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This Week/TVEye
Current affairs and politics TV series.
This Week was produced for ITV by Associated-Rediffusion (for part of the time just called Rediffusion) from 1956-1968, then by Thames Television from 1968-1978. Between 1978 and 1986 Thames's main current affairs series was TVEye. This Week returned in 1986 and remained until the ITV licence to broadcast to the London region on weekdays was taken over by Carlton in January 1993.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 6 January 1956 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television (1968-1992)
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs series
- Editor
- Various
- Notes
- See the This Week database for more detailed information (information as in the This Week list) at http://www.bufvc.ac.uk/databases/thisweek.html. Also see P. Holland The Angry Buzz I.B. Tauris 2006.
Listed for the 'No Such' project are programmes which dealt with the NHS, Health and relevant social and political issues between 1979-1990
Leader of the Opposition
Margaret Thatcher interviewed one year after her election as leader of the Tory party.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 5 February 1976 (27mins)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Editor
- David Elstein
- Presenter
- Llew Gardner
- Credits
- Terry Yarwood Studio director
- Cast
- Margaret Thatcher Leader of the Opposition
- Notes
- This Week/TVEye: Thatcher
Hospital in Crisis
Two weeks in the life of a strike bound hospital St. Andrews in Bow, the effect on the patients, the union strikers and the management who kept the hospital working.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 15 February 1979 (26 minutes 30 seconds)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- Peter Pagnamenta
- Director
- Judy Lever
- Editor
- Mike Townson
- Presenter
- Peter Williams
- Notes
- Script at Bournemouth
Warning - Cadmium May Damage
The environmental risk of cadmium is shown in Shipham, Somerset. The village soil is so badly poisoned from bygone mining that the government warned villagers not to eat home grown vegetables. Whilst the department of environment is carrying out the biggest health survey ever undertaken in one village the report with the help of the department of physics, Birmingham University carried out a pilot study to establish whether or not there is any proof that the poison in the soil has been passed onto the villagers. The results are not reassuring. The occupational risk is shown in Glasgow, with the example of some employees in a factory
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 22 February 1979 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- Peter Pagnamenta
- Director
- Linda McDougall
- Editor
- Mike Townson
- Presenter
- Peter Taylor
- Notes
- TV Eye/This Week (Health)
An Interview with Margaret Thatcher
As part of the election coverage an interview with the leader of the Conservative Party, Margaret Thatcher
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 24 April 1979 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- Peter Pagnamenta
- Director
- Jack Saltman
- Editor
- Mike Townson
- Presenter
- Llew Gardner
- Cast
- Margaret Thatcher
- Notes
- This Week/TV Eye - Thatcher
What Price Tranquility?
The growing evidence that tranquillisers like valium, librium and mogadon, for so long the answer to the everyday problems of life, may, in fact, be dangerously addictive producing withdrawal symptoms that can be worse than those from heroin. Next month in America, all such drugs will be required to carry a government health warning that they could be addictive. In Britain they are still widely prescribed - last year a total of 42 million prescriptions were handed out, despite the dangers.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 21 February 1980 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- Peter Pagnamenta
- Director
- Linda McDougall
- Editor
- Mike Townson
- Presenter
- Bryan Gould
- Notes
- TV Eye/This Week (Health)
Cancer: New Weapon
A special one hour programme looking at the new drug; Interferon, known as IF, which is the most exciting and potentially hopeful weapon in the fight against cancer. For the past five years, in an extensive series of clinical trials doctors have proved its worth, curing some cancers, buying time in others - but doubts about its total effectiveness remain. One problem, the cost of production means so little is available it can only be used for research on a few patients world wide. Five hundred pints of human blood are needed to make enough Interferon to treat one patient. Now scientists hope to be able to mass-produce the drug, synthetically, by the end of the year. Interviews to the world's leading experts in Britain, America, Sweden and Switzerland as well as to cancer patients who were considered clinically 'hopeless' until they were given Interferon and, tracing the history of the drug from its discovery in Britain, why Britain is now lagging behind in clinical tests.
- Broadcast details
- Thames Television, 19 June 1980 (60 minutes)
- Production company
- ITV
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- Peter Pagnamenta
- Director
- Alex Valentine
- Editor
- Mike Townson
- Presenter
- Bob Southgate
- Cast
- Cancer experts; cancer patients
- Notes
- TV Eye/This Week (Health)
The Softly, Softly Man
As the Tories meet in conference, a profile of the leading moderate in Mrs. Thatcher's cabinet - the Rt. Hon. James Prior. As Employment Secretary, he is at the heart of the government's attempt to curb the power of the trade unions - and many Tories believe he is not being tough enough - and, as a member of the cabinet, he publicly accepts Mrs. Thatcher’s tough monetarist policy, whilst many of his colleagues believe he thinks she is going too far.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 9 October 1980 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- Peter Pagnamenta
- Director
- Alex Valentine
- Editor
- Mike Townson
- Presenter
- Llew Gardner
- Cast
- James Prior MP
- Notes
- TV Eye - Thatcher
Pulling Together?
