TV Factual

Newsweek on NHS

Series

Newsweek

Broadcast details

BBC, 15 February 1979

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs

Notes

from BFI Viewing list

On the Record: David Ennals

Series

Newsweek

Broadcast details

BBC, 24th February 1979

Medium

TV

Presenter

David Ennals MP

Notes

In 1976 David Ennals became Secretary of State for Social Services, which he held until Labour lost power in 1979. During his tenure he appointed Sir Douglas Black to produce the Black Report (published in 1980) into health inequality. (from Wikipedia) 
From BFI list

Health. Who Cares?

BBC community programmes unit investigates the ways in which people can influence decisions made about the health service. Includes the Patients’ Committee of Aberdare Health Centre; a B’ham Community Health Council; a Hospital Action Campaign in Brent.

Series

Grapevine

Broadcast date

17 November 1979 17.55-18.25 (30 mins)

Production company

BBC Community Programme Unit for BBC2

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs

Director

Community Programme Unit

Presenter

Ian Breach;Ann Hunter

The Secret Hospital

Two documentary reports dealing with top-security institutions. Part one focused on distrubed criminals as well as drawing awareness to the hundreds of mentally handicapped men and women, innocent of any crime, who were confirned to the bleak Rampton Hospital.

Part Two looked at Eastdale experimental unit which eased patients from top-security hospitals, like Broadmoor, back into the routine of the outside world.

Series

The Secret Hospital

Broadcast details

ITV, 22-3 May 1979 (60 minutes)

Production company

Yorkshire TV

Medium

TV

Genre

Documentary series

Producer

John Willis

Director

John Willis

Notes

Part One: Rampton-The Big House; Part Two: Eastdale-The Way Out

2nd Series: Your Life in their Hands

This popular series returned on 22 May 1980 after an absence of 16 years. In the first programme you can see how a victim of cancer faces up to a major operation, and watch some of the more remarkable techniques of modern medicine as the surgeons attempt to save her life.

Series

Your Life in their Hands 1980-1986

Broadcast details

BBC2, 1980 (30/55 minutes)

Production company

BBC Television

Medium

TV

Genre

Documentary series

Editor

Fiona Holmes, Mansfield, John

Presenter

Robert Winston Narrator

Cast

Consultant Physician Dr Charles Fletcher

Notes

Vahimaji British Television BFI 1996 p.76 notes 'Intended as an up-date on the techniques of modern medicine, and as a kind of PR job for the medical profession'. An additional five editions were shown in 1991.

Generations Talking (doctors)

Five conversations which try to bridge the generation gap. In this edition, Drs Henry and Zeeta Eastes talk about their experiences as doctors over the last 40 years with newly-qualified GP Ruth Chambers.

Series

Generations Talking

Broadcast details

BBC1, 1980 (25 minutes x 5 programmes)

Production company

BBC

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs series

Presenter

Mavis Nicholson

Credits

Ian Woolf

Medical Express

Seven weekly news programmes in which Hilary Henson and Chris Serle report on events in the medical world and investigate the latest developments in medicine and health.

Broadcast details

BBC, 1980 (30 minutes x 7 programmes)

Production company

BBC1

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs series

Presenter

Hilary Henson;Chris Serle

Credits

Vivienne King

Notes

30mins X 7 programmes

Accident of Birth

A series of six short films for parents and those professionally concerned with mental handicap, developed with additional material from the documentary first shown in September 1978, about which the Daily Express said: ‘An example of good television which had nothing to do with entertainment, but everything to do with informing us and giving us a little understanding about the mentally handicapped'

Broadcast details

BBC1, 1980 (15 minutes)

Production company

BBC TV

Medium

TV

Genre

Documentary series

Director

Gordon Croton

Notes

15 mins x 6

Public School

A series of documentary films set in one of Britain's top boarding schools for boys.

Broadcast details

BBC2, 1980 (30 minutes)

Production company

BBC

Medium

TV

Genre

Documentary series

Producer

Brian Penders

Director

Richard Denton

Doctor's Code

Should parents of a girl of 15 be told that she asked to be put on the pill? Should a criminal who seeks help from a doctor be reported to the police? Should a severely handicapped baby be allowed to die? Should employers be shown the medical records of employees? Every day doctors, nurses and administrators have to make difficult ethical decisions and have often jealously maintained that they are the only people qualified to make these judgments. But now the British Medical Association has published an ‘ethical-handbook’ available to patients, and has invited Man Alive to debate these dilemmas with those who face them, and those who are affected by them. Nick Ross questions members of the profession and Harold Williamson talks to patients and their families

Series

Man Alive 1965-82

Broadcast details

BBC2, 13 March 1980 (50 minutes)

Production company

BBC

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs series

Presenter

Nick Ross

Edition of The London Programme

Report on Crisis in London Health Services and the ways in which the Unions have been acting to try to prevent government cuts

Series

The London Programme

Broadcast date

21 March 1980

Production company

LWT for ITV

Genre

regional current affairs series

Credits

Prof Andy Meyer

The Prime Minister Rt Hon. Margaret Thatcher

Lesley Judd invites a celebrity guest to answer questions from an audience of 50 children.

Series

In the Limelight

Broadcast details

BBC1, Friday 6 June 1980 (25 minutes)

Production company

BBC TV

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs series

Director

Sarah Hellings

Presenter

Lesley Judd

Cast

Margaret Thatcher Prime Minister

A Question of Cost

This programme is about Britain’s National Health Service. Behind the scenes doctors are worried that the quality of care they can give their patients is threatened by lack of money. In this programme the surgeons we meet in the series express their worries to the Minster of Health.

Series

Your Life in their Hands

Broadcast details

BBC2, 21 June 1980 (30/55 minutes)

Medium

TV

Genre

Documentary series

Good for Business…

Five programmes: Early in 1979, Jenny Lewis and her team in the dress department at Marks and Spencer began work on the summer dresses now in the stores. The sales target was 38-million pounds: four million dresses. But as the team moved into final decisions on colour, price and style, the economy turned down. Faced with increasingly pessimistic retail forecasts, the ability of the dress team to respond and respond quickly was tested.

