Documentary about life in the town of Deri, near Mertyr Tydfil in South Wales, d ealing with Dilys Hardacre's struggle to be admitted to the Working Man's Club t o play snooker, Howie's unemployment problems and with Deri's everyday life.
Documentary on Sister Genevieve, head teacher of the largest girls' comprehensive school in Europe, St. Louise's, in the notorious Falls Road district of Belfast. Made at the time of Bobby Sands' hunger strike: the effect on the school of Sands' action is evident from the film, which looks at how Sister Genevieve, her staff and pupils cope with the pressure of working and going to school in such circumstances.
Documentary abour the "Kennedy Hijack", which happened in July 1977, when the Ne w York-Maine coach was hijacked by a gun-man at Kennedy Airport, and about the s ubsequent siege and arrest of the man, Louis Robinson, who also appears in the film.
Documentary on the attempts by the residents of Calderstones, a home for the men tally sub-normal in Lancashire to register on the electoral register, following the process of the public hearing at which they give evidence to the local Registration Officer.
Documentary about Lol(Lorri Lee) who earns his living as a drag artist and stand -up comedian in London pubs, looking at Lol's life, past and present, his friend s and at Lol himself.
Documentary on the attempt by Ken Heathcote from Bolton, to beat the running rec ord for the journey between John O'Groats to Landsend.
Documentary abour the project concieved by Gerry Cottle to feature rock-star Gar y Glitter in his own show under the big top, following the development of the pl an over a 14 day period up to the first performance.
Documentary on the pregnancy of the gorilla at Jersey Zoo, N'Pongo, and the delicate operations which have to be performed on the Jersey Zoo gorillas to ensure the survival of the species which is dying out in the wild.
Documentary which looks at the education of Newall Harrison and his two sisters, who are educated at home by their parents. Assessed as dyslexic, Newall is now subject to a crown court hearing on a school attendance order.
Documentary about an important time in the life of 18 year old spaspic girl, Alison, about to leave college and make various steps towards an independent life.
Documentary which looks at the methods used by reporter and cameraman David Potts and Ian Cutler to present an expose to their editor Barry Askew at the News of the World.
Documentary in which various forms of children's parties are investigated from the point of view of those participating in them, from a small domestic birthday party to the longest street party in the world.
Documentary about baldness and the way in which four men seek to disguise their hair-loss from the outside world.
Documentary following the fortunes of three competitors in the RAC London-Bright on veteran car rally 1981; Johnny Thomas Amanda and Deborah Bennett and Lord Montagu with Stirling Moss.
Documentary on Glenthorne, a high-security prison for young offenders in Birmingham, and one of only two such units in Britain.
Documentary profile of entertainer George Formby, in which Michael Dean attempts to solve some of the mysteries surrounding the life of the Lancashire entertainer.
Documentary which looks at a three day period in the London suburb of Richmond On Thames and at the burglaries which occurred in that time in the area.
Documentary about Herol "Bomber" Graham, Sheffield Boxer and his trainer Brendan Ingle, and about their preparations for last November's big fight for Herol, against Kenny Bristol for the Commonwealth light-middleweight title.
Documentary which looks at the story of the arrest of 192 British soldiers in a field in Salerno in September 1943, who were later court-martialed and found guilty of mutiny, with interviews with three of the convicted mutineers.
Documentary which looks at the work of Nick Mead who is dedicated to the collect ion and preservation of buildings and parts of buildings which have been made up of parts of older buildings which have been dismantled.
Documentary which looks at a theory of childbirth developed by Dr. Michel Odent in Pithiviers in France which challenges the accepted methods in the western world. He believes women should rely on their basic instinct during child birth. No anaesthetics or drugs are ever used and caesareans are rare. Mother and child are not separated immediately after birth, and fathers are encouraged to join in. Post natal depression is virtually unheard of. This documentary follows the unit through the crisis and calm of a busy week.
Documentary on the events of a winter's day in rural Sussex on which a group of hunt saboteurs are out to "hit" the local hunt.
Documentary series filmed at Harefield Hospital which looks at the way in which patients there are given new hearts and the problems that surround heart transplant surgery.
Documentary on Britain's most famous girls public school from the point of view of the pupils.
Documentary which looks at the skinhead "culture" in 1982 England and in particular at four skins from London and their lifestyle; John, "Brownie", "Chubby" and Eddie.