As the Queen opens the parliament's sessions and spells out Mrs. Thatcher’s policy for the coming year, TV Eye takes the pulse of the Tory Party. The programme includes an interview to William Whitelaw, the Deputy Prime Minister. A survey of grassroots Tory opinion with questions such as "has the time come for Mrs. Thatcher to re-think her monetarist policies?" and a discussion about Tory policy with those who are openly critical including Geoffrey Rippon MP.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 20 November 1980 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- Peter Pagnamenta
- Director
- Jack Saltman;Alex Valentine
- Editor
- Mike Townson
- Presenter
- Llew Grdner;Denis Tuohy
- Cast
- William Whitelaw MP; Geoffrey Rippon MP
- Notes
- TV Eye - Thatcher
Going Private
If present trends continue one person in five in the UK will be eligible for private medical treatment by 1985. In "going private", reporter Denis Tuohy looks at one of our biggest growth industries, at the support it is getting from both trades unionists and industry, and the medical arguments for and against its propagation. Dr Gerald Vaughan, the Minister for Health, welcomes more private medicine but stresses the government's commitment to the National Health Service
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 5 February 1981 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- Barrie Sales
- Director
- Jon Blair
- Editor
- Mike Townson
- Presenter
- Denis Tuohy
- Cast
- Dr Gerald Vaughan MP Minister for Health
- Notes
- TV Eye/This Week (Health)
Too Many Hormones
An investigation into health risks and the contraceptive pill not for those who take them, but for those who make them. For men, this can mean enlarged breasts; for women, a disruption of the menstrual cycle.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 5 March 1981 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- Peter Pagnamenta
- Director
- Anne Tyerman
- Editor
- Mike Townson
- Presenter
- Bryan Gould
- Notes
- TV Eye/This Week (Health)
Danger - Drinkers at Work
TV Eye looks at the problem of alcoholic abuse at work through the eyes of a 38 year old civil servant whose problem went from social drinking to secret drinking in the office and, finally, an inability to carry on working. Reporter Bryan Gould talks to his fiancée and his boss about the efforts now being made to cure him and return him to work. The effects of alcoholism are believed to cost British industry 1,000 million a year in loss of working days, the department of health, recognising that the problem is getting worse, today (Thursday) publish a report giving management and unions advice on how to help the worker who may be drinking too much.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 4 June 1981 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- Barrie Sales
- Director
- Jon Blair
- Editor
- Mike Townson
- Presenter
- Bryan Gould
- Cast
- Civil servant; his boss
- Notes
- TV Eye/This Week (Health)
A Chance to Live
TV Eye looks at child cancer the disease which kills more children than any other. The disease against which British cancer experts are leading the fight due to the co-operation between specialist children cancer units throughout the country. But the disease which still costs the lives of too many children because, the experts say, only half the children who desperately need the right help are actually referred to the centres of excellence
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 17 September 1981 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- Barrie Sales
- Director
- Alex Valentine
- Editor
- Mike Townson
- Presenter
- Denis Tuohy
- Notes
- TV Eye/This Week (Health)
The Tories: A mid-term report
Conservative Party Conference. TVEye reports on the mood and morale of the party half-way through its term of office and, in particular, the central argument both within and outside the party over Mrs Thatcher's economic policies. Reporting from the conference in Blackpool, Denis Tuohy, Peter Gill and Llew Gardner. The programme ends with Mrs Thatcher dancing.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 15 October 1981 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- Barrie Sales
- Director
- Jon Blair;Anne Tyerman;Norman Fenton
- Editor
- Mike Townson
- Presenter
- Peter Gill;Llew Gardner;Denis Tuohy
- Notes
- TV Eye - Thatcher
The Margaret Thatcher Interview
An interview with the Prime Minister about the most important issues of British politics.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 18 February 1982 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- Barrie Sales
- Director
- Mike Dormer
- Editor
- Mike Townson
- Presenter
- Llew Gardner
- Cast
- Margaret Thatcher
- Notes
- TV Eye - Thatcher
Do you want more telelvision?
C4 is due to launch. Proposed BBC satellite from 1986. Also cable, subscription and Pay-TV
- Broadcast date
- 25 March
- Production company
- ITV
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- Barrie Sales
- Director
- Jack Saltman
- Editor
- Mike Townson
- Presenter
- Denis Tuohy
Hospitals - an Unhealthy Dispute
As the TUC plans massive industrial action to support the low paid hospital workers, a report from a hospital at the heart of the crisis - Nottingham's City Hospital. Union action has hit the central sterile department to reduce the work of the operating theatre and everyone involved has found themselves caught up in the moral dilemma between caring for patients and pursuing a wage-claim.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 16 September 1982 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- Barrie Sales
- Director
- Alan Stewart
- Editor
- Mike Townson
- Presenter
- Julian Manyon
- Credits
- Dave Perrin
- Notes
- TV Eye/This Week (Health)
Margaret Thatcher Interview
The programme also includes a poll on Conservative prospects.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 2 June 1983 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- Barrie Sales
- Director
- Jack Saltman;Alan Stewart
- Editor
- Mike Townson
- Presenter
- Peter Gill;Alastair Burnett
- Cast
- Margaret Thatcher
- Notes
- TV Eye - Thatcher
Someone Else's Baby
A report on surrogate mothering the controversial new method for providing childless couples with children. Reporting from Germany and Holland, where it is already practised. Interviews with childless couples and the women who bore children for them and a look at the growing opposition to the likely arrival of an American surrogate company in this country.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 16 June 1983 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- Barrie Sales
- Director
- Anne Tyerman
- Editor
- Mike Townson
- Presenter
- Peter Prendergast
- Notes
- TV Eye/This Week (Health)
Death on the YOP
Interviews with the parents of the unemployed teenagers who have died on the Youth Opportunities Programme. In the past year, six young people have died in factory accidents and three hundred have been seriously injured. Behind these figures lie some fundamental and disturbing questions about the way that the Manpower Services Commission has been running the Youth Opportunities Programme, or YOP, and will run its successor, the Youth Training Scheme, or YTS
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 14 July 1983 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- Barrie Sales
- Director
- Anne Tyerman
- Editor
- Mike Townson
- Presenter
- Denis Tuohy;Alistair Burnett
- Cast
- Parents of teenagers who died on Youth Opportuntities Programme
- Notes
- TV Eye/This Week (Health)
Something in the Soil
A research into the food we eat. The relationship between health and the amount of trace elements within the body, the minute quantities of trace elements like copper, zinc, chromium and, even arsenic. Existing research suggests that the wrong balance of these trace elements in a pregnant woman can affect the unborn child: too little iodine can affect intelligence. Too little copper can cause spastic limbs. Too little zinc can retard growth. New research suggests that monitoring the level of trace elements within adults may help prevent heart disease and cancer.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 3 November 1983 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- Barrie Sales
- Director
- Anne Tyerman
- Editor
- Mike Townson
- Presenter
- Denis Tuohy;Peter Gill
- Credits
- Docherty, Neil;
- Notes
- TV Eye/This Week (Health)
Sugar, Salt and Water
A report on a medical breakthrough which sounds staggeringly simple but could save the lives of five million children every year. It is the use of a solution of sugar, salt and water to cure diarrhea. The report explains how the technique has been developed on the day that the UN Children's Fund annual report says that 15 million children in the third world die needlessly each year and that diarrhea is one of the biggest killers. David Morley, Professor of Tropical Child Health at London's Institute of Child Health worked on the sugar, salt and water cure (called oral rehydration therapy).
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 8 December 1983 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- Barrie Sales
- Director
- Anne Tyerman
- Editor
- Mike Townson
- Presenter
- Denis Tuohy
- Credits
- Docherty, Neil;
- Notes
- TV Eye/This Week (Health)
Dangerous Neighbours
Thousands of families live in the shadow of potentially dangerous factories, chemical plants and storage depots and yet appear to have no right to know how dangerous they are, or how much of a hazard the factories present to their health, or their lives. An investigation on the individual's right to know what's going on over the garden wall, and on whether the authorities have sufficient powers to prevent potential disasters.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 23 February 1984 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- Barrie Sales
- Director
- Anne Tyerman
- Editor
- Mike Townson
- Presenter
- Peter Prendergast
- Credits
- Docherty, Neil;
- Notes
- TV Eye/This Week (Health)
Guinea Pigs
Should students and the unemployed be paid to test new drugs? They are paid up to 300 for a month spent trying out new drugs which have not yet been approved for clinical trials on patients. The investigation follows the recent death of a volunteer at a Dublin clinic during the testing of a heart drug, an incident which has focused attention on the lack of any statutory controls over this type of experiment in Britain and in Ireland, and led to demands for legislation to control the use of human guinea pigs.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 12 July 1984 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- Barrie Sales
- Director
- Anne Tyerman
- Editor
- Mike Townson
- Presenter
- Peter Prendergast
- Credits
- Perrin, Dave;
- Notes
- TV Eye/This Week (Health)
No Room for Sentiment
Why are 1,500 people suffering from kidney failure allowed to die each year without hope of dialysis or transplant when those who can afford 14,000 to have the operation done privately can be guaranteed a new kidney in four weeks? Is it true that when the NHS doctors choose between new patients, the first to be refused treatment are the under fives and the over 55s?