Broadcast details

BBC1, Sunday 11.25pm (25 minutes)

Production company

BBC

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs series

Director

Robert Clamp

Notes

25mins X 5 programmes

Free to Choose-A Personal Statement by Milton Friedman

In this series of six programmes Professor Milton Friedman seeks to show how the free exchange of goods and services, with no state or bureaucratic intervention, can be of benefit to all people. If everyone, says Professor Friedman, is left to work for their own self-interest it is inevitable that society as a whole will benefit.

Broadcast details

BBC2, Saturday 8.25pm, (30 minutes x 6 programmes)

Production company

Video Arts Television for BBC

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs series

Director

Graham Massey

Editor

Michael Latham

Presenter

Milton Friedman

Notes

30mins X 6 programmes

Can We Find the New Jobs?

In Britain today there are two millions unemployed. By 1985, a specially-commissioned Newsweek computer analysis predicts more than three million out of work with inflation still in double figures. Donald MacCormick investigates whether we can find the new jobs we need or whether we must learn to live with unemployment, permanently measured in millions

Series

Newsweek

Broadcast details

BBC2, Friday 10 October 1980 (35 minutes)

Production company

BBC TV

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs series

Presenter

Donald McCormick

Credits

Barry Langridge

Edition of John Smith Show

The edition looks at schools, the NHS and state benefits

Series

John Smith Show

Broadcast details

ITV, 18 November 1980

Production company

Thames for ITV

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs television

Notes

from BFI Viewing list

Who Cares

On health service provision in London: a poor service is given to the old: the inadequate working circumstances of many GPs. A radical DHSS study group proposal to improve London Health care

Series

The London Programme

Broadcast date

22 May 1981

Production company

LWT for ITV.

Medium

TV

Genre

regional current affairs television

Notes

from BFI Viewing list

Media coverage of health workers' strikes

Analysis of media coverage of health workers’ strikes, including CPBF: NUPE: Confederation of Health Service Employees

Series

Making the News

Broadcast date

1982

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs

Notes

from BFI Viewing list:   in National Film Archive. No TX date given

Sick in Sheffield, Broke in Beverley Hills

20 family doctors from Beverley Hills vist Sheffield to find out how NHS works. In California doctors and patients discuss the US systm of medical insurance, which means that often the poorer members of the commuity cannot afford health care.

Broadcast details

ITV, 8 February 1982

Production company

YTV for ITV

Medium

TV

Genre

television documentary

Director

John Willis

Notes

from BFI Viewing list

Fred

Series about the events in the life of Bolton steeplejack Fred Dibnah

Broadcast details

BBC2, 9 September 1982 (30 minutes)

Production company

Don Haworth Productions

Medium

TV

Genre

Documentary series

Director

Don Haworth

Presenter

Fred Dibnah

Notes

7 episodes x 30 mins. Ran from 9 September to 21 October 1982

Labour Party Political Broadcast

Actor Colin Welland introduces: Prof Schroeder sees NHS as superior to US system: Gwynneth Dunwoody says Labour would improve the NHS

Broadcast date

27 October 1982

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs

Presenter

Colin Welland

Cast

Schroeder, Prof; Dunwoody MP, Gwynneth;

Notes

from BFI Viewing list

Open Space on NHS

Three programmes on the NHS:'The consultant's tale''The doctor's tale''The nurse's tale'

Series

Open Space

Broadcast details

BBC, 1983

Production company

Community Programme Unit

Director

Peter Lee-Wright

Notes

Peter Lee-Wright's discussion of the work of the BBC's Community Programme Unit on the 'No such thing as society' research websitehttp://www.nosuch-research.co.uk/index.html

Follow the Nation's Health

Four part series which takes up the points made by G.F. Newman's plays the NATIONS HEALTH and examines them in the context of what is happening in health care today.

Broadcast details

Channel 4, 7 October 1983, 22.30 (65 minutes)

Production company

Meditel Productions

Medium

TV

Genre

Documentary series

Producer

Richard Mayhew-Smith

Presenter

Joan Shenton

The Friday Alternative on the NHS

Programme 40 on NHS

Series

The Friday Alternative 1982-3

Broadcast details

Channel Four, 23 September 1983

Production company

Diverse Productions for C4

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs

Producer

David Graham

Notes

The Friday Alternative followed the evening news programme and set out to give a critical perspective.see  Maggie Brown A Licence to be Different: the story of Channel Four BF1 2007 pp86-88


from the BFI viewing list 

Edition of Ten Thirty

Border TV regional curent affairs series, normally comprising a filmed report followed by a studio discussion. This edition on health includes a studio discussion on NHS problems and contracting out

Series

Ten Thirty

Broadcast details

ITV, 2 or 7 November 1984

Production company

Border TV for ITV

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs series

Notes

from BFI Viewing list

Edition of Northern Life

Tyne Tees current affairs series

Edition includes items on: Miners strike solidarity in Northumberland; NHS patients who are given private treatment to cut NHS waiting lists; Laying of the Nissan car factory foundation stone in Sunderland £122,000; Pools winners

Series

Northern Life

Broadcast details

ITV, 7 November 1984

Production company

Tyne Tees for ITV

Medium

TV

Genre

regional current affairs series

Notes

from BFI Viewing list

Breadline Britain

Series about poverty

Broadcast details

ITV, 1985

Production company

LWT

Notes

published as Poor Britain 1985

Politics of Pressure

Five programmes about the art of political lobbying.

Broadcast details

BBC1, 1985 (25 minutes x 5 programmes)

Production company

BBC

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs series

Director

Chris Lent

Editor

Tony Roberts

Presenter

Moira Stuart

Credits

Devised by Malcolm Davies

The Coming of Age

A series of five films about getting older. These are some of the characters who share their experiences in this documentary

Broadcast details

BBC1, 1985 (50 minutes)

Production company

BBC Television

Medium

TV

Genre

Documentary series

Director

Lucy Parker

Notes

Sunday, 50 mins x 5 films

Which Side Are You On?

