Season 4

1971 · 31 episodes

Episodes

1A Child Is BornHow safe is it to have a baby today? For the mother it is very safe. There is less than one death for every 5,000 confinements. But for the baby the position is not good enough. In the short perinatal period - the time between the seventh month of pregnancy and the first week of life -a little over two per cent of all babies are lost This amounts to 20,000 babies a year, which is about three times the number of people of all ages killed on the roads. The problem is as much social as obstetric- inequality starts before birth. A survey has revealed that the unborn baby whose father is an unskilled worker has twice the risk of dying or being handicapped as the unborn baby of a Professional man.
2Ports In Peril - London And RotterdamFor centuries London was the greatest port in the world: today Rotterdam leads while London lags - sadly behind. Yet both are now in peril-a peril which may be inevitable for those who must catch the tide to fortune. What happens on the Thames is vital to this country because so much of her wealth and tradition is derived from ships and the sea; and we cannot afford to ignore Rotterdam which seems to be setting the style for other ports In the 1970s.
3The Red CrossAn international organisation, born out of war, yet still in constant demand. The Red Cross was responsible for negotiating the release of hijacked passengers, co-ordinating relief in the Jordan civil war, and aid in the Pakistan floods. The name ' Red Cross ' instantly conjures up the word Relief. But how is it dispensed, who runs it, to whom will it give aid and when? Are they in fact the right organisation to give relief? To answer these questions a film crew was put on standby ready to film the Red Cross at work the instant a disaster was declared. In a world where war now means either civil strife or total annihilation and where politics plays an ever increasing role, the Red Cross is having to adapt and modernise its approach to Aid. Has it?
4Test For LifeDo our children get a fair deal from their examiners? Part of school and university life is a hurdle race, run, so the theory goes, to sort the excellent from the middling from the failures. It is called the examination system and it is used to label young people for life. Most parents accept without question that sometimes at 11, then at 15 or 16, maybe at 18, 21, 22 or even beyond, their sons and daughters should be put on trial by examination. Some will Pass: more will fail-affecting family and careers. A fair-sized minority of results will be unfair: marking errors, health, nerves and other factors will distort them. Is this a fair and accurate way of judging human beings and should parents and employers put such faith in paper results? With teachers and educationists we follow a group of young people aged between 15 and 22 through their exams over one year to look for the answers.
5Battleship BismarckThe Story of an Epic Chase Introduced by Ludovic Kennedy Thirty years ago this week - 27 May, 1941 - the ship Hitler called ' the pride of the German Navy' was sent to the bottom by the guns and torpedoes of the British Fleet. So ended one of the most fantastic chases in the history of Naval warfare. It lasted seven days, spread over some two million square miles of ocean, and during it 3,500 men died. At stake was Britain's lifeline, the convoy route to America. For Ludovic Kennedy it is a very personal story. As a Sub-Lieutenant in the destroyer HMS Tartar he took part in the pursuit, and witnessed the end of Bismarck. Tonight he tells the story of her last voyage with the help of those on either side who were there.
6That Well-Known Store In KnightsbridgeAn objective look inside a unique phenomenon in the world of shops with comments from Sir John Betjeman Marjorie Proops Graham Turner Department stores are very much part of British life-medieval market places, roofed over richly adorned and centrally heated. This programme examines the nature of one which grew from an obscure Victorian grocery to be a household word, a significant clue to understanding the British and a sophisticated joke. An extraordinary shop designed to please the fastidious and the rich, it is also a mirror of social changes over the past 120 years. Is it an anachronism in the 70s? Does it cater for a nostalgia for the sort of privilege we would all like? Or is it just one of those things that makes this country different from others? Like it or not, this huge emporium exists and flourishes.
7The Great 20th-Century Love Affair: The People v The CarIt's already lasted for more than 80 years - but this particular love affair still seems pretty passionate. Mind you, the loved one has been behaving rather badly-killing 100,000 people last year, pumping thousands of tons of poisons into the air, wasting millions of pounds through congestion and the cost of accidents. Despite it all, the love affair shows little sign of breaking up. It's a complex relationship and tonight's unconventional programme explores some of the many subtleties of our magnificent obsession.
8The Unborn Child - A New DilemmaRecent advances enable doctors to diagnose certain diseases in the unborn child and under the new Abortion Act to terminate the pregnancy. The birth of mongols, and children with some forms of muscular dystrophy, could be greatly reduced in this way. But what if doctors discover that personality defects can also be detected in the unborn child? Would an abortion be justified? A few years ago such a claim was in fact made. In the opinion of a leading consultant child-specialist, who introduces tonight's documentary, this new technique poses a serious ethical dilemma which cannot be left to the doctors alone. Society must share the moral responsibility.
9The Lion Of JudahA film by Anthony de Lotbiniere The story of a living legend - His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia Tracing his descent from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba this tiny old man now nearing 80 looks back on a reign that has brought Ethiopia out of the Dark Ages, and on a life which more than any other man's symbolises Africa's emergence into the 20th century.