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 11 October 1984 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- Barrie Sales
- Director
- Jack Saltman
- Editor
- Mike Townson
- Presenter
- John Withington
- Credits
- Ackerman, Mark;
- Notes
- TV Eye/This Week (Health)
Trouble at Bonnybridge
Dioxin is one of the most dangerous chemicals of all. A report from the village in Scotland which fears dioxin poisoning has led to cattle dying, babies being born with eye defects and a possible increase in the number of cases of leukaemia. The village, Bonnybridge, had for ten years been the site of a waste disposal firm which deals with toxic chemicals. The firm, Rechem International, and the Scottish Office deny there is any relationship between the health problems and the plant but one farmer is now making a sue to the firm for a million pounds for compensation for the damage to his herd.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 22 November 1984 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- Barrie Sales
- Director
- Anne Tyerman
- Editor
- Mike Townson
- Presenter
- Peter Prendergast
- Credits
- Docherty, Neil
- Notes
- TV Eye (Health)
Margaret Thatcher Interview
An interview with Mrs. Thatcher which covers the topics of the miners' strike, unemployment and the economy as well as nuclear disarmament
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 24 January 1985 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- Barrie Sales
- Director
- Alan Stewart
- Editor
- Mike Townson
- Presenter
- Alastair Burnet
- Cast
- Margaret Thatcher Prime Minister
- Notes
- TV Eye - Thatcher
Consultants on the Make
Why are some hospital doctors making money from private practice at the expense of the NHS and NHS patients? For example: why were NHS numbers made up from patients who are really private? Why were doctors seeing patients after hours in an x-ray department? The investigation reveals a nation wide problem bigger than the problem revealed in recent Ministry of Health reports.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 7 February 1985 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- Barrie Sales
- Director
- Jonathan Lewis
- Editor
- Mike Townson
- Presenter
- John Withington
- Credits
- Perrin, David
- Cast
- Chair BMA Private Practice Committee Martin Robinson; Gordon Craig; Dr Paul Noone; Chris Luker; David Bell (vet); John Chawner; Dr Arthur Jones; John King; David Leese Good Hope Administrator
- Notes
- TV Eye (Health)
AIDS - The Victims
Interviews with those who are learning to live with the killer disease, AIDS. Will society learn to live with them too? The two men, both homosexuals, know they could be dead within the year. They tell what it's like to live under this sentence of death and, at the same time, find themselves social outcasts
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 28 February 1985 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- Ackerman, Mark;
- Producer
- Barrie Sales
- Director
- Linda McDougall
- Editor
- Mike Townson
- Presenter
- Peter Prendergast
- Credits
- Ayres, Bill
- Notes
- TV Eye (Health)
Cold Comfort
On hypothermia and old age
- Broadcast date
- 14 March 1985
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- Barrie Sales
- Director
- Alan Stewart
- Editor
- Mike Townson
- Presenter
- Peter Gill
- Credits
- Frank Simmonds
Three Times a Lady
Will Mrs. Thatcher lead the Tories to their third election victory in a row? If she does, she'll be the first prime minister to do so in modern times. On the eve of the Tory party conference interviews with supporters and critics, and with Mrs. Thatcher. Is the mid-term malaise in the opinion polls caused by policies or presentation
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 3 October 1985 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- Barrie Sales
- Director
- Jack Saltman
- Editor
- Mike Townson
- Presenter
- Denis Tuohy
- Credits
- Chrisman, Mike;
- Cast
- Margaret Thatcher Prime Minister
- Notes
- TV Eye - Thatcher
The Closure of Ward 19
A report from Ward 19, a general surgical ward for men in Newcastle's Royal Victoria infirmary. It is about to close along with the adjoining women's ward and an operating theatre. The health authority says it will make the remaining surgical wards more efficient, with staff making a more intensive use of fewer beds. The consultant surgeons involved, uncertain about their own future say hospital efficiency cannot be measured on a production line basis what price efficiency? Is now being debated in hospitals throughout Britain as the NHS faces up to government demands for cash savings.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 10 April 1986 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- Barrie Sales
- Director
- Alan Stewart
- Editor
- Mike Townson
- Presenter
- Julian Reporter: Manyon
- Cast
- Brian McEvedy, Surgeon; Arthur Taylor, Chair Newcastle Health Authority; Piers Merchant, Conservative MP; John Yates, B'ham University; Kumar Sandy, COHSE; Nurses; Len Fenwick, Manager freeman Hospital; Prof Sam Shuster; ancilliary workers; Prof Evans Johnson, Head of Surgery
- Notes
- TV Eye (Health)
Nurses - Condition Critical
At the Tory Party Conference this week a key issue is the future of the National Health Service. Whatever the truth about levels of spending, the shortage of nurses on hospital wards is now reaching crisis proportions. Three quarters of all nursing care is now administered by unqualified staff and even in areas of the highest unemployment, hospitals are unable to recruit staff. Of those who do begin training, more than a third drops out before qualifying. This Week reporter Michael Wilson has been to a general hospital in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and has discovered the shortage of nurses to be so great that hospital staff say that patients lives could now be at risk. Against a background of ward closures and lengthening waiting lists, he found nurses’ morale reaching rock bottom as they are caught in a vicious circle of diminishing resources and increasing demand. With trained nurses now an international commodity, British nurses are now being tempted abroad in large numbers to find better material rewards and greater nursing satisfaction.
- Broadcast details
- Thames Television, 9 October 1986 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- ITV
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Mike Dutfield
- Editor
- Roger Bolton
- Presenter
- Michael Wilson;Jonathan Dimbleby
- Credits
- Docherty, Neil;
- Cast
- Norman Fowler MP, Secretary of State for Health; Mr Ramkalbag, Consultant Surgeon; Anne Davison, nurse; Christine Eddy, nurse; Sister Margaret Sayer; Ann Andrews, Assistant Director of Nursing; Acting Sister Debbie Beesley; Kenneth Mundin, patient; Joan Temple, Acting Director of Nursing; Dr Robert Bullock, Consultant Anaesthetist; Margaret Johnson, student nurse; Bill Boland, nursing officer, Newcastle Health Authority; Alison Pilkington, student; Sister Kate Kilgallon; Michael Carchnell, student nurse; Lorraine Willimas, Dept of Health New South Wales; Mary Hawkins, nurse; Chris Hawkins;
- Notes
- TV Eye (Health)
Aids - The Last Chance - Part 1
We talk to a young London woman who has just had an abortion because she carries the AIDS virus, and was told that both her life and the baby's were at risk. A leading London doctor (William Harris of St. Mary's hospital) reports on his young patients who have returned from casual holiday romances this summer, and now find they have the virus. Harris says the problem is now about high risk behaviour, not high risk groups. The only fool proof prevention is one sexual partner for life - a prospect which the 1980's generation thinks totally unacceptable. Faced with the threat of a twentieth century Black Death people have come up with drastic solutions. One doctor (John Seale, a Harley Street consultant) suggests on This Week compulsory screening for the whole population and incarcerating those who have the virus. The Secretary of the Conservative back bench Health Committee (Tony Favell, MP for Stockport) wants everyone who arrives in Britain from a country where aids is widespread to be tested. Dr John Gallwey (Aids Consultant at Oxford's Radcliffe Infirmary) says: "we have lives to save, and that overrides good taste and sensitivity".