Controversial documentary about the 1984 miners' strike. Which Side Are You On? was commissioned for transmission as part of the South Bank Show (ITV, 1978-), but was not shown because of its "highly partial view on a controversial subject". London Weekend Television, the commissioning company, felt that it was more of a political film than an arts film.

Series

South Bank Show  1978-

Broadcast details

Channel Four, 9 January 1985 (60 minutes)

Production company

LWT for ITV

Medium

TV

Genre

Documentary

Director

Ken Loach

Notes

Broadcast Info: Originally commissioned for The South Bank Show 11/1984. Eventually transmitted Channel 4, 9/1/1985 60 min

Unemployment: The Forgotten Valley

In the little parish church the bride and bridegroom take their vows. But what does marriage hold when the newly-weds are both out of work? In the Dearne Valley of the South Yorkshire coalfields. unemployment is nothing new. For 25 years, the dole queues have been growing as local pits have contracted or closed altogether. But no part of this valley has suffered more than the Dearne Towns, where unemployment is approaching 30per cent-more than twice the national average. Now the pits face further upheaval, and with no new industries coming in Richard Wells reports on the desperate plight of a community contemplating economic extinction.

Broadcast details

BBC2, 11 January 1985, 20.05pm (25 minutes)

Production company

BBC North

Medium

TV

Genre

Documentary

Director

Allan Russell

Care in the community

Shani, Eddie and Cherie are among the thousands released into the community as the old Victorian mental hospitals have gradually run down. Like many mental patients they have no homes. They go where accommodation can be found-to the seaside boarding houses abandoned by the British holidaymaker for Benidorm. From the closed world of the mental asylum Shani, Eddie and Cherie are on their own, trying to cope with problems of accommodation, employment and loneliness in a town that tolerates, but hardly welcomes.

Series

Forty Minutes

Broadcast details

BBC2, Thursday 21 February 1985 (40 minutes)

Production company

BBC TV

Medium

TV

Genre

Documentary

Credits

Clay Citrine;  Ruth Jackson;  Harry Weisbloom

Notes

In the BBC2 documentary strand 'Forty Minutes'

The Hospital for Sick Children

The motto of GOSH-London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital is ‘Children First and Always’. Nearly all the children referred here are seriously ill. There is an underlying feeling of tension, but overall it’s a happy place. A place for hope. Sunjeev is recovering from an operation. He thinks it’s his 19th. Claire, who is 11, has just had a blockage removed. Upstairs there’s a party for Andrew who is one today; downstairs there’s a party for Princess Michael of Kent who is opening a new ward this afternoon. As night draws in, the children are tucked up. Mothers sit with them until they fall asleep. Doctors start to go home. But you can’t just disappear and forget’, says consultant surgeon Edward Kiely.

Series

Just Another Day

Broadcast details

BBC2, 22 February 1985, 21.00pm (30 minutes)

Production company

BBC Television

Medium

TV

Genre

Documentary

Producer

Anne Webber

Notes

One of eight films that go behind the scenes of places which are part of the British way of life

Budget 85

David Dimbleby introduces Nigel Lawson’s second Budget, with comment from Westminster and from David Basnett, General Secretary GMBATU, Sir Patrick Meaney, Chairman Rant Organization, economist Peter Oppenheimer, and chartered accountant Philip Hardman, Peter Snow with the help of the BBC computer and the Institute of Fiscal studies, analyses the effects of the measures on industry, taxpayers and consumers.

Series

Budget 85

Broadcast details

BBC1, 19 March 1985, Tuesday 3pm (155 minutes)

Production company

BBC

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs

Director

Victor Melleney

Editor

Neil Eccles;Michael Hogan;Victor Van Amerongen

Presenter

David Dimbleby

The Price of Life

The doctor as mechanic is now quite capable of keeping the body as machine ticking over for an unnaturally long span. Norman St John-Stevas asks ‘Is the price of life ever too high?’- a pressing question for families like the Duffys or Redditch, whose baby son Jonathan has an incurable liver condition. Mrs Rita Duffy has decided against a transplant: ‘Is all that pain and hospitalization worth it if it will only give Jonathan a year or so?’’

Series

Choices

Broadcast details

BBC1, 23 June 1985, Sunday 22.25pm (35 minutes)

Production company

BBC Television

Medium

TV

Genre

Documentary

Producer

Frances Gumley

Director

Frances Gumley

Presenter

Norman St John-Stevas

Cast

Mrs Rita Duffy

Jan Francis appeals on behalf of Cancer Relief

Cancer Relief helps patients to be cared for at home though the work of Macmillan nurses, trained to give specialized care and support to patients and their families. Cancer Relief urgently needs funds to train more nurses.

Broadcast details

BBC, Sunday 17 February 1985, 6.25pm (25 minutes)

Production company

BBC1

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs

Presenter

Jan Francis

Asian Magazine

In the second of the series of film reports on East London’s Bangladeshi community, Anita Bhalla looks into the state of medical facilities available in the area

Broadcast details

BBC1, 10.00am (30 minutes)

Production company

BBC Television

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs series

Presenter

Anita Bhalla

Asian Magazine

In the second of the series of film reports on East London’s Bangladeshi community, Anita Bhalla looks into the state of medical facilities available in the area

Broadcast details

BBC1, 10.00am (30 minutes)

Production company

BBC Television

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs series

Presenter

Anita Bhalla

Recovery

British companies that made it-their story of recovery from recession.

Series

Recovery

Broadcast details

BBC1, Thursday 19.20pm (25 minutes)

Production company

BBC Television

Medium

TV

Genre

Documentary

Producer

Fiona Pitcher

Director

Brian Davies

Presenter

Brian Redhead

Doctors' Dilemmas

In a series of five stories based on true cases, lawyer Ian Kennedy explores the ethical dilemmas that confront doctors.