Documentary about the increasing militancy of those dedicated to the prevention of experiments on animals and vivisection.
Documentary which looks at the process of decisions made by Durham County senior education officer to close certain schools in his area, from the point of view of the officer, Mr Grimshaw.
Documentary which looks at the problems of loneliness. Five people who are trying to find their own ways to deal with and overcome loneliness are in a compartment in a train. They tell their stories to us, but do not communicate with each other, despite their shared problem.
Documentary which looks at the work of one of the 250 NSPCC inspectors in Britain, investigating cases of cruelty to children. It looks at a typical week for Howard Wolfenden, both at work and outside.
Documentary which looks at the lives and beliefs of miners in a small Yorkshire mining community in the Barnsley area.
Documentary which profiles the entertainer Frankie Vaughn looking at his life and career and the way in which the packaging of his image affected his life.
Documentary which looks at the traditional pre-Christmas charity dinner for the Stable Lad Welfare Trust. The Horse Racing fraternity raise thousands of pounds for the otherwise lowly paid stable lads, but the evening is not without its more bizarre rituals.
Documentary about three women and their weight problems, looking at the ways in which Gaynor, Sandra and Jane attempt to change their figures.
Documentary which looks at the life of Bernard Perks, about to be released from Cardiff Prison where he has spent 15 of his 20 adult years, and his problems in surmounting a chronic alcoholism problem.
Documentary which looks at the holiday makers on a flight from Manchester to Alicante in Spain, and at their impressions of their subsequent holidays in Benidorm and their return to Manchester.
Documentary on the varied uses, domestic and commercial, of from an Indian family keeping contact with their distant culture to the makers of PRIVATE SPY, to surveillance to piracy.
Documentary which looks at a period of the last few months of 1982 in the fortunes of Tranmere Rovers FC, a football club fighting for survival in the fourth division of the Football League in their centenary season.
Documentary which looks at the problems of children who have to look after their elderly parents and the violence and resentment this sometimes causes.
Documentary which looks at the experiences of the new arrivals at Liverpool University in autumn 1982 as they start their first experience of life away from home, with a special focus on the problems of blind student Gillian Wake.
Documentary which looks at the lives of nine Polish seamen who left their ship in Port Stanley, Falklands to seek political asylum, only to be involved in the Falklands War and later shipped to London where they live a stateless existence on the fringe of the British Polish Community.
Documentary which looks at the reasons and the effects of female circumcision as practised in the Sudan, with a look at evidence that the ritual is perpetuated all over the western world.
Documentary which looks at the lobby of the EEC by fishermen of the North-East, who attempted to influence EEC bureaucrat John Pearson's thinking on the issue of EEC fishing rights and the Common Fisheries Policy.
Series of documentaries filmed at the Bristol Cancer Help Centre, which uses a unique form of psychological and philosophical treatment for cancer.
Documentary in which three "mistresses" of married men are interviewed about the function and practicalities of their relationships with other people's husbands.
Documentary about the controversial M.C.C. cricket tour of Australia in 1933, where the tactics of M.C.C. captain Douglas Jardine caused a huge controversy.
Documentary which looks at various competitions for men, ranging from "bachelor of the year" to "Mr Universe".
Documentary which looks at the religious cult of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and the lives of his followers in the Suffolkheadquarters of the cult.
Documentary which looks at the inadequacy of the remand system in the UK and the effects which this date has on the lives of the untried prisoners who live in our overcrowded prisons.
Documentary about the lives of the inmates of the maximum security unit at Maids tone Prison, with interviews with many of the prisoners who are there, who are, for various reasons, at risk in the main prison.
Documentary which follows the progress to find "Miss Pears 1983."
Documentary which looks at the blossoming trade in professional pranksters and singing telegrams in London
Documentary which looks at the reality of living in 1984 in comparison with the society described in Orwell's novel 1984.
Documentary about a week at a health farm
Documentary which looks at the "finishing" education of three English girls, Natalie, Sarah and Francesca at Institut Videmanette, Rougemont, Switzerland.
Documentary which looks at the breakdown of the marriage between Eric and Lesley, and how it affects their lives and their children's lives.
Documentary which examines the processes by which access to children of a broken marriage is assessed and carried out, with study of a case under the jurisdiction of the Leicester Court Welfare Officers.