- Broadcast details
- Thames Television, 23 October 1986 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- ITV
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Anne Tyerman
- Editor
- Roger Bolton
- Presenter
- Margaret Jay;Jonathan Dimbleby
- Credits
- Simmonds, Frank;
- Cast
- Interviewees: Harris, Dr William; Seale, Dr John; Favell MP, Tony; Gallwey, Dr John; Staunton, Marie, NCCL; Cotter, Aiden, Walsall Cornoner; Dr Roy Robertson, Edinburgh GP; Other featured individuals: Expectant mothers; woman who had had an abortion; health inspector; young people
- Notes
- TV Eye (Health)
Aids - The Last Chance - Part 2
In the second of a two part report on the social implications of the spread of AIDS, This Week seeks the government's response to the issues raised in last Thursday’s programme, AIDS - the last chance (I). Jonathan Dimbleby puts This Week's findings to the Minister of Health responsible, Mr. Tony Newton, and asks how the government proposes to combat the spread of AIDS.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 30 October 1986 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Anne Tyerman
- Editor
- Roger Bolton
- Presenter
- Margaret Reporter: Jay;Jonathan Presenter: Dimbleby
- Credits
- Simmonds, Frank;
- Cast
- Interviewees: Tony Newton, MP, Minister of Health; Whitehead, Tony; Terence Higgins Trust: Ghandi, Kushuro
- Notes
- This Week (Health)
Who Lives, Who Dies - Part One
The National Health Service is now stretched to a breaking point. As more and more patients seek better and better treatment at higher and higher cost This Week asks whether we can any longer afford the present philosophy and practice of medicine enshrined in the NHS. In this searching enquiry, This Week focuses upon a debate that is increasingly preoccupying the medical profession but which has so far received almost no public attention. In the first programme the issue is raised in its starkest form by an eminent health economist who says that doctors make life and death decisions in ways that are becoming more and more arbitrary and unjust which depend more on whipping up public emotion to raise funds than any serious assessment of how limited resources could best be used. He calls for a revolution in approach that would require resources to be allocated to different areas of health care according to a set of priorities, clearly defined and established by the public
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 11 December 1986 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Anne Tyerman
- Editor
- Roger Bolton
- Presenter
- Jonathan Dimbleby;Anne Tyerman
- Credits
- Chrisman, Michael;
- Cast
- Prof Maynard; Dr Tony Wing; Dr David Ellerton; Dr Neil McIntosh; Mr and Mrs Timms; Muriel Whittaker; Sister Julia Sergent; Mike Wroblewski; Paul Coffey; Mrs Coddey;
- Notes
- This Week (Health)
Who Lives, Who Dies - Part Two
In a programme that combines film evidence with studio debate, This Week confronts perhaps the most agonising dilemma that the National Health Service and the British people have had to face about the future of medical treatment in Britain. Health economist Professor Alan Maynard argues that cost benefit analysis must be applied to the NHS. With government funds he's devised a system for measuring in economic terms the quality of life - which he believes must be the principal criterion for determining how resources are allocated within the health service. Accordingly, the evidence tells him that expensive treatment to extend the life of terminally ill cancer patients should be given a low priority. Likewise, the provision of renal dialysis for kidney sufferers. All of these are standard treatments and on This Week the doctors fight back, not least because they know that the debate must now be joined in earnest, although so far, this fiercely controversial issue has hardly surfaced outside the pages of the specialist medical journals. Professor Michael Whitehouse, an eminent cancer specialist, argues that one in three of us are affected by some form of cancer in our lives and that to divert resources away from cancer treatment would be intolerable
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 8 January 1987 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Anne Tyerman
- Editor
- Roger Bolton
- Presenter
- Jonathan Dimbleby;Anne Tyerman
- Credits
- Michael Chrisman
- Cast
- Maynard, Prof. Alan; Whitehouse, Prof. Michael
- Notes
- This Week (Health)
A National Disease. Part 1 'Lessons from the dead'
In a Sheffield primary school, seventy children fall down in front of the cameras as if struck dead. They represent the number of deaths from preventable disease that strike down the people of Sheffield every month. But the deaths are not evenly distributed. If you live in a poorer part of the city your life expectancy is at least five years lower than if you live in the richer suburbs. You are twice as likely to have a fatal heart attack and three times more at risk of dying from lung cancer. Your babies are more prone to die in infancy; your children to require admission to hospital. These statistics - which startles and dismay the city health authority - have been produced by the simple but pioneering use of powerful computer which can be used to record patterns of sickness and death across Sheffield. The computer is able to produce precise statistics for every ward, every housing estate, even for every street in the city.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 19 February 1987 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Jonathan Lewis
- Editor
- Roger Bolton
- Presenter
- Jonathan Dimbleby
- Cast
- Pathologist Doctor Liz Taylor; Hazel Stevenson-Payne, Health Visitor; Mrs O'Wuodzie; Factory workers; Dr David Player Director Health Education Council; Julia Cumberledge Chair Brighton Health Authority;
- Notes
- This Week (Health)
A National Disease - Part Two "Lessons for the Living"
In 1987, Britain stands at the top of the world league of deaths from heart disease. A decade ago Finland was at the top of the table. The Finns are now down to sixth. How did they get there? And could Britain learn the lesson? A report from the province of North Karelia in Finland to discover how they have managed to reduce mortality from heart disease by 36% in ten years. Everyone in Karelia is monitored for the first signs of heart disease: tests for hypertension are routine; details of factors like weight and diet are systematically recorded: treatment is thorough and sustained. Could the same thing happen in Britain? In Sheffield, for example? A comparison between the campaign in Finland with the efforts of the health authority and the city council to combat the killer
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 5 March 1987 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Jonathan Lewis
- Editor
- Roger Bolton
- Presenter
- Jonathan Dimbleby
- Credits
- Frank Simmonds
- Notes
- This Week (Health)
The Toughest Job in Medicine
On Thursday, April 9th the Princess of Wales opens the first special AIDS unit in Britain at the Middlesex Hospital London. On the same evening at 20:00 on ITV Margaret Jay reports on the way the unit works, and for the first time goes behind the doors of the inpatients ward to talk to all the people who look after the young people suffering from the fatal virus. The ward sister Jacqui Elliott says, "I’m twenty-six, a normal young girl and I don't have a death wish. So I wouldn't be here if I really thought that I was in any great risk." The psychologist David Miller who has to counsel and support young people who know that they will die. "We've just got to hang on, we've got to keep doing our best for our patients, keep them optimistic if we can and maintain their will to fight for a better quality of life, in the face of the appalling adversity this disease creates." Professor Michael Adler says that in spite of new government money to deal with AIDS in London, the Middlesex has not got enough to maintain its present programme, let alone expand it. This year they'll be treating 104 patients, next year they expect 252; now they have twelve beds in the new ward, by next year they'll need 35
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 9 April 1987 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Michael Dutfield
- Editor
- Roger Bolton
- Presenter
- Jonathan Dimbleby;Margaret Jay
- Credits
- Simmonds, Frank;
- Cast
- Interviewees: Elliott, Jacqui, Ward Sister Middlesex Hospital; Adler, Prof. Michael; Dr James Bingham; Miller, David, Psychologist; Dr Sam Machin; Tom Treasure, Surgeon; Prof Peter Isaacson; Dr Daniel Rae; Other featured individuals: Prof Stephen Semple; patients; counsellor; health adviser;
- Notes
- This Week (Health)
Five More Years?