Broadcast details

BBC2, Tuesday 21.35pm (45 minutes)

Production company

BBC Television

Medium

TV

Genre

Documentary series

Director

Oliver Morse;Deborah Cadbury

Presenter

Ian Kennedy

Advocacy

Tenants, ratepayers and offers unaccustomed to having a public voice join the politicians to have their say. Advocate Michael Mansfield argues on behalf of a growing number of people-pensioners, businessmen, unemployed, ethnic minorities and others-who feel excluded from the process of local government.

Series

Open Space

Broadcast details

BBC2, 20 March 1985, 7.25pm (45 minutes)

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs series

Director

Peter Lee-Wright

Editor

Giles Oakley

Cast

Michael Mansfield

Notes

Open Space was sampled from 1985 and 1989

Who Cares?

Four programmes which examine the National Health Service and the effectiveness of the British state system of primary health care.
17 May 'Health for all'                                               
31 May 'The time bomb of old age'. Comparisons are made with US policy in the 1960s and 1970s which is now being revised, and with care in Cuba and Czechoslovakia.    
                                                    
7 June 'Health care, right of privilege?' Comparing the cases of two women who suffer from comparable chronic lung diseases. One is treated on the National Health in the UK, the other has no treatment in New York as she cannot afford to pay.


24 June   Keeping the beat  About the causes of heart disease

Series

Who cares?  1985

Broadcast date

17 May-24 June  1985

Production company

Meditel Productions for C4

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs

Producer

Joan Shenton

Director

Richard Mayhew-Smith

Presenter

Joan Shenton

Cast

Jad Adams

Notes

from BFI Viewing list

The Visit

Five dramatic journeys in people's lives with Desmond Wilcox

Broadcast details

BBC1, Wednesday, 21.30pm (40 minutes)

Production company

BBC Television

Medium

TV

Genre

Documentary series

Producer

Alex McCall

Director

Desmond Wilcox

Presenter

Desmond Wilcox

Notes

Broadcast Info: Wednesday 9.30pm, 40mins X 5

Hospital Watch 1986; 1991; 1995

Live report on the everyday events in the lives of Hospitals.

Broadcast details

BBC1, 17 February 1986

Production company

BBC Television

Medium

TV

Genre

Documentary series

Producer

David Peterson

Director

Fiona Holmes

Presenter

Robbie Vincent;Sarah Greene;Sue Lawley

Notes

Hospital Watch Revisited 02/9/1986 was a follow up to ‘Hospital Watch’.  Two later programmes,  02/09/1991 and 05/06/1995, reported on the progress of the patients seen in the series.

'Daytime' on private medicine

On private medicine and the NHS

Series

Daytime

Broadcast details

ITV, 15 April 1986

Production company

Thames for ITV

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs

Notes

from BFI Viewing list

The health service as told by Belfast women

The social, economic and political factors behiond Northern Ireland’s public health crisis, especially as it affects working class women in North and West Belfast. Poor housing, unemployment and high levels of health problems.

Series

People to People

Broadcast details

Channel Four, 15 June 1986

Production company

Northern Visions for C4

Medium

TV

Genre

Television documentary

Notes

from BFI Viewing list

Where there’s life

A look at NHS treatment and whether patients would recover more quickly treated as human beings rather than illnesses.

Broadcast details

ITV, 20 August 1986

Production company

YTV

Medium

TV

Genre

television documentary

Notes

from BFI Viewing list

Mind’s Eye

A season of material on mental health. The programmes shown were:

The HISTORY OF PSYCHIATRY (TX 1.10.86., 21:00 hrs)

The MADNESS MUSEUM (TX 2.10.86., 21:30 hrs)

OUT OF OUR MINDS (TX 3.10.86., 22.30 hrs)

LIVING WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA: (Pt1: TX 10.10.86., 22.30 hrs. Pt2: TX 17.10.86., 22.30 hrs. Pt3: TX 24.10.86., 22.30 hrs)

Broadcast details

Channel Four, 1 October 1986

Production company

C4

Genre

Television documentary series

Notes

from BFI Viewing list

Jimmy's 1987 - 1997

The observations of real-life medical drama among the wards at St James’ Hospital in Leeds, W. Yorkshire. The series began to fill the new daytime schedules but proved so popular it was moved to a mid-evening slot.   "With the reputation of being Europe’s largest general hospital, ‘Jimmy’s’ attracted the mid-evening viewers into sharing all the joy and headache, the skill and care, and generally the emotional highs and lows of a major medical station".

Broadcast details

ITV, 1987 (30 minutes)

Production company

Yorkshire TV

Medium

TV

Genre

Documentary series

Producer

Nick Gray

Director

Nick Gray

Notes

See an account of Jimmy's by deviser and producer Nick Gray on the 'No such thing a society' research website:
http://www.nosuch-research.co.uk/index.html

A Year with Fred

New series on events in the life of Fred Dibnah, steeplejack

Broadcast details

BBC2, 9 February 1987 (30 minutes)

Production company

BBC Manchester

Medium

TV

Genre

Documentary series

Director

Don Haworth

Presenter

Fred Dibnah

Credits

Don Haworth

Notes

5 episodes x 30 minutes. Ran from 9 February to 9 March 1987

Labour Party Election Broadcast

The broadcast focusses on health service cuts.  Kate and Peter Lines describe the problems surrounding the birth of their child - no incubator, doctor tried to locate an incubator none available (0.54).Caption "The Tories have cut 256 cots in special care Units" Further comments from the Lines. Caption "There are over 800,000 people waiting for hospital treatment".

Broadcast date

28 May 1987 (5 mins)

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs

Cast

Neil Kinnock leader of the Labour Party

Notes

from BFI Viewing list

Rethinking the NHS: the end of a free service?

