Paradise Lost

Picture of Chapeltown ‘unbiased’

Leave a comment
Paradise Lost, BBC2
Yorkshire Evening Post
10 March 1979

A BBC programme portraying urban decay in Chapeltown, Leeds, received a mixed reaction in the area today.

“City“, a 35-minute documentary on BBC 2 last night gave an extreme impression of life in the suburb, said a senior community relations officer.

However, he praised the prominence given to the pupils at Harehills Middle School rehearsing for their production of Paradise Lost.

Continue reading Picture of Chapeltown ‘unbiased’ →
Paradise Lost

Paradise Lost, BBC2

Leave a comment

Stephanie Ferguson’s Viewpoint
Yorkshire Evening Post
10 March 1979

IT COULD have been down-town Harlem or even the Brazil Carnival, but it wasn’t. The opening shots of urban decay and the smiling faces that live among it took us nearer home to Chapeltown, Leeds, in “City” (BBC-2), the first of six programmes on life in our towns.

 “Paradise Lost” was not the usual warts and all probe into the red light and twilight zones. Instead we saw the Tiger Bay of Leeds through the eyes of its youngest residents, the pupils of Harehills Middle School and in particular Orlando Weeks.

Continue reading Paradise Lost, BBC2 →
Paradise Lost

Schoolboy hope to bleak resignation

Leave a comment

Sean Day-Lewis
The Times
10 March 1979

The once popular adult cliché about schooltime as the happiest days of your life was always sadly defeatist: they are slow days but a fleeting time when placed in the three-score-years-and-ten allotted at least to Mrs Average.

That the old saying can sometimes contain an element of truth was poignantly illuminated last night with BBC-2‘s Paradise Lost.

This vivid opener of “City,” a six-part series from BBC Manchester which will illustrate various aspects of inner-city decay, was carefully photographed and edited to establish the maximum contrast between smiling hope at the beginning of the ‘teens and bleak resignation at the end of them.

Continue reading Schoolboy hope to bleak resignation →
Broadcast TV, Paradise Lost

Paradise Lost, City, BBC2 (1979)

Leave a comment

BBC2
8.0 New Series
City
Paradise Lost
Radio Times
9 March 1979

Six films about inner cities now – seen through the eyes of those who live and work in them.

Chapeltown in Leeds. Back-to-back housing, high unemployment and low morale; a multi-racial, often violent, example of urban decay. A group of enthusiastic 12-year olds, encouraged and guided by dedicated teacher Nadine Senior, is preparing for the school’s Christmas production, this year Milton’s Paradise Lost/

Broadcast TV, Thanks for the Memory

Thanks for the Memory, Brass Tacks, BBC2 (1978)

Leave a comment

BBC2
8.10-9.0
Brass Tacks
Thanks for the Memory
Radio Times
6 September 1978

Old people are increasingly treated as socially redundant and have little or no political clout. Maggie Kuhn, leader of the Grey Panther movement, explains why she believes in a militant approach to the rights of the elderly.

Maggie Kuhn: Founder of the Grey Panthers
Maggie Kuhn: Founder of the Grey Panthers

*No clips of this programme are available as the BBC wiped the tapes shortly after it was transmitted!

Thanks for the Memory

Why the Grey Panthers fight

Leave a comment

The Observer
3 September 1978

It is a peculiar feature of industrial society that the old are treated as socially redundant and Thanks for the Memory, this week’s Brass Tacks (8.10 BBC2), examines the implications.

For years pensioners have been fobbed-off by governments who have dispensed formal handouts like charity. But, because pensioners, by definition, are no longer part of the work-force they have little or no collective clout. Recently there have developed pockets of organised political action among the over-60s, but they have come to believe their best hope lies in the TUC whose annual conference this week will include a debate on early retirement with fixed benefits.

Continue reading Why the Grey Panthers fight →
A Calculated Risk, Broadcast TV

A Calculated Risk, Brass Tacks, BBC2 (1978)

Leave a comment

BBC2
8.10-9.0
Brass Tacks
A Calculated Risk
Radio Times, 19 April 1978

Tonight Brass Tacks examines some of the calculated risks involved in the development of nuclear power.

If the predictions of the nuclear industry are correct we can look forward to limitless cheap energy, economic growth and an increasingly powerful role in world affairs. If, however, the predictions of the opponents of nuclear power are correct, there is serious cause for concern. The dangers of the creation of plutonium in large quantities in conditions of increasing world unrest are genuine and serious. We should not rely for energy supply on a process that produces such hazardous substances as plutonium unless there is no reasonable alternative.

How far do you live from a nuclear Power Station?

*First ever TV programme to enable multimedia audience participation with live local radio phone-ins nationwide.

**The only TV programme to examine the long-term health effects of increasing radiation in the environment from nuclear power and reprocessing plants.

***No clips of this programme are available as the BBC wiped the tapes shortly after it was transmitted!

Continue reading A Calculated Risk, Brass Tacks, BBC2 (1978) →