In her first major campaign interview Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher talks to Jonathan Dimbleby. How good is the record of the last 8 years? Have the Conservatives run out of steam or do they have new ideas for a third term of government?
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 4 June 1987 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Editor
- Roger Bolton
- Presenter
- David Dimbleby
- Cast
- Margaret Thatcher
- Notes
- This Week - Thatcher
Just a Bit of Dust
Hard metal is the hardest man-made material in the world. Made by mixing cobalt and tungsten carbide, the manufacture of hard metal is a booming industry. Increasingly it is replacing diamonds in drills, lathes, and cutting tools. It is finding new uses in electronics, artificial limbs, and armour plating. But a special This Week investigation reveals that handling hard metal dust can be fatal. The programmes enquiries have established that in the town of Sheffield alone nearly a thousand workers may be at risk from a crippling lung disorder called hard metal disease, and that several workers have died prematurely because of exposure to hard metal dust.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 25 June 1987 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Jonathan Lewis
- Editor
- Roger Bolton
- Presenter
- Jonathan Dimbleby;Trevor Phillips
- Credits
- Frank Simmonds
- Cast
- Raymond Machin; Adrian Gibbs; Graham Grant
- Notes
- This Week (Health)
No Time to Lose
Thousands of crash victims are dying needlessly in Britain because they are not treated properly, according to leading surgeons. Up to five thousand lives could be saved if casualty and emergency services were run better, according to members of the Royal College of Surgeons working party investigating trauma deaths. An examination on the kind of medical care Britain's crash victims receive in the vital minutes and hours where the battle for life and death is won or lost. An interview with the mother of a two-year-old girl who died after a car crash and to the mother of a brain damaged teenager recently awarded hundreds of thousands in damages. Both mothers believe that their children did not receive the care they needed, one need not have died, the other need not have been so badly damaged. The report compares the treatment in Munich where crash victims are given a better chance of survival. The programme follows the city's helicopter rescue service attending emergency crash calls, and victims’ treatment in high-tech trauma centres staffed round-the-clock with medical specialists
- Broadcast details
- Thames Television, 15 October 1987 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- ITV
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Christopher Oxley
- Editor
- Roger Bolton
- Presenter
- Jonathan Dimbleby;Denis Tuohy
- Credits
- Anne Burns
- Cast
- Higgins, Diane; Wilson, Alistair; Consultant London Hospital Westaby, Stephen; Radcliffe Hospital Oxford Rutherford, William; Consultant Royal Victoria Hospital Belfast 1967-86 Deardon, Christine; Consultant Irving, Prof. Miles, Chair Royal College
- Notes
- This Week (Health)
18 Weeks?
The Liberal's chief whip has resigned his post to pilot through a bill to lower the legal limit for abortion from 28 to 18 weeks. The first reading of the bill will be on October 28th. In what many see as a new moral climate it has a good chance of success. It will certainly provoke a passionate debate
- Broadcast details
- Thames Television, 22 October 1987 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- ITV
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Anne Tyerman
- Editor
- Roger Bolton
- Presenter
- Jonathan Dimbleby;Margaret Jay
- Credits
- Cahn, Alison; Paintin, David, Birth Control Trust;
- Cast
- Alton MP, David; Crawford, Cherry; Campbell, Stuart, Professor of Gynaecology Kings College Hospital; Saunders, Debbie; Thorpe, Ros; Pembury, Marcus, Professor of Paediatrics Genetic Insitute of Child Health; Innes, Sian, mother of handicapped baby; W, Humphrey; Liverpool disability group
- Notes
- This Week (Health)
What Now Prime Minister?
After the summit, after the crash, the Prime Minister talks. This is the first major TV interview Mrs. Thatcher has given since the election. In the six months since then world stock markets have crashed and the advance of popular capitalism does not look as inevitable as it once did. The continuing crisis in the health service and the government’s revolutionary plans for education has made a controversial beginning to the next five years. What sort of society does Mrs. Thatcher want to be in place when she retires from public office?
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 10 December 1987 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Editor
- Roger Bolton
- Presenter
- David Dimbleby
- Cast
- Margaret Thatcher
- Notes
- This Week - Thatcher
Right Wing Medicine
In Birmingham four year old Matthew Collier fights for his life after major heart surgery, and the fierce debate about why Matthew and many children like him have to wait for treatment, continues. Faced with the hospital crisis they have predicted the right wing think tanks are pushing hard for radical changes in the way health care is provided. A report on the alternatives the prime minister is considering, whether the free market philosophy can provide a fair and efficient health service? Mrs. Thatcher looks set on a revolution which could include private insurance, charges for treatment and voucher schemes. A report from America on the free market models that are finding favour with Mrs. Thatcher.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 28 January 1988 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Anne Tyerman
- Editor
- Roger Bolton
- Presenter
- Margaret Jay
- Credits
- Anne Burns
- Notes
- This Week - Thatcher
Penriwceiber, Wales
Planned to discuss the relationship between mining and nursing, the community in the valleys, the womans view. To film in Mountain Ash hospital, Mid-Glamorgan S.Wales; the district nurses visits; Mountian Ash comprehensive school: the miners reunion.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 25 February 1988 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Dee Dee Glass
- Editor
- Roger Bolton
- Credits
- Alison Cahn
- Notes
- This Week (Health)
Labour - Getting it Together
After yet another crushing defeat by Margaret Thatcher, the Labour Party has to accept a further four years in opposition the time of the next election they will have spent 12 years gazing across the floor of the commons at Mrs. Thatcher and her government. Following last June's defeat, Neil Kinnock instituted a review of his party's policy. Nothing was to be exempt. What lessons has he learned and what are the values and of the party that he hopes will return Labour to power? How does he answer the charge that there is no real opposition to the Conservatives?