Series

Weekend World

Broadcast date

20 December 1987  12noon-1pm (60 mins)

Production company

LWT for ITV

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs

Producer

Jeremy Bugler

Presenter

Matthew Parris

Notes

from BFI Viewing list

Kentucky Fried Medicine

Series looking at private medicine in the US and Britain.
Transmitted in 'The Eleventh Hour' slot at 11pm

Pt 1 23 May 1988
Discussion of the issues (originally planned as part 3)

Pt 2 26 May 1988
The second part (originally planned as Part 1) looks at medicine for profit, through the eyes of patients, doctors and other health workers. It raises questions about the future for British people if private health care expands.

Pt 3 30 May 1988
The third part (originally planned as Part 2) looks at the private sector claims of cost efficiency and at the growing involvement in the NHS.

Broadcast details

Channel Four, 23 May 1988

Production company

Vanson-Wardle for C4

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs

Producer

Yvette Vanson

Director

Tony Wardle

Notes

from BFI Viewing list

Waiting for the Consultant

Report on the suitability of doctors’ work practices to the needs of the modern NHS

Series

Dispatches

Broadcast date

15 January 1988, 8.15-9pm (45 minutes)

Production company

Channel 4

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs

Notes

from BFI Viewing list

Children’s heart operations

Live discussions about current affairs. This programme looks at life-threatening delays to children’s hear operations due to lack of facilities and beds, and the waiting list at Birmingham’s children’s Hospital. From London

Series

The time..the place  1987-1998

Broadcast details

ITV, 18 January 1988 10.30 - 11.10 (40 minutes)

Production company

Anglia for ITV

Medium

TV

Genre

Live discussion series

Producer

Mary McAnally

Director

Eleanor Stephens

Presenter

Michael Scott

Notes

from BFI Viewing list

A Picture of Health

Series on medical care in Britain before and after the NHS:
Can you afford the doctor? 15 Sept 1988
The Envy of the World 22 Sept 1988
The Elephant trundles on 29 Sept 1988

Series

A Picture of Health  1988

Broadcast date

15 September 1988

Production company

BBC2

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs

Producer

Fiona Holmes

Director

Michael Barnes

Editor

Simon Campbell-Jones

Credits

Fiona Holmes

Notes

from BFI Viewing list

Take Nobody’s Word for It (Thatcher and science)

‘Do-it-yourself’ science presented by Carol Mather and Professor Ian Fells. In this first programme, the Prime Minister explains why she gave up science for politics.

Series

Take Nobody’s Word for It

Broadcast details

BBC, 1989 (25 minutes)

Production company

BBC TV

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs series

Editor

Patrick Titley

Presenter

Carol Mather;Prof Ian Fells

Cast

Margaret Thatcher Prime Minister

Bazaar

Make a mystery meal with Joanna Ashbourn; join Sally Ann Voak who helps three viewers to give up smoking; make that door secure with Steve Crouch, and Alison Mitchell helps control your debts.

Broadcast details

BBC1, 1989 (25 minutes)

Production company

BBC TV

Medium

TV

Genre

consumer series

Director

Stacey Adams

Presenter

Judi Spiers;Rob Curling

Notes

Bazaar was sampled in 1989

The Greening of Mrs Thatcher

Mrs Thatcher showed her talent for seizing the political initiative when she declared last year that Conservatives were the real friends of the earth. Some attacked her apparent conversion as political opportunism. Why, they wondered, did it take her ten years in office to discover that green is beautiful. In The Greening of Mrs Thatcher, Michael Buerk questions her about the dumping in the North Sea, acid rain, and tests the conviction behind her campaigning. She also talks for the first time about her own attitude to the environment, and what her new initiatives could mean for Britain and the rest of the world.

Series

Nature

Broadcast details

BBC2, 1989 (30 minutes)

Production company

BBC Bristol

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs series

Director

Amanda Thuenissen

Presenter

Michael Buerk

Cast

Margaret Thatcher Prime Minister

Thatcher's Children

On the eve of Mrs Thatcher’s tenth anniversary as Prime Minister, Thacher’s Children examines the behaviour and attitudes of young people today to find out how deeply her ideas have taken root. For it is the extent to which her values have been adopted by the generation that has known no other Prime Minister that will determine whether Thatcherism will survive Mrs Thatcher. This programme presents a portrait of young people of Nottingham and features the results of a wide-ranging opinion poll revealing the attitudes and opinions of the young across the country.

Broadcast details

BBC1, 1989 (90 minutes)

Production company

Juniper Production for BBC TV

Medium

TV

Genre

Documentary

Producer

Bob Bee

Director

Jeremy Bugler

David Dimbleby’s TV Guide to the Galaxy

From his comfortably low-tech living room, David Dimbleby leads you through the maze of technology, politics and prejudice that surrounds the subject of television. Press ‘record’ this afternoon for a permanent addition to your home video library.

Broadcast details

BBC2, 1989 (40 minutes)

Production company

BBC TV

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs

Director

Charles Miller

Presenter

David Dimbleby

Power Behind the Throne

A film portrait of Willie Whitelaw. ‘I’ve always believed it’s a great advantage in politics to appear slightly less intelligent than you may be’, says Willie Whitelaw. This film portrait by Michael Cockerell reveals how Whitelaw’ Old Oyster Eyes’, became the closest confidant of successive Tory Prime Ministers. As an only child who never saw his father, Whitelaw was brought up by his mother and he believes this experience helped him to get on with Mrs Thatcher. A Cambridge golf blue and a wartime MC, he has had a highly eventful political career: he met the IRA, served in the Falklands’ War Cabinet and was the responsible minister when an intruder broke into the Queen’s bedroom. Whitelaw talks frankly about his life, his beliefs and Margaret Thatcher.