You've a sporting chance of making a passable documentary if your subject is ready and willing to co-operate with the cameras. But if he isn't, what can the programme maker do? When producer David Jones and journalist fellow-traveller Kevin Page set out on their voyage of exploration, they had high hopes of tracking down their quarry. But in deciding to penetrate the world of the industrial and political lobbyist they have taken on an elusive and cunning animal. The lobbyist thrives on anonymity - his low profile is a sure means of defence as he goes about his work of influencing politicians and top civil servants. Show him a camera and he goes to earth. After 40 minutes of travelling hopefully neither Jones nor Page can be sure whether they have arrived - or whether they have simply shown that it takes two to tango.
Once he was simply paid to dance with women. As time went by he became a different sort of partner, rewarded in money or in kind to be a dashing companion, a good listener, or accomplished lover. This documentary explores the delicate interface between the well-heeled woman and the men who live by her largesse. Little Billy, aged 83, from Rochdale is one of the few survivors of the dancing era. In his time as a ballroom gigolo, he only stole a kiss or two. By contrast 62-year-old Giovanni - an Italian gigolo - claims to have bedded 3,000 women in a life that has brought him good clothes, expensive dinners, holidays, allowances and the company of a sex that he adores. The tradition lives on in Philip from Santiago. In the prime of life, he too is a master in the art of hunting, seduction, and the enjoyment of worldly and fleshly rewards that come from women who are wealthy and in need of excitement.
Accents and dialects provoke strong prejudices and reactions. In a 40 Minutes film that examines why this should be, broadcaster Janet Street-Porter, Radio 4 announcer Susan Rae and actor Peter Bowles are among those who have suffered because of the way they speak. Meet the Queen's English Society, which keeps a candle burning for the purity of the spoken word, and the Devon Dialect Society, which has very different ideas about how vowels should sound. Eavesdrop on an elocution class, hear from Scottish schoolchildren whose accents might affect their job prospects, and go behind the scenes at the BBC Pronunciation Unit and the northern auditions for the Speaking Clock. See how fashions have changed over the years, and how trends are likely to develop in the future as we enter a world of talking robots and computers.
Roaring through the streets in dirty denims and leather, The Outcasts present a menacing appearance to the respectable folk of East Anglia. Theirs is an alternative world of wild parties, arrest and sudden death. This film shows a group most people would cross the street to avoid. It's a life which borders on the edge of society and the law, but one which is governed by strict rules and traditions. There are two faces to The Outcasts. One exists in the pounding of heavy metal music and the exhaust fumes of powerful customised motorbikes. The other lies in the day-to-day grind, where even Outcasts have livings to earn, children to feed and bills to pay.
All over Britain are strange and delightful buildings with one thing in common - they were created for animals. Lucinda Lambton is your guide to such follies. Castles, temples, palaces, obelisks and pyramids, they are a happy by-product of the British passion for animals.
The Hebrides - idyllic isles of wild beauty, majestic, remote, peaceful? That's not how Neil Gillies, 23 years old and unemployed, sees his island home of Vatersay. For him it's a place of isolation, boredom and drink. He can't wait to leave Vatersay, his widowed mother and his eight brothers and sisters, to try his luck in Glasgow. His prospects aren't good. Jobs are scarce, accommodation hard to find. There are compensations - Vatersay has few girls; Glasgow seems alive with them. Over the months, the demands of fending for himself begin to tell. When Neil leaves his hard-won job he escapes into the illusory comfort of alcohol. Should he have stayed on the island? Or can he come to terms with this uncompromising city of bed-sits, the dole and bars?
'I'm British', says the young lady with strawberry blonde hair and a Midlands accent, 'but I don't have a drop of British blood in me.' Carmen Laanemagi is from Leicester - and Estonia. Pauline Riemers is a nurse in Epsom; her parents are Latvian. Algis Kuliukas, a British Airways computer programmer, lives in Hounslow; he's part-Lithuanian. Last July they embarked on the Baltic Star in Stockholm. It was the beginning of an emotional and exciting voyage. The aim was to sail as close as they could get to the coasts of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia - now part of the Soviet Union. Forty years ago their parents had fled as refugees when the three Baltic states lost their short-lived independence. Now the lost children were returning - hoping for a distant glimpse of home. Narrator Ian Holm
They are four friends, rich young men - city commodity-brokers, the drinks trade. They belong to the right clubs. They hunt, shoot, play polo, make money. They had the idea of going fishing in Scotland for a few days in the autumn, to see if they could break the world record for a catch of skate. They ended up with something else. As the October weather squalls and shines, as the boat rolls on the stormy waters of the Pentland Firth, as the days pass without the big bite, so the jokes flow, the bottles are cracked, and Robert, John, Henry and Guy reveal their spirited, outspoken opinions. "Better for some to have privilege rather than nobody - let's lead from the top, not the bottom ... Many of our friends, in the City and the army, worry about the aggressive young men of the loony left...."