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 17 March 1988 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Stephen Scott
- Editor
- Roger Bolton
- Presenter
- David Dimbleby
- Cast
- Neil Kinnock Leader of the Labour Party
- Notes
- This Week - Thatcher
Private Health: Too High a Price?
As the debate about the future of the health service rolls on, there is a louder and louder campaign urging people to take out private health insurance. The programme takes a close look at the private health industry to find out just what you get when you sign on. The glossy commercials and brochures suggest you could be buying your way into a more comfortable, more efficient version of the NHS. But, the small print on the contracts often sets rules and limitations that comes as a shock to patients brought up to expect the complete health service. The programme also includes an interview to junior health minister Edwina Currie who recently suggested that people should give up second holidays and pay for private health so that burdens on the NHS would be relieved. How far does the government wish the private health industry to expand?
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 24 March 1988 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Mike Dutfield
- Editor
- Roger Bolton
- Presenter
- Margaret Jay
- Credits
- Clive Edwards
- Cast
- Edwina Currie MP Health Minister
- Notes
- This Week (Health)
Kids Cook Quick
When you are on holiday, especially in the southern countries, to have a tan can be nice, but it might represent a danger as well, especially for the very young.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 21 July 1988 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Jonathan Lewis
- Editor
- Roger Bolton
- Presenter
- Jonathan Dimbleby;Peter Gill
- Credits
- Anne Burns
- Cast
- Mackie, Dr Rona, dermatologist, Glasgow; Marks, Dr Robin, Australian cancer campaigner; Harris, Rolf; Watson, Dr Bob, chief NASA Atmospheric chemistry programme; Mulvagh, Jane, Vogue;
- Notes
- This Week (Health)
The Silent Epidemic
By the age of seventy nearly half the women in this country can expect a fracture of their bones and that figure is growing. This bone weakening condition, called osteoporosis, is more lethal than breast cervical and uterine cancer combined and is costing the NHS at least 500 million a year. Yet if this condition is recognised and treated at the onset of the menopause it's preventable. Interviews with patients as well to Malcolm Whitehead, King's College Hospital, London. But the facilities to offer such treatment hardly exist. Dr. John Kanis, who recently chaired a World Health Organisation conference on the subject, was forced to put a third of his own salary and start a fund raising campaign to avert the threatened closure of his own research unit at Sheffield.
- Broadcast details
- Thames Television, 15 September 1988 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- ITV
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Anne Tyerman
- Editor
- Roger Bolton
- Presenter
- Denis Tuohy
- Credits
- Alison Cahn
- Cast
- Whitehead, Malcolm, Kings College Hospital, London
- Notes
- This Week (Health)
Death from Natural Causes
It is estimated that last year 1,500 people in Britain died from lung cancer caused by radon, a natural radioactive gas. It's the second greatest cause of lung cancer, after smoking. Highly radioactive radon gas, formed by decaying natural uranium is seeping through the ground into homes, schools and workplaces. A health centre receptionist in Devon has been subjected to more radiation at work and at home than 90 per cent of the workers at Sellafield. A test showed that Cornish MP Matthew Taylor, the youngest in the house, is living in a radioactive cottage. It is already well established that radon causes lung cancer in uranium and tin miners. Research now suggests that radon is a health hazard in our homes and that it is twice as dangerous as previously thought. Scientists have found radon doses in human tissue that are twenty times higher than expected. However, the British action level is more than twice as high as the safe level accepted in the United States. Professor Edward Bradford, former chairman of the American committee on the biological effects of ionising radiation calls the British action level outrageous.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 24 November 1988 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Lorraine Heggessey
- Editor
- Roger Bolton
- Presenter
- Lindsay Charlton
- Credits
- Clive Edwards
- Cast
- Mathew Taylor MP
- Notes
- This Week (Health)
Neil Kinnock Interview
Interview with Neil Kinnock, the Labour leader. Topics discussed in the wide ranging interview include the government's proposals for the National Health Service and other domestic issues. It is the first of a series of major interviews to be conducted for This Week by Olivia O'leary, presenter of Yorkshire Television's First Tuesday.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 9 February 1989 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Sue Ayling
- Editor
- Roger Bolton
- Presenter
- Olivia O'Leary
- Cast
- Neil Kinnock leader of the Labour Party
- Notes
- This Week (Health)
Off to a Bad Start
A look at how conditions for young workers have changed since the recent past. The accident rate for young people has more than doubled and since then fifty more youngsters have been killed on government training schemes alone. A new Employment Bill currently going through parliament deregulates restrictions in the workplace still further, at a time when the European Community is giving high priority to a charter for health and safety at work.
- Broadcast details
- Thames Television, 9 March 1989 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- ITV
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Anne Tyerman
- Editor
- Roger Bolton
- Presenter
- Denis Tuohy
- Credits
- Steve Haywood
- Notes
- This Week (Health)
The Kids Who Can't Complain
Caring for the mentally handicapped is the fastest growing area of private health care, in Britain, but the system meant to police the burgeoning number of private homes is inadequate, and has left some of the country's most vulnerable children exposed to degrading and brutal treatment. The report examines allegations of ill treatment in some of the country's 180 private residential schools for children with severe learning difficulties, and asks has the system meant to ensure standards of care and education let these children down? In Norfolk, a catalogue of abuse which went on undetected for years. At another school near Hereford, it's been alleged that children with severe learning difficulties were disciplined by being smacked, kicked and punched. In Wales, the programme examines claims by ex-teachers that not enough money was spent on staff or facilities to ensure a proper level of care and education. They also claim that the company that owned the school only spent money when an inspection was due to fool the authorities and create the right impression.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 16 March 1989 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Stephen Scott
- Editor
- Roger Bolton
- Presenter
- John Taylor
- Credits
- Nick O'Dwyer
- Notes
- This Week (Health)
Kill or Cure
A BMA delegate conference of GP's is expected to pass hostile motions against the government's proposed National Health Service changes. A live interview with Kenneth Clarke.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 27 April 1989 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Lorraine Heggessey
- Editor
- Roger Bolton
- Presenter
- Olivia O'Leary
- Cast
- Kenneth Clarke MP Health Secretary
- Notes
- This Week (Health)
Casualty
When Mrs. Thatcher finally retires to her home in Dulwich, if she should have an accident, or suddenly be taken ill, an ambulance would take her to the accident and emergency department of King's College Hospital. A weekend in one of the busiest casualty departments in Britain, following a dedicated staff working in a dilapidated building originally intended to cater for a quarter of the patients they now have to deal with. While the debate over the Health White Paper continues, and in particular the way in which our hospitals should be run. This is a look at the problems faced by the staff on the ground, problems for which there is no immediate or promised solution. King's serves the sixth poorest district in Britain. Many people arrive in casualty because there's simply nowhere else to turn, and while their medical problems are solved, no solution is provided for their deeper social problems. During the weekend doctors treated everyone from the eight year old-child who had been knocked down running for an ice cream to youths who had been bottled in a fight over the Scottish cup final result, to drunks, junkies and life-threatening emergencies
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 25 May 1989 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Lorraine Heggessey and Anne Burns
- Editor
- Roger Bolton
- Presenter
- Denis Tuohy
- Credits
- Steve Haywood
- Cast
- Patients and staff in casualty department Kings College Hospital
- Notes
- see also This Week database at http://www.bufvc.ac.uk/databases/thisweek.html; P.Holland's notebook 16.p18; Script at Bournemouth
Britain in the Red
If you believe Nigel Lawson then we have a very successful economy which is going through some minor temporary difficulties. If you believe many industrialists then the last ten years have seen a disastrous, perhaps irrecoverable, decline in our manufacturing industry, which has led to a colossal trade deficit. Both sides agree that the present balance of payments situation is bad, but is it temporary or are we seeing the end of the so called Thatcher economic miracle?