Broadcast details

BBC2, 1989 (60 minutes)

Production company

BBC Elstree

Medium

TV

Genre

Documentary

Producer

Paul Watson

Director

Michael Cockerell

Presenter

Michael Cockerell

Cast

William Whitelaw MP

See For Yourself

Is the BBC giving you value for money? Tonight’s special programme goes behind the scenes to show the BBC at work. An independent producer takes a cool look at the complex job of producing the Children in Need programme…a licence-payer turns reporter to find out where the money goes in the making of a new detective series…and there’s a profile of the boss of BBC radio as he travels the corridors of power. Then it’s your turn to ask the questions. Viewers in studios around the country fire questions live at the BBC’s Chairman, Duke Hussey, and the Director-General, Michael Checkland…no holds barred!

Broadcast details

BBC1, 8 January 1989 (115 minutes)

Production company

BBC Television

Medium

TV

Genre

Documentary

Producer

Jonathan Crane

Presenter

Sue Lawley

Credits

Pratap Rughani

Cast

Marmaduke Hussey Chair of BBC Governors;  Michael Checkland BBC Director General

Sisters Under the Skin

Four down-to-earth documentaries about women in Britain today-20 years after the liberation movement promised a revolution in their lives. With a blend of insight and hunour, Sisters Under the Skin explores the reality of feminism in the 80s.

Broadcast details

BBC2, 10 January 1989 (40 minutes)

Production company

BBC North West

Medium

TV

Genre

Documentary series

Producer

Sue Durkan

Director

John Drury

Presenter

Dorothy Allen

Notes

40min X 4

The Housing Crisis

A series for consumers of welfare and public services

The first of three programmes on housing, focussing on public housing: with the Housing Act now in force the Government promises a better deal for tenants.   But many fear rather than welcome change. What does the Act hold for private tenants? Advice Shop gives advice on how to keep rents down and tenancies secure, and reports from Brighton on the despair of those who can’t hope to buy and can’t afford to rent.

Series

Advice Shop

Broadcast details

BBC2, 17 January 1989 (30 minutes)

Production company

BBC TV

Medium

TV

Genre

social action series

Director

John Brooke

Presenter

Hugh Scully;Helen Madden

Perils of the Deep

It takes a tragedy on the scale of Piper Alpha to remind us of the human price to be paid for oil and gas. But some North Sea workers are taking daily risks that never hit the headlines. Divers in the alien underwater world are like astronauts, undergoing physical changes, simply to get to work. New research is revealing unsuspected damage to their nervous systems. Doctors believe commercial pressures may partly be to blame. Despite fears of losing their jobs, divers and their wives are now speaking out.

Series

Horizon  1964-

Broadcast details

BBC, 23 January 1989 (50 minutes)

Production company

BBC2

Medium

TV

Genre

Science series

Director

Vivienne King

Presenter

Paul Vaughan

Our Darren

Our Darren. Darren Lillywhite was 17, mischievous and high-spirited. He and his mates were a lively lot, always getting into scrapes around the village of Cranleigh where they grew up. Darren had owned his prized Vauxhall Astra for just a few weeks. One August evening in 1987 he drove it into a roundabout and was thrown from the car. Now he is paralysed from the neck down and can do nothing for himself. Darren has been at Stoke Mandeville Hospital for ten months, but his family is determined to get him back home. Terry and Marilyn Lillywhite have built a special extension to their house. If Darren makes it, his family, neighbours and friends will all be joining in the celebration. No one can help liking Darren. ‘I don’t feel bitter about it at all’, he says; ‘It’s like being born again, really…’

Series

Forty Minutes

Broadcast details

BBC2, 26 January 1989; Thursday (40 minutes)

Medium

TV

Genre

Documentary

Politics: Peter Mandelson

Politics is fast taking on some of the qualities of light entertainment and, as the parties begin to market policies like products, and personalities like soap stars, it’s clear the rules of the three-minute culture apply: keep it simple, keep it clever, keep it short. This week Michael Ignatieff talks to Peter Mandelson, Labour Party Campaigns and Communications Director who says: ‘Politics has to compete on TV with other programmes and we’ve got to use the same techniques to keep up in the race.’

Series

Three-Minute Culture

Broadcast details

BBC2, Sunday 29 January 1989 (30 minutes)

Production company

BBC Bristol

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs

Director

Mark Harrison

Presenter

Michael Ignatieff

Cast

Mandelson, Peter

Edition of 9-II-5 (job sharing)

A look at the growing trend of job sharing in Britain. How does it work when two people share the same job? Jackie Spreckley reports on a job-share between two women in the health service. Susan Williams and Sue Osborn share the job unit general manager for community care at Camberwell Health Authority. They are pioneers in the NHS-no other post at their level of seniority is similarly shared in the UK. From the 9-II-5 offices, a lively discussion on a topic that affects people at work.

Series

9-II-5

Broadcast details

BBC2, Thursday 2 February 1989 (30 minutes)

Production company

A Diverse Production for BBCtv

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs series

Producer

Philip Clarke

Presenter

Jackie Spreckley

Cast

Susan Williams;  Sue Osborne

The Way We Live Now

The Way we live now. Inside Broadmoor Jimmy Savile, self-styled’ boss of Broadmoor’, explains how he became chairman of a task force setting up a new therapeutic regime at the maximum security hospital in Berkshire. His appointment came after an official report called the hospital prison-like and its practices out-dated. In tonight’s film, the 520 patients, some notorious, other never convicted of an offence, are shown for the first time-during therapy, at work and at ‘socials’ where men and women can mix Jackie and Bob ask permission to marry, though they will never be allowed to be alone together. David is at last able to talk about his crime. Lily, at 83, is worried about the prospect of leaving.

