21 Up
It will be gripping and often emotional television featuring real-life stories which have amassed a global following.
asserted
which → set → following
I have revisited all nine of the previous series – which run to 17 hours of television – and have seen clips of the two-part farewell which, for now, remains under wraps.
asserted
which → revisit → wraps
Stand back and, at another level, however, I find that there is something both uplifting and depressing about the Up project.
For, ultimately, this is a valediction to a generation which has always been told that it is the luckiest in history.
asserted
it → stand → history
These are the new Elizabethans, the children of the post-war 'baby boom', the beneficiaries of wartime sacrifice and a rocketing life expectancy who are now the triple-locked pensioners increasingly blamed for blocking the job and housing prospects of today's youth.
asserted
who → rocket → youth
For despite all the changes in appearances, fashions and accents – the posh boys become less plum-voiced with age while the working-class children become correspondingly more articulate – the most striking aspect is what does not change.
asserted
what → become → age
From rich to poor, all the 7-Uppers share a common characteristic: They all want to get on, to work hard, to be in control of their own lives.
asserted
They → share → lives
Despite the hardships – and some have endured serious adversity – they do not expect an easy ride at the expense of others.
asserted
they → endure → others
In this regard, the series stands as a fascinating companion piece to another landmark documentary series.
asserted
series → stand → series
For exactly 50 years after 7 Up hit our screens, Channel 4 produced a hugely popular fly-on-the-wall series on life in the Winson Green area of Birmingham.
asserted
Channel → hit → Birmingham
Called Benefits Street, it showed the lives and aspirations of a community in which life on welfare was seen by many as a normal lifestyle.
asserted
life → call → lifestyle
Though attacked by some Left-wing commentators as 'poverty porn', it was generally regarded as a sobering portrait of a non-working underclass now pushing up our annual welfare bill to £350billion a year, more than half of it spent on working age claimants.
asserted
half → attack → claimants
In the last year alone, according to the Conservatives, the number of working-age households receiving more in benefits than someone on a national average £32,000 income has risen by 30 per cent to more than 600,000.
uncertain
number → accord → 600,000
Last month, the Office of National Statistics showed that the number of young people not in employment, education or training, so-called Neets, is now just shy of one million.
asserted
number → show → million
I can safely say that not one of the 14 original cast members would ever have contemplated, let alone tolerated, being a Neet.
asserted
one → say → members
None, even at their lowest ebb, would have made it into the cast of Benefits Street.
asserted
None → make → Street
The films began back in 1964 with '7 Up' - following fourteen children who were all seven years old at the time
Pictured: Jackie Bassett, Lynn Johnson and Sue Lusk in the very first show in 1964
Yes, they all grew up with the safety net of the post-war welfare state beneath them.
asserted
they → begin → them
Broadly, they all set out with the aim of having and providing for families.
asserted
they → set → families
Nearly all of them do, whether in happy marriages, as single parents or as divorcees.
asserted
all → do → divorcees
None of them blithely expects the state to pick up the pieces.
asserted
state → expect → pieces
One of the most poignant stories of the whole series is that of Neil Hughes, the thoughtful chess- playing boy from a middle-class home in Liverpool.
asserted
One → play → Liverpool
From childish dreams of space travel, he suffered terrible bullying at school, dropped out of Aberdeen University and ended up homeless.
asserted
he → suffer → University
He rebuilt his life through odd- jobs and ended up both a lay clergyman and Lib Dem councillor.
asserted
He → rebuild → clergyman
The best thing about it, he said in 63 Up, is that his councillor's allowance and his abstemious standard of life meant he could come off benefits.
uncertain
he → say → benefits
'What a great relief it was to do that,' he reflects, a sentiment which would be met with open-mouthed incredulity by the cast of Benefits Street.
asserted
which → do → Street
Or take Jackie Bassett, one of the three East End best friends who was first married at 19, twice divorced and raised her three children as a single parent.
asserted
who → take → parent
She was later diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis which stopped her working.
asserted
her → diagnose → arthritis
…and 49 more, not listed.