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 25 May 1989 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Carrie Thomas
- Editor
- Roger Bolton
- Presenter
- Julian Manyon
- Credits
- Steve Haywood
- Notes
- This Week - Thatcher
The Abortion Pill on Trial
RU 486 is a pill invented and developed in France by the Roussel Company which brings about an abortion. Instead of surgery, a woman can choose to take three pills, followed, forty-eight hours later, by an injection of prostaslandin. So far, thirty thousand French women have had abortions by RU 86 and the success rate is around ninety five per cent. The results of clinical trials in Britain will shortly be announced and are expected to be equally positive. However, it is by no means certain that the pill will become available here. In France, last year, even after the health ministry had approved it, the Roussel Company, harassed by anti-abortion protesters and worried by threats of economic boycotts of their products generally, particularly in the untied states, decided to withdraw it from the market. In France and Britain, the film has sought the views of scientists, Roussel executives, women who have taken the pill and pro-life campaigners to whom it is abhorrent. The moral argument against abortion is confronted by another, that where abortion is legal the least painful method of performing it - and that is the claim for RU 486 - should be made available
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 28 September 1989 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Carrie Thomas
- Editor
- Jack Saltman
- Presenter
- Denis Tuohy
- Credits
- Graham Tearse
- Cast
- Norris, Dr Peggy; MacKenzie, Dr Ian; Beaulieu, Prof Eliane Emile; Diane Munday British Pregnancy Advisory Assn; Eaton, Tony; Dr Sakis; Francoise, Catherine; OConnel, Kathleen; Lewis, Maurice; Norris, Dr Peggy; Gordon, Dr Alan; Dr Berna
- Notes
- This Week (Health)
A Call for Help
Ambulance services throughout the country are on a knife edge. Action supporting their pay claim and the rejection of the 6.5% offered is set to escalate. Now there are real fears that emergency calls could be hit with lives being put at risk. During 48 hours in Sheffield at some of the busiest stations in the country it has been followed both the routine and the paramedic crews as they respond to emergency calls. The programme talks to families and to the drivers about the pressures of the job, physically, emotionally and financially. Pay isn't the only issue. The service itself is already undergoing radical changes. Work ferrying patients to out-clinics is already being hired off to taxi firms.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 5 October 1989 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Ed Braman
- Editor
- Jack Saltman
- Presenter
- John Taylor
- Credits
- Duval-Smith, Alexandra;
- Notes
- This Week (Health)
The Toxic Time Bomb
All over Britain lie forgotten time bombs: toxic waste tips filled and abandoned two decades ago. Now they are starting to leak. The programme investigates toxic waste, and discovers where tips are, what pollution they are leaking, and how high a price we must pay to make them safe. As angry residents and farmers ask who is to blame for the plight, the programme uncovers the surprising whereabouts of one of the major dumpers. Toxic waste dumping used to be a cut rate free for all. A former head of the hazardous waste inspectorate speaks for the first time about the dangerous neglect that is still going on. As Mrs. Thatcher proposes tougher toxic waste laws, the programme maps out not only the poisoned legacy of the past, but also the giant active dump which may turn out to be Britain's latest toxic time bomb.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 26 October 1989 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Neil Docherty
- Editor
- Jack Saltman
- Presenter
- David Leigh
- Credits
- Mike Chrisman
- Notes
- This Week - Thatcher
It's Your Heart They're After
Heart disease kills more people in this country than cancer, infections and accidents put together. We could reduce the risk by changing our diet and adopting a healthier lifestyle, but the drug companies have now developed a new product that instead could soon have millions of us popping pills for life at vast cost to an already threatened NHS drugs budget. The programme investigates the way drug and-food companies are now promoting cholesterol screening in GP surgeries, high street chemists, and health food-shops to create a demand for the new cholesterol lowering products. In America it's already proved the fastest selling medicine ever, says drugs industry analyst Dr Erling Refsum. In Glasgow, the coronary capital of the world, there is a contrast between the relatively minute funds being invested in heart disease prevention and the twelve million pounds being spent on a trial of just one of the new drugs
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 9 November 1989 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Peter Tiffin
- Editor
- Jack Saltman
- Presenter
- Richard Lindley
- Credits
- Alexandra Duval-Smith
- Cast
- Shaper, Prof. Gerry; Refsum, Dr Erling Drugs Industry Analyst
- Notes
- This Week (Health)
Not Militant, Just Angry (Poll Tax)
This Week examines the fight against the poll tax and asks whether Mrs Thatcher will be able to ride the wave on popular disapproval. This Week explores Militants involvement with the poll tax debate and its consequences for both government and opposition.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 22 March 1990 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Ed Braman
- Editor
- Jack Saltman
- Presenter
- Margaret Gilmore
- Credits
- Lucy Hillman
- Notes
- This Week - Thatcher
What's Up Doc?
A major London teaching hospital is shutting down for six weeks in the summer to save money. It is 2 million in the red. Doctors have been told to go and play golf instead of treating patients. Consultants in the West Midlands say patients lives will be at risk if swingeing cuts to balance the books are implemented. They have asked their health authority members to resign rather than sanction cuts in patient services. Across the country wards are closed. A million people are on hospital waiting lists. Some have been waiting two years for their operation. TheNHS is in crisis. Against this background a report on the government's radical new reforms for the health service. Who will benefit of the biggest shake-up in its history?