10Salvage At SeaA film about the breakdown men of the Seven Seas Narrated by FRANK WINDSOR A third of all vessels are involved in accidents every year. The thin red line that prevents the crippled ship from becoming a total loss is the Professional Salvor - the salvage man with his powerful ocean-going tug. His work is tough and skilled. It is also secretive and highly competitive. He is playing for high stakes - salvage awards in cash that can run into hundreds of thousands of pounds. So he lurks around the congested shipping lanes and maritime black spots ... waiting and listening. Sooner or later, the radio operator will pick up a ' May Day' call, and then the salvage man will pounce ...
11Paid OffThe story of people without jobs told by James Burke. Just what happens to a boss in 1971 when he finds there is no work for him - anywhere. How does an unemployed executive adjust to the dramatic fall in his standard of living? What does the ex-managing director's wife secretly think as she sees him off to the dole queue on a Friday? And as the months drag by, how does the rejected Top Person cope with his mounting fears - and debts? The position of the top executive has always been a precarious one. Today - as the casualties in the boardrooms of Britain daily increase in number - he is more vulnerable than ever. And new jobs have never been so hard to find.
12Strike CommandEvery day Russian military aircraft and ships operate in considerable numbers around our shores. It is the responsibility of RAF Strike Command to counter these probings. Tonight's documentary shows for the first time actual operations being carried out in the Defence of Britain in the Seventies. In the film we see the shadowing of the Russian fleet and its submarines, the locating of spy boats, and the interception by RAF fighters of Russian military aircraft. RAF Strike Command is described as being in the front-line of Britain's defence. How does it operate? Is it really effective in this nuclear age?
13Just Let Them Notes Come Out Right...I didn't get no diplomas for nothing I'm doin'. No. Just let them notes come out right ... When trumpeter Louis Armstrong died on 6 July, jazz lost the most important creative force in its history, and show-business one of its most lovable entertainers. Tonight's documentary is an adaptation of an Omnibus programme shown last year in honour of his 70th birthday. It includes an extended interview with ' Satchmo' himself, and looks back over his extraordinary career.
14Flying DoctorIn 10 years Michael Wood with his aeroplane has brought advanced surgery to primitive hospitals across the bush of East Africa. It has been an exciting and dangerous job covering an area as large as western Europe, over terrain sparsely populated and as hostile as any on earth-forests, swamps, deserts and snow-capped mountains. It is the only feasible way to bring surgical help to the vast remote areas of underdeveloped countries. This film, shot across thousands of miles of country from north of the equator to the south of Tanzania, is about the small beginnings of an adventure, the end of which is not in sight. It is the story of a man who has everything a pioneer needs - courage, luck and unreasonable optimism.
15Ping-Pong In PekingIn the light of President Nixon's historic visit, what is modern China actually like? In April ithis year, MAX HASTINGS and a camera crew from 24 Hours walked across the Shumchun bridge from Hong Kong into China. After five bitter years of private turmoil, China had thrown back the shutters and opened the nation's door -at least a crack-to an ever-fascinated outside world. Initially Hastings was invited only to cover international table-tennis, but was later given permission to travel extensively within China and to bring back these glimpses of life on the other side of the bamboo curtain.
16The Irresistible Rise Of Axel SpringerA personal success story that exactly parallels that of West Germany itself. Twenty-five years ago Axel Springer was unknown. Today his name is a household word in West Germany. At 59 he is one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the country - as well as being one of the most controversial. Springer is a newspaper publisher, the boss of the greatest press empire on the European continent, and as such a considerable influence in his country's affairs.
17The Noise InvasionAn enquiry into noise and its effects on you. Do you work in a noisy environment? Do you have to shout at close quarters to make yourself heard? If you do, you are almost certainly going deaf. The damage that has already been done to your ears is permanent. You may not notice it at the moment but, by the time you are 60, you will have difficulty using the phone, talking to people - and watching television. But you cannot claim it as an industrial injury. With the speed at which social attitudes are changing, noise as a constant and unavoidable feature of our daily lives is rapidly becoming the most important environmental issue. Something can be done - but at a price. The RB 211 could solve the problem of aircraft noise-but it broke Rolls-Royce. Are you prepared to pay the price? What are your priorities?
18Take Me Somewhere East Of SuezEast of Suez for JACK BRIGGS means the oil-rich Sheikdoms of the Persian Gulf. Twenty years a policeman, along the shores of the Gulf he has found the most exotic beat in the world. This ex-PC from Blackpool is now Commandant of Police to SHEIK RASHID BIN MAKTUM, the Ruler of Dubai. Soon the last of the British garrisons and British administrators in the Middle East will be leaving the Persian Gulf. The remaining British Protectorates there will emerge from the shadows of the Empire on which the sun has set - seven tiny desert sheikdoms of which Dubai is one. But there will still be jobs for British administrators and policemen East of Suez - men like Jack Briggs. Tonight's film is about an Arab Sheik, his British policