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All Seasons

Season 1

  • S01E01 The Man at Dover

    • May 17, 1957
    • BBC

    Tonight the Eye to Eye Documentary team has a look at life in this country as it strikes a newcomer to these shores.

  • S01E02 Crime in a Big City

    • May 24, 1957
    • BBC

    Tonight 'Eye to Eye' focuses on crime in Birmingham. You will meet real characters from the underworld-men who have been operating outside the law. They will tell you how they work and how they are caught, and you will see how the police act in the endless war against crime.

  • S01E03 Line of Defence

    • May 31, 1957
    • BBC

    Tonight Eye to Eye tells the story of the medical officers of the Port of London Health Authority who stand on guard as the first line of defence against infectious disease. A ship from Asia is heading for the Channel; one of the passengers is sick; 'query smallpox' is the message sent by the ship's surgeon; in thirty-six hours they will be in London, capital of a country of fifty million people, only a quarter of whom are vaccinated.

  • S01E04 No Title to Life

    • June 7, 1957
    • BBC

    The Plight of the Illegitimate is examined with the cooperation of some of those who can speak authoritatively on the effect on the individual of being born out of wedlock. Every incident is based on an actual case history, but where it is necessary to preserve the anonymity of unmarried mothers and their children the faces seen are not those of the real people.

  • S01E05 Night in the City

    • June 14, 1957
    • BBC

    'Eye to Eye' looks at a provincial city from evening until dawn, and meets some of the people caught up in the restlessness and loneliness of the city night. Made by the BBC North Region Film Unit

  • S01E06 London-New York

    • June 21, 1957
    • BBC

    Tonight 'Eye to Eye' spans the Atlantic, and a musician who has lived in both cities interprets the scenes recorded by our cameras in streets 3,500 miles apart. Photographed in New York by Dick Bagley and in London by Charles Parnell. Piano accompaniment by Tom McCall

  • S01E07 Elba Boomerang

    • August 16, 1957
    • BBC

    Being the lament of a barber on the island of Elba and the experiences of six customers having a shave in his shop. Written and produced by Stephen Hearst.

  • S01E08 Climbing

    • August 23, 1957
    • BBC

    'Eye to Eye' watches some of Britain's leading rock-climbers as they demonstrate their skill and daring among the mountains of England and Wales. Made by BBC North Region Film Unit. Written and directed by Stanley Williamson. Sequences from the film of the ascent of Kangchenjunga by courtesy of Mr. Charles Evans.

  • S01E09 The Big Gamble

    • August 30, 1957
    • BBC

    Documentary looking at holidaymakers who take the 'Big Gamble' every summer - those who are willing to risk their savings on a stay at a British seaside resort, which could very well be ruined by bad weather. Filmed at Broadstairs beach.

  • S01E10 I Was a Stranger

    • September 6, 1957
    • BBC

    First transmitted in 1957, documentary telling the stories of men who reside and work at the Salvation Army's factory and residential hostel in Spa Road, Bermondsey.

  • S01E11 So Long to Learn

    • September 13, 1957
    • BBC

    The life so short, the craft... So Long to Learn Chaucer's comment, written 600 years ago, provides the key to this week's Eye to Eye picture of present-day young people. It tells the story of a boat-load of students, from the rival colleges of Battersea and Chelsea, on a summer outing on the Thames; dancing, talking, and thinking about the past and the future. Made with the help of Battersea College of Technology and Chelsea Polytechnic and School of Art. The people in tonight's film are all young; and though perhaps not typical of all young people they are typical of students. They are a representative handful of the 100,000 who attend full-time courses (and to some extent are representative of the greater number who attend part-time courses) in our technical colleges and universities. They also represent the people who within the next generation will be the leaders in industry, academic life, and artistic thought. For this edition of Eye to Eye we have chosen the rival colleges of Battersea and Chelsea, which by the end of the year will be among the first of the eight new colleges of advanced technology that are being set up by the Ministry of Education. The film itself tells the story of a riverboat jazz party organised by the two colleges, and between dancing and enjoying' themselves generally the students get involved in arguments. These, for example, deal with the advantages of going into industry as opposed to teaching; the narrowness of technical training-in which we see a lot of leg-pulling of the scientists by the artists-and finally, as the boat nears home, a discussion on religion. The programme also includes two big student raids. The atmosphere of the whole programme is gay, and the title itself is part of a fuller Chaucer quotation -'The Life so Short, the Craft So Long to Learn'. (Rex Moorfoot)

  • S01E12 Onion Johnnie

    • September 20, 1957
    • BBC

    Written by Stephen Hearst and Richard Cawston. Tonight, Eye to Eye compares the two ways of life of the familiar Breton onion-sellers. Commentary spoken by Jacques Brunius.

Season 2

  • S02E01 On Tour

    • February 21, 1958
    • BBC

    An Impression of backstage life In the small world of a touring revue company: a world of land-ladies and late suppers, of Sunday trains and Monday band calls, of high hopes and low billings.

  • S02E02 The More We Are Together

    • March 7, 1958
    • BBC

    For thirty minutes life is seen through the eyes of Mum and Dad, Vi, Lil, Nell, and Eileen - four sisters with four husbands. They are the Gladden family, and they all live within a stone's throw of each other in the East End of London, with eight children and a budgerigar. Introduced by Robert Reid. Written and produced by Stephen Hearst.

  • S02E03 Never Never

    • March 21, 1958
    • BBC

    Six million people buy something or other on hire purchase every year. How does H.P. work? What are the snags? How does the shopkeeper check up on his customers, and what happens if they don't keep up the payments? This programme looks at the instalment world and has a look under the counter as well. Introduced by Morris West. Written and produced by Richard Cawston.

  • S02E04 The Atom Men

    • April 4, 1958
    • BBC

    Two worlds clash on the remote shores of Caithness: An Atomic Research Station brings new people and a new way of life alongside the traditional world of fishermen and farmers. Narrated by Colin Wills. Written and produced by John Read.

  • S02E05 Now We Are Married

    • April 11, 1958
    • BBC

    To what extent do husbands and wives live in separate worlds, even though they are happily married? Romany Bain and Richard Findlater, a married couple themselves, examine this problem, Iightheartedly, by taking a look at the married lives of a journalist, a lorry driver, and a business man. Written and produced by Pamela Wilcox Bower.