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 29 March 1990 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Anne Burns
- Editor
- Jack Saltman
- Presenter
- John Taylor
- Credits
- Patricia Powell
- Notes
- This Week (Health)
Prime Minister Kinnock
In eighteen months Neil Kinnock has come from the political wilderness to within sight of Number 10 Downing Street. With his Labour Party more than twenty points ahead in the polls, and the Thatcher government stumbling from crisis to crisis, even Mr. Kinnock's critics are having to take him seriously as a potential Prime Minister. In a special profile of the Labour leader This Week examines his qualifications for the top job, and asks what kind of prime minister he would be. It has been filmed behind the scenes with the Labour leader and his team in the run up to last week's local elections. It was with Mr. Kinnock at the Mandela concert when the row over his clenched fist salute broke out interviews with Neil Kinnock and his closest political associates. Results of a specially commissioned opinion poll showing how Britons regard the prospect of Neil Kinnock at No. 10.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 10 May 1990 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Martyn Gregory
- Editor
- Jack Saltman
- Presenter
- Julian Manyon
- Credits
- Lucy Hillman
- Cast
- Neil Kinnock MP Leader of the Labour Party
- Notes
- This Week
Food, Farming and Secrecy
All over Britain's countryside are scattered groups of windowless, anonymous buildings where farm animals are kept under intensive conditions. Says Richard Guy, a farmer who is opted out of the factory farm system: "the farmers who do 'it are very lucky that it takes place inside closed buildings where the public can't see it." A report on the big food producers, the high street names who want to keep the way they really farm a secret, and finds concern for animal welfare and food safety coming together. On the salmonella trail which killed a two year boy, and the way that chicken manure from broiler houses has been sold as cattle feed for cows that will end up as beef burgers. In Yorkshire, pigs chained up indoors throughout their lives, and in Hampshire a battery hen unit the state of the art. With a company producing four million eggs a week the programme investigates what barn eggs and free range eggs really mean. The links between the way we keep farm animals and the risks to human health. Joanna Lumley, who leads an animal welfare protest to parliament. Professor John Webster at Bristol University.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 12 July 1990 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Stephen Scott
- Editor
- Jack Saltman
- Presenter
- Richard Lindley
- Credits
- Lois Lipman
- Cast
- Richard Guy, Farmer; Joanna Lumley; Prof John Webster
- Notes
- This Week (Health)
Who Cares?
Steven McBain suffers from severe schizophrenia. His own father pleaded with social workers to have him compulsorily admitted to hospital. When Steven slashed his father with a knife, he was only given bail, and even then social workers wrote that Steven needed no further assessment. The letter arrived two days after Steven had kicked a London taxi driver, Peter Lewis, to death. In This Week, the families of the murderer and his victim unite to claim that the government policy of care in the community has failed them. Royston Guy was also a schizophrenic. The police, the courts and prison authorities all agreed that he should be in hospital. Instead, when he admitted to the minor offence of breaking windows, he was jailed while waiting for a hospital bed. Earlier This year, after 7 weeks in Bristol prison, he committed suicide. This Week examines the plight of schizophrenics and other psychiatric patients as they are discharged by the thousand into the community, as responsibility for them shifts from the health authorities to local social service departments.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 25 October 1990 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Martyn Gregory
- Editor
- Jack Saltman
- Presenter
- Debi Davies
- Credits
- Sushma Puri
- Cast
- McBain, Linda; Sharon Harries; Dawn Primorolo MP; Prof Fuller Torrey (author of Surviving Schizophrenia); Judy Weleminsky (National Schizophrenia Fellowship); Gordon McBain; Robin Cook MP, Labour Health Spokesperson; Maud Lewis; Stephen Dorrell MP Health Minister; Malcolm Guy; Clifford Guy; Dr Arden Tomison Consultant Psychiatrist; Roy Smith, Governor, Bristol Prison; Estelle Shadbolt, Royston Guy's sister; Det Insp Kevin Barry, Avon and Somerset Police; Tony Harris, Social Services Ctte, Assn of Metropolitan Authorities; Peter Starkey; Ian Hepworth, Winwick Hospital Manager; Dave Halliwell, Manager, Bewsey House; Graham Webb; Alice Webb
- Notes
- This Week (Health)
Margaret Thatcher resigns
A Special Programme. The Programme examines the result of the Conservative Party's leadership ballot and features interviews with Professor Ivor Crew, Cecil Parkinson, James Prior and Philip Goodhard. Live on the day of the Tory ballot, studio discussions with Tory MPs for and against the two contenders. The result of the ballot: will it run into a second ballot and will Mrs Thatcher win through or stand down?
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 20 November 1990 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Editor
- Jack Saltman
- Presenter
- This Week Team
- Cast
- Interviewees: Crew, Prof. Ivan; Parkinson, Cecil; Prior, James; Goodhard, Philip
- Notes
- This Week - Thatcher
For Better, for Worse
The programme looks back on the Thatcher years and looks ahead to the future with John Major as Britain's new PM. A live studio discussion will be featured centering on the government's economic policies under the new leadership
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 29 November 1990 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Editor
- Jack Saltman
- Presenter
- This Week Team
- Notes
- This Week - Thatcher
Poor Kids
This Week investigates how and why one in four British children live on or near the poverty line. A recent survey of 600 children admitted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital showed a clear link between illness and poverty. This Week has followed through four young patients including Craig who is three and deaf, partially handicapped and asthmatic. He spends his days with his mother in a freezing flat with bare floorboards on the third floor of a tower block. Tyrone is not yet two and needs an operation to help his breathing. His sister Sabrina won't go home to a flat infested with cockroaches. Their mother is at her wits end and terrified of taking her stress out on the children. Fifteen month old Nicholas suffers from repeated gastroenteritis. His mother has just £18 a week to feed herself and her son and sometimes goes hungry herself.
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 13 December 1990 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Stephen Scott
- Editor
- Jack Saltman
- Presenter
- Richard Lindley;Debi Davies
- Credits
- Sushma Puri
- Cast
- Vicki Jennings; Paul Jennings; Kirsty Jennings; Charlene Jennings; Dr Vic Larcher, Consultant Paediatrician Queen Elizabeth Hospital; Dr Elaine Carter, Paediatrician; Fran bennett CPAG; Prof John Walker-Smith, Consultant Gastroenterologist Queen Elizabeth Hospital; Angela Daniel; Sheila McKechnie, Shelter; Michelle Flicker; Roger Singelton, Barnados; Natalie Sawyer; Sabrina Sawyer; Tom White, National Children's Homes; Consultant; Chris Pond, Low Pay Unit; Tony Newton MP Sec of State for Social Security;
- Notes
- This Week (Health)
Bugs Bids and Bye Bye Blind Date
For over a year the 15 companies that make up theITV network have been preparing for a four billion pound auction of TV broadcast licenses. The Independent Television Commission must decide the winners and weigh a the promise to deliver quality television until the year 2002. But many argue the franchise battle is a misguided legacy of Thatcherism. Raymond Snoddy, the media correspondent of the Financial Times, investigates and asks what this will mean for the viewer. Interviews with David Plowright of Granada TV, David Mccall of Anglia Television as well as to Greg Dyke of London Weekend Television. He says of the broadcasting act "the truth is it's a piece of Thatcherism that came under the Thatcher era, and there's no-one left justifying it, but the ITC is having to go through the function of actually trying to make it work."
- Broadcast details
- ITV, 16 May 1991 (27 minutes)
- Production company
- Thames Television
- Medium
- TV
- Genre
- current affairs
- Producer
- David Elstein
- Director
- Frank Simmonds
- Editor
- Paul Woolwich
- Presenter
- Ray Snoddy
- Credits
- Sushma Puri
- Cast
- Frost, David; Plowright, David; McCall, David; Dyke, Greg; Dunn, Richard; Fox, Paul; Redmond, Phil; Snoddy, Raymond
- Notes
- This Week - Thatcher