Carrick is a dirty British coaster - a 30-year-old tramp carrying unglamorous cargoes from port to port in the Channel and the North Sea. Her skipper and owner is Rick Waters , once part-time butler to Edward Heath: 'I resent people calling my ship a rust-bucket. She's an old lady who needs the occasional helping hand.' George Norman, the mate, looks after the cargoes. The ship could capsize if a cargo shifts at sea. Tom Owen, ex-Royal Navy, struggles with Carrick's dodgy engine. 'Most other merchant seamen regard coaster crews as the scum of the earth,' he says. Carrick makes uncertain progress through the mad March days, carrying fertilizer to Exmouth, grain to Antwerp, and spuds, improbably, to Wisbech. Coasters like Carrick can reach the ports that other ships can't....
The Gift of Life, with Nicholas Woolley, reveals in detail, for the first time, the dramatic human story of what would-be parents have to go through to have a test-tube baby. In October 1984 seven couples came to London's Hammersmith Hospital, where Robert Winston was the first consultant in Britain to offer IVF - fertilisation of the mother's egg by the father's sperm in a test-tube - on the NHS. This film follows what happened to them over the next year. Sue, at 39, has been trying for a baby for ten years. She'd had a miscarriage, 18 operations and five previous attempts at IVF - privately. They had cost her and her husband £7,000. Dawn, a hairdresser from Middlesex, felt so guilty about not being able to give her Italian husband a child that her marriage nearly broke up. Sharon, only 23, had nearly died during surgery after an ectopic pregnancy. The odds were against any one of the seven women conceiving a child.
Angela Huth asks why is it that as a nation, we have such a rotten reputation as dressers? What are we trying to say about ourselves through our appearance? 'Oh not black again, dear,' says Denis - but Margaret Thatcher knows a secret or two about old faithfuls and reliable standbys. Tonight the Prime Minister reveals, for the first time, the inside story of her wardrobe. Selina Scott always wanting 'to look a bit different from everyone else'; the probation officer who last wore a dress when she danced with the Prince of Wales; the bubbly society hostess who seems to wear only party dresses; the housewife with an eye for the 20p bargain with a designer label - these are just some of the extraordinary and ordinary women who unlock their wardrobes and tell all, proving that the only thing in vogue is individuality.
A cigarette holder dropped by Queen Mary when she came to tea, a fragment of wallpaper that may have killed Napoleon, a pet chameleon, a book bound in a murderer's skin.... Lucinda Lambton conjures up curiosities from the dark corners of museums and collections throughout the land. With her irrepressible sense of fun, she tells the story of the eccentrics who gathered these treasures.
An epic tale of pride and passion following competitive leek growers in the north east of England and the event they all dream of winning, the World Open Leek Championships.
Riding the Iron Horse - a roaring, full-throated Harley Davidson - across the open prairie is an American dream. Fifty thousand leather-clad bikers make romance come true as they converge, from all over the States and beyond, on Sturgis, a sleepy farming town in South Dakota. The 48th annual Black Hills Motorcycle Rally brings together weekenders on little Japanese bikes and hard-core, all-American Wild Ones. It's a raucous summer week of racing, drinking, partying and generally raising hell. 'The Sons of Silence' is one of the many bikers' chapters here. The Sons believe in America, freedom, white power, and loyalty to each other. They've got their own chaplain; women are not members, but 'property'. Rebels against convention, they live by their own strict code - 'We are the Sons of Silence until death'.
The public image is glamorous - warm smiles and crisp uniforms, good looks and faraway places. No wonder thousands of hopefuls apply each year to become air stewardesses or stewards. What happens to the few who succeed? Helen MacLeod , from Dunfermline, and Neil Dover , from Durham, both aged 21, are two of the latest batch of 15 trainees to join British Airways. They've hardly ever travelled before. Now there's a demanding six-week course and a lot to learn - how to put out fires and push people down chutes, how to deal with difficult passengers and flirtatious ones. What if there's a hijack - or a heart attack? How much are the duty frees in Japanese yen? If they pass their tests, Helen and Neil can look forward to a nerve-racking fledgling flight on a 747. After that - the excitement, insecurity and hard physical work of being 'waiters in the sky'.