Series

Forty Minutes

Broadcast details

BBC, 27 April 1989; Thursday (40 minutes)

Production company

BBC2

Medium

TV

Genre

Documentary

The Tories: What Next

On the tenth anniversary of Mrs Thatcher’s election as Prime Minister, On the Record looks not backwards but forwards and asks: where does Conservatism go from here? In a special report, Jonathan Dimbleby charts two alternative routes ahead which are already provoking sharp internal debate and which could lead to major divisions within the party. With the help of leading Conservative politicians and important new polling evidence, On the Record navigates the choppy waters that lie ahead for the Conservative Party

Series

On the Record

Broadcast details

BBC, Sunday 30th April 1989 (50 minutes)

Production company

BBC 1

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs interview series

Editor

Michael Stevenson;David Jordan

Presenter

Jonathan Dimbleby;John Cole

Laid Off

Laid Off: On the tenth anniversary of Mrs Thatcher’s Government, is it better to be laid off in the north or south of England? On 6 December 1988 Alan Foster and Billy Riley were made redundant. Both worked for one company since leaving school at 16. Both are married with one child. But Alan was a section manager in the City bank, Morgan Grenfell. With a new house and a 70,000 pounds mortgage, he was shocked. Billy, a fitter in the state-owned shipyard in Sunderland, was more optimistic. He owned his house and had money in the bank.

Two men, at opposite ends of the country and the economy. How will they fare in their first interview for 20 years?

Series

Forty Minutes

Broadcast details

BBC, 4 May 1989 (40 minutes)

Production company

BBC2

Medium

TV

Genre

Documentary

One in Four: on disability

A magazine programme about disability. Ten years of Thatcherism-what have they meant for disabled people? A discussion between Conservative MP and former Number 10 policy adviser, John Redwood, Peter Large of DIG and Richard Wood of BCODP.

Series

One in Four

Broadcast details

BBC2, Wednesday 10 May 1989 (30 minutes)

Production company

BBC TV

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs magazine

Director

Christopher Hutchins

Presenter

Isobel Ward;Simon Barnes;Chris Davies

Programme 1: Out of Sight-Out of Mind

A series with information and support for carers.
‘It is a lonely life-you do feel very isolated’, says Gillian Rowell, who looks after her 32-year-old disabled daughter at home. Meanwhile, just up the road, her father Jack Stanley is caring for his wife who has Alzheimer’s disease. Gillian and Jack are among the six million people in Britain who look after relatives or friends needing long-term care. Like most carers, they want to care, but they need help in order to go on coping. So you cares for the carers?

Series

Who Cares?

Broadcast details

BBC2, Thursday 11 May 1989 (30 minutes x 6 programmes)

Production company

BBC TV

Medium

TV

Genre

Social action series

Director

Tony Matthews

Presenter

Jonathan Miller

Notes

30mins X 6 programmes

Labour-The Quest for Power

In his first major interview since the launch of the much-awaited policy review, Opposition Leader Neil Kinnock looks ahead to the next election and beyond. The big question for him is what a Labour victory would mean to the people of Britain. Can the party really deliver a healthier economy, more for the NHS and a huge increase in our civil liberties?]

Series

On the Record

Broadcast details

BBC, Sunday 21 May 1989 (50 minutes)

Production company

BBC TV

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs series

Editor

Michael Stevenson;David Jordan

Presenter

Jonathan Dimbleby;John Cole

Cast

Neil Kinnock leader of the Labour Party

Gambling on a Dream

If you want to make it big, at some point you have to risk big. And someone has to back your risk with one of their own. Alan Patricof Associates are venture capitalists, one of the new breed of firms that has sprung up in the City in the last decade. They invest large sums for good ideas-at a price. Andrew Palmer decides that to finance his dream and make his small soup-making company into a market leader he will have to take the risk. Will he get through the difficult negotiations involved, and what will he be giving up in return for the financial backing?

Series

Enterprise Culture

Broadcast details

BBC2, Tuesday 13 June 1989 (40 minutes)

Production company

BBC Bristol

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs

Director

Michael Davies

Editor

Peter Symes

Presenter

Andrew Palmer

Leukaemia-Why Us?

An investigation by Debbie Thrower. Elly and Lee both suffered from leukaemia; Elly died, Lee survived. Their parents want to know ‘why them?’ Could it be the nearby Sellafield nuclear plant? With Debbie the parents visit leading scientists.

In Lancaster they discover that although there is danger in radiation, it may not be what they thought. In London, the scientists reveal that the leukaemia may be the price we pay for protecting our children from other diseases. So is the nuclear industry off the hook?

Series

The Thrower Report

Broadcast details

BBC1, 14 June 1989 (30 minutes)

Production company

BBC

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs investigatory series

Director

Peter Ceresole

Presenter

Debbie Thrower

After Dark on NHS

After Dark was an open ended discussion programme, beginning at midnight.  This edition focusses on medical provision, following the government's White Paper on health. It covers:
a. new contract of employment for GPs, linking their salaries to the number of patients in ther practice
b. The White Paper’s suggestion that hospitals can opt out of the health service.
c. the question of a market for health

Series

After Dark

Broadcast details

Channel Four, 1-2 July 1989 00.00-04.00am (240 minutes)

Production company

Open Media

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs

Producer

Simon Holder

Editor

Sebastian Cody

Notes

from BFI Viewing list

9-II-5

As Britain goes into the 1990s, the world of work is changing faster than ever before. The work force is changing too. Changing attitudes, life styles and new technology are revolutionising many aspects of our working lives. 9-II-5 discovers how change is affecting people at work. From office design to the changing population, the programme reports on the trends that determine our working lives.

Broadcast details

BBC2, 26 January 1989; Thursdays (30 minutes)

Production company

A Diverse Production for BBCtv

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs series

Producer

Philip Clarke

Episode of Open Space (Housing Action trusts)

With the setting up of Housing Action Trusts, tenants on council estates in Sunderland are in the frontline of the Government’s plans for deregulation and privatization of public sector housing. STAND is the tenants’group opposed to the Sunderland HAT. They fear higher market rents and taken accountability could threaten the roofs over their heads. This film examines the controversial housing policy and charts the tenants’ stand against its development.

Series

Open Space

Broadcast details

BBC2, 31 January 1989 7.25pm (45 minutes)

Production company

BBC

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs series

Director

Alan Carter

Editor

Giles Oakley

Notes

Open Space was sampled in 1985 and 1989

How will NHS reforms affect patients?

