Reel History of Britain
Reel History of Britain is a 20 part series being shown on BBC Two, presented by Melvyn Bragg and about the history of modern Britain; through the eyes of people who were there. It was shown from 5–30 September 2011. The programme is a social history documentary, charting the course of the twentieth century through archive film, plus interviews and recollections of key events that have taken place in the last one-hundred years, since the advent of moving film. In each episode, Bragg goes to a different place in the UK and shows people film in a 1950s Ministry of Technology mobile cinema, then gauges their reactions and captures them on film.
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Cast
Seasons
- Ep 1
1.Britain's Wartime Evacuees
05-09-2011In Torquay, Melvyn looks back to the 1940s and the largest mass movement of people in British history - wartime evacuation. Bunty Tait shares her epic adventure of a runaway evacue...
- Ep 2
2.Britain's First Teenagers
06-09-2011In Soho, Melvyn looks back to the 1950s and a time when Britain broke free of the burdens of the Second World War and the teenager was born. One of the original trendsetters, Wee W...
- Ep 3
3.Soldier, Soldier
07-09-2011At the Queen's Lancashire Regiment Museum and Barracks in Preston, Melvyn looks back to the First World War, when British men answered the call to fight for king and country. Rita...
- Ep 4
4.Britain's Black Diamonds
08-09-2011At the Big Pit Mining Museum in South Wales, Melvyn looks back to the 1930s and salutes Britain's Black Diamonds, brave miners who risked their lives digging for the coal that powe...
- Ep 5
5.The Roaring Twenties
09-09-2011At Cliveden House in Berkshire, Melvyn looks back to the Roaring Twenties to discover how the other half lived, when a group of bright young people created Britain's first modern c...
- Ep 6
6.Britain's Home Guard
12-09-2011Today we're pulling up at Osterley Park in Middlesex, the site of the first Home Guard training school, to look back to the Second World War and a time when millions of ordinary me...
- Ep 7
7.Britain's National Disgrace
13-09-2011Today we're pulling up in Columbia Road in the East End of London, to look back to the 1930s and a time when millions of people across Britain lived in the squalor of urban slums....
- Ep 8
8.Britain On the Move
14-09-2011Today we're pulling up at the Haynes International Motor Museum in Somerset, to look back to the 1960s when dreams of the open road became a reality for the first time for millions...
- Ep 9
9.The Glory Days of Fishing
15-09-2011Today we're pulling up in Great Yarmouth, once home to the world's largest herring fleet, to look back to the 1920s and the heyday of British fishing. We'll speak to Fred Normandal...
- Ep 10
10.Sun, Sea and Sangria
16-09-2011This episode comes from Bristol airport and looks back to the 1970s, when package holidays really took off and millions of British holidaymakers headed abroad. Former Pontins ente...
- Ep 11
11.The Birth of the NHS
19-09-2011Today we are pulling up at the College of Medical and Dental Sciences in Birmingham, to look back to 1948 and the formation of the NHS. June Rosen will share with us a childhood me...
- Ep 12
12.Steel Ships and Iron Men
20-09-2011Today, Melvyn Bragg travels to the site of the once great John Brown's shipyard in Clydebank near Glasgow to look back to the Thirties when Britain's shipyards, once the wonder of...
- Ep 13
13.A Right Royal Knees Up
21-09-2011Today on Reel History we are going back to 1977 to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. It was a time of great celebration across Britain and many people held street...
- Ep 14
14.Britain's Green and Pleasant Land
22-09-2011Melvyn Bragg is in Kent to look back at films of rural life from the 1930s.
- Ep 15
15.Britain's Secondary Modern Schools
23-09-2011Archive footage telling the history of modern Britain. A look back to the 1960s when an exam, the eleven-plus, could map out a child's future.
- Ep 16
16.Long to Reign Over Us
26-09-2011Melvyn visits London's Horse Guard's parade to look back to the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and remember an event when the nation celebrated and television took off. Lady...
- Ep 17
17.Streets in the Sky
27-09-2011This episode of Reel History comes from the Park Hill Estate in Sheffield as we look at Housing redevelopment in the 1960s. Park Hill and estates like it were seen as the solution...
- Ep 18
18.The End of the Line
28-09-2011Melvyn Bragg is in Sheringham in Norfolk to look at the final years of steam railways.
- Ep 19
19.Dawn of a New Era
29-09-2011In Manchester, he looks at the first films made in the early 1900s.
- Ep 20
20.Beside the Seaside
30-09-2011The last stop is Blackpool, as we look at seaside holidays in the 1950s.
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