Scarfe's Follies with Bob Geldof, Jane Asher, Terry Jones, Ian McKellen, Robin Bailey, Julian Glover, Marcia Warren, John Bird, John Challis, John Watts, Nellie the elephant and Ivy the camel. Gerald Scarfe records the follies of man in his cartoons. Now he wants to create his own folly. But what are follies - and why did eccentrics build them? Surrounded by high-kicking follies girls and borne by noble beasts, Scarfe sets off on a quest of discovery. He encounters a naughty vicar who built a folly garden for his gypsy girlfriend; a Welshman who burned his own son; a politician who got voters drunk; a man whose house resembles a jungle; and 'Mad Jack' Fuller, who built a steeple overnight to win a wager, and was buried in a pyramid with a bottle of port and a cold chicken. And as all the best follies contained a resident hermit, Scarfe advertises for one in the Times - with startling results.
'We've been told to watch out for pinko, leftist, gay-lib, one earring-wearing teachers....' Mark is a sixth-former at Rugby, a famous public school. It is the setting of Tom Brown's Schooldays. He's one of ten boys and girls from Rugby and ten from a comprehensive school, Ruffwood, who for two weeks change places. Ruffwood is a successful comprehensive in Kirkby, on the edge of Liverpool, where unemployment is high and opportunities are few. Rugby is steeped in tradition and rich in facilities. Parents pay fees of at least £6,600 a year. What will the Merseyside students make of the cadet force, chapel and May ball? How will the public-school pupils react to fish and chips in Kirkby? The boys and girls from Rugby and Ruffwood will glimpse a world that is unknown to them - can the barriers of class and wealth be overcome?
Lucinda Lambton travels along the Great North Road, the backbone of Britain that links London to Edinburgh, discovering many weird and wonderful delights en route.
The story of a remarkable young woman. It's Alison French's wedding day. She's 24 - vivacious, candid, attractive, with a warm smile and a lively sense of humour. Alison, professionally qualified as a youth worker, is marrying Mark John. What makes her wedding different is that she's an athetoid spastic - her body's never still, and she has difficulty with her speech. Seven years ago, 40 Minutes made an acclaimed film about Alison, telling of her bid to gain independence in the able-bodied world. Tonight's follow-up is a passionate love story. But in marrying the man she loves, Alison has to leave her family in Watford, set up a new home in South Wales, and adapt to being a clergyman's wife. Her heart is still set on finding an independent job. The harsh reality is that despite her skills and rare qualities, she may face rejection. But Alison doesn't give up easily...
An extraordinary story of heartache and humour, of friendship and maternal love. Did two women in a maternity unit somehow end up with each other's baby girl?
Lucinda Lambton has photographed houses for 27 years. She conducts a personal and enthusiastic tour around her favourites - some of Britain's oddest, most individual and delightful homes. Lucinda's travels take her to a Hollywood hacienda in Derbyshire, created for a man who banished straight lines; a clairvoyant's bijou residence in the air; a Gothic castle now being built by a ruralist in deepest Cornwall; a haunted Victorian hotchpotch of a place north of the Humber, where the tiles don't match; and a circular confection of great charm in Devon, created by the Misses Parminter.
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....'
A journey by Intercity into the world of the supernatural. Do you believe in ghosts? Helen McCormick does. She found an ancient crucifix in her cellar - and then saw a medieval monk walk past her kitchen window. Ambulanceman Ken Lobley rescued his aunt after a warning from an apparition. Nichola Thompson, aged 13, was reading, looked up, and saw her grandmother - wearing the pink shroud she'd been buried in two years earlier. Rev Jack Richardson investigates spooky Harnham Hall in Northumberland. He blesses the earthly remains of Kate Babington, who died a prisoner at Harnham in 1670. Eddie Burks, a 'clairsentient', is summoned to an RAF base to contact the ghost of an airman. Eerily, he describes how the man died and why he returns. And four nurses spend the night in 'the most haunted house in Britain' - with strange tales to tell the following morning....
It's said that 2,000 dogs and 4,000 cats are destroyed in Britain every day. Celia Hammond was a top fashion model. Now she's so furious about the destruction of healthy animals that she's given up her career, even her personal life, to rescue as many strays as she can. She prowls the wastelands and alleyways of London to save frightened, injured and lost cats. Her ultimate aim is to set up her own low-cost spaying and neutering clinics.