Live discussions about current affairs.  In this edition patients, doctors and others give their views on the forthcoming NHS reforms. With contributions from: Dr John Haworth (G.P.), Anna Bradley (Consumers' Association), Kevin Bellis (Community Health Committee), Robin MacLeod (Family Practitioners' Committee) and Shirley Butler, a retired district nurse.

Series

The time..the place 1987-1998

Broadcast details

ITV, 25 October 1989 10-10.40 (30 minutes)

Production company

Anglia Television for ITV

Medium

TV

Genre

Topical discussion series

Producer

Harry King

Director

Paul Baird

Presenter

Mike Scott

Notes

from BFI Viewing list

Not what the Doctor Ordered

David Willetts MP, co-author of the plan in the White paper, talks to doctors in Sheffield. They respond with criticisms, the argument remains unresolved.

Series

Dispatches  1987-

Broadcast details

Channel Four, 17 May 1989 20.30-21.15pm (45 minutes)

Production company

Multiple Image

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs series

Producer

John Hay

Director

Tim Langford

Presenter

Anne Holledge

Cast

David Willets MP

Notes

from BFI Viewing list

Future of the NHS

A look at the white paper ‘Working for Patients” with the views of patients, doctors, specialists etc. Interview with Minister for Health David Mellor

Series

Thames Reports

Broadcast date

17 April 1989 6.30-7pm (30 minutes)

Production company

Thames for ITV

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs series

Director

Jack Saltman

Cast

Mellon, David

Notes

from BFI Viewing list

Stitching up the NHS

Documentary concerning the crisis facing the National Health Service (NHS) in the wake of the Government's White Paper, through the perceived threat of the implementation of a two-tier system. Partly filmed in the USA, where such a system is already in place, the Government's proposals are dissected by those who will have to implement them.

Broadcast details

Channel 4, 28 August 1989 (60 minutes)

Production company

Vanson Wardle

Medium

TV

Genre

Documentary

Producer

Yvette Vanson

Director

Yvette Vanson

Notes

Notes: This film, together with Yvette Vanson’s archive, is held at the BFI National Film and Television Archive.

Professor Alan Enthoven

Interview with US Professor whose views on NHS reform are being put into effect by the government

Broadcast date

1990

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs

Notes

from BFI Viewing list

East: Perinatal Deaths

Report on the high incidence of perinatal deaths among the Asian community compared to the rest of the population of Britain. Examines possible reasons or causes for this, including larger numbers of pregnancies close together, poor living conditions and nutrition, and racism and lack of facilities in the National Health Service.

Series

East

Broadcast details

BBC, 25 June 1990 19.40-20.10 (30 minutes)

Production company

BBC Pebble Mill for BBC2

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs and the Asian Community

Editor

Charles Bruce

Presenter

Shyama Perera;Krishnan Guru-Murthy

Notes

from BFI Viewing list

Fighting Talk: Rebecca Malby

Interview with Rebecca Malby, a Nursing Development Officer, with radical ideas, discusses her concepts of nursing, nurse-patient relations, and some of the current issues affecting the Health Service.

Series

Fighting Talk

Broadcast details

BBC, 25 October 1990 16.30-17.00

Production company

BBC Pebble Mill Birmingham for BBC2

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs

Editor

Jenny Cowan

Presenter

Anne Kelleher

Cast

Rebecca Malby

Notes

from BFI Viewing list

The battle for Guy’s

Investigation into the continuing battle at Guy's Hospital over plans to opt out of the National Health Service.

Series

The London programme

Broadcast details

ITV, 2 March 1990 22.35-23.05 (30 minutes)

Production company

LWT for ITV

Medium

TV

Genre

current affairs

Producer

Michael Brennan

Editor

Robin Paxton

Cast

Prof Harry Keen (Director of Medicine), Prof Lord McColl (Director of Surgery), Andrew Stopher (Leader, Hands Off Guy's Campaign), Dr Raymond Pietroni (GP Representative, Guy's Management Board), Dr Christian Ogg (Consultant Renal Physician), Dr Hugh Saxton (Chairman, Guy's Management Board), Prof Elaine Murphy (Lewisham and North Southwark District Health Authority), Peter Burroughs (Guy's Hospital General Manager), Dr Roger Lewis (Consultant, Elderly Care), Dr Chris Ham (Fellow in Health Policy, King's Fund).

Notes

from BFI Viewing list

Your Health’s Your Wealth

The National Health Service crisis in Britain as seen from the perspective of people who live on housing estates in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Series

Eleventh Hour

Broadcast details

Channel Four, 13 September 1990 23.00-midnight (60 mins)

Production company

Edinburgh Film Workshop Trust

Medium

TV

Genre

television documentary

Director

Cassandra McGrogan

Notes

from BFI Viewing list

Business Matters: Under the Knife

David Lomax accompanies a team from the Royal Free Hospital, Hampstead, one of the new NHS Trusts, on a fact-finding visit to the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. The value of the trip and in particular the ideas gathered on administration are assessed.

Series

Business matters

Broadcast date

13 June 1991 19.30-20.00 (30 minutes)

Medium

TV

Genre

Business series

Director

Brian Davies

Presenter

David Lomax

Notes

from BFI Viewing list

Tracking Down Maggie

Hilarious account of Nick Broomfield's attempts to interview the former PM. Britain's premier documentarist Nick Broomfield excels at revealing the private self behind the public image of the rich and infamous. But he meets his match in Tracking Down Maggie (1994), a farcical account of the filmmaker's attempts to discover "the real Margaret Thatcher" as she embarks on an international book tour to promote her autobiography. Far from piercing the Iron Lady's armour, Broomfield is foiled at every turn by Head of Security "Sniffer of the Yard" and slippery Press Secretary Julian Seymour.

Series

True Stories

Broadcast details

Channel 4, 19 May 1994 (83 minutes)

Production company

Lafayette Films for Channel 4

Medium

TV

Genre

Documentary

Director

Nick Broomfield

Notes

Broadcast Info: Shown as part of True Stories, tx. 19/5/1994 83 minutes