A real life soap opera is unfolding in Cardross Street, West London. A Royal Ballet star, a man who owns a share in a race horse, and a peer's daughter now live side by side with old folk who have rented their houses all their lives. Once the street was filled with families. Now it's being taken over and tarted up by the young rich with no children. 'Funeral today - skip tomorrow' is how the locals describe what's happening. Had they been able to afford it, the old timers could have bought their homes for £200. Now unmodernised two-up two-downs with outside loos are snapped up at £150,000. 'For the old people the street is a way of life,' says the Hon Henrietta Roper-Curzon . 'For us it is just a transitory thing. When they leave it's in a hearse. We leave in the removal van'. With John Pitman.
An insight into the first few months of Britain's first purpose-built AIDS hospice. London Lighthouse is an experiment. The building is striking. The approach to nursing is radical. The project could provide a model for the health care of the future. Beatty King, 26, is one of 15 nurses working at Lighthouse. On night shift, she spends the small hours gently negotiating with Colin, who's desperate to smoke, and sitting with Christopher, who is close to death. The patients appreciate having as much say as possible in how they are looked after. But as relationships develop, emotional pressures increase. Beatty admits, 'I don't think I realised what I was letting myself in for....'.
This acclaimed observational documentary by BAFTA award winning director Molly Dineen is set at London’s Angel tube station in 1989, three years before its desperately needed renovation. The programme provides a humorous account of 48 hours in the life of the tube station, from the daily round of fraught commuters, overburdened lifts and cancelled trains to the nightly activities when 'fluffers', women who clean human hair and rubbish of the tracks to avoid a fire hazard and ‘the Permanent Way’, gangs of men who work with pickaxes in almost pitch-black conditions to renovate parts of the track, spring into action to prepare the line for the following day.
At least one in every five children in Britain suffer from bullying. In our schools the problem is worse than anywhere else in Europe. 40 Minutes reveals what's really going on in the playground.
Ten of the most dangerous and disruptive men in the prison system have been brought together in an experimental unit at Hull Jail. A new softly-softly regime is being tested on inmates like Fred Low, who is serving three life sentences - one for killing a fellow prisoner - and Patrick Mackay, serving five life sentences for manslaughter and robbery. 40 Minutes gained access to the unit as the prisoners started to reveal themselves to the hand-picked staff, and as conflicts began. The most serious clash was over the only woman working full time in the unit, and it involved David McAllister, serving 19 years for armed robbery and assault, who later escaped from the unit and was on the run for five days. This film tells the story of the most controversial unit in our prisons.
In New Jersey, USA, a team of cops and scientists is 'busting' polluters. For the first time a film crew has been given total access to their operations. 40 Minutes follows the trail - the surveillance. the 'sting', the raid. Whether it's one small operator dumping chemicals on the street or the president of a multi-million-dollar company caught polluting a river - both are likely to face serious criminal charges. In New Jersey, they believe only tough action will deter dumpers. Is there a lesson for us in Britain?
Two children who feel sure they died terrible deaths and have been born again tell their extraordinary stories. Nicola, aged 12, lives in Keighley, Yorkshire, near to the railway tracks where she played in the 19th century in another life. Then, she says, she was a boy. Parish records suggest that it isn't just a childhood fantasy. Titu, aged 6, lives in north India in the shadow of the Taj Mahal. His is a violent story. He alleges he was gunned down by a murderer. Another vivid imagination? The radio shop he ran still exists, and his widow is still alive. When he mentions buried gold, it seems to jog her memory...
Malika Shawa is an old girl of Cheltenham Ladies College. She's also a Palestinian aristocrat, who owns the only hotel in the Gaza Strip. In the refugee camp next door, the Palestinian intifada - an uprising against Israeli occupation - began three years ago this week. Today, Malika's guests are a strange collection of journalists, diplomats and foreigners on fact-finding tours. For them, her hotel is 'an oasis from the filth, smells and violence that surrounds it'.
'I was born and brought up in Britain. I was 8 years old when I was circumcised. I really thought I was going to die, because of the pain, having no anaesthetic. You have a lady holding your mouth so you cannot scream, you have two ladies on your chest and the other two holding the legs.'. Seven years ago, 40 Minutes' first film on female circumcision led to the law which banned it in this country. Today's film reveals that the practice of genital mutilation of young girls is still flourishing in Britain today.
Five young Russian survivors of the Soviet Union's worst rail disaster arrive in Manchester for medical treatment. Badly burned in the explosion in 1989, they hope plastic surgeon Stewart Watson can help. Bewildered, without a word of English, they face major surgery and the unfamiliar west. Immediately they're the centre of attraction, with a press conference on their first day in hospital and an invitation to Downing Street before they leave.
For 47 years Alec Krawczynski has lived in Scotland. He is known as Alec the Pole. But his real name is not Krawczynski and he has never been to Poland. He came from the Ukraine and for nearly 50 years has kept a deadly secret. Now, as the Ukraine reaches out for independence, he discovers members of his family are still alive. He returns to the Ukraine to discover if his country and family are ready to forgive him for being, in his own words, a traitor.
A rape in the Irish village of Bray divides the community. Local man Gerry is sent to prison, separated from his wife Saundra and his children. But the rape victim is also isolated by her neighbours. "Nobody believed her. In Irish society it's all black and white, virgin or whore." Fifteen months later, Gerry's appeal draws near, raising new hopes in Saundra and old conflicts in the small world torn apart by the crime.
During the property boom, big profits could be made buying and selling London hotels used by councils to house the homeless. Now property prices have dropped and councils are cutting back on bed and breakfast bills. 40 Minutes takes a closer look at this notoriously secretive world.
An adventure story by international Emmy award-winning film-maker Nigel Evans. Into the jungles of a small Pacific island, Dr Danforth Artie Bookout leads his team of intrepid Texans to search for an aircraft and the body of Weyland Bennett, a "home-town boy" missing in action 50 years ago. Deep in the bush sits Chief Jean Marc waiting for his Texan pay packet to lumber into view. And two days' walk behind the Texan strides a local explorer who knows the secrets of Dr Dan's past.
Capturing escaped pythons, confiscating pet cougars or wrestling with exotic crocodiles - it's all in a day's work for Miami specialist police officer Lieutenant Kat Kelley. The locals are crazy about owning flamboyant pets and many of these exotic animals have escaped and multiplied over the years, threatening both people and native wildlife. Kelley is on call 24 hours a day and never knows what she will have to face. "We're fighting a losing battle here. Basically, nature is out of control."
At 34, 5ft 2ins tall and weighing 16 stone, Annette is desperate to lose weight. She has been told the only permanent solution is a stomach stapling operation. The surgeon says that with a specially adapted staple gun he can reduce the size of Annette's stomach to the length of a teaspoon. And that would mean she would only ever be able to eat tiny portions of food. Unable to bear her fat any longer, and with a family history of diabetes and heart disease, Annette feels she has nothing to lose. Meanwhile her friend Kath, who reduced from 19 to seven stone after her operation, is now back to a size 22 and about to enter hospital for a fourth operation.
What has happened to Essex Man in the 90's? Martin Smith and his girlfriend Mandy epitomise many young people whose champagne lifestyle has suffered in the recession-hit 90's. How do they feel about the country now?
Documentary following the career of the comedian Ernie Wise after the death in 1984 of his comedy partner Eric Morecambe. It charted the current work of the comedian who, since the death of his partner, had made West End appearances in The Mystery of Edwin Drood and concentrated largely on pantomime work. His autobiography, entitled Still On My Way To Hollywood, is referenced throughout the programme. Despite having the full co-operation of the subject, the programme has been criticised for focussing on him in a negative way, portraying a somewhat tragic figure and, in one section, memorably sees him reminiscing with a view of Eric Morecambe from one of their television programmes in the background. Wise is known to have been unhappy with the outcome of the broadcast programme, and it is notable for being his last major televised work prior to his death in 1999 from heart problems.
Independence, self-reliance, confidence. These are some of the qualities that the traditional single-sex English boarding school gives the children in its care. 40 Minutes follows some 8-year-old boys off to different boarding schools for the first time. Their parents and headmasters are confident that they are doing the right thing. But some ex-boarders are not so sure. These men feel that the experience of boarding at a young age was damaging.
This film looks at a theatre group who specialise in prison remedial work. By turning hardened criminals into actors, they challenge them to reveal human emotion from behind their masks of hardness.
Edward Mirzoeff looks back on his time at the helm of one of the most innovative and exciting strands of documentary film-making ever to appear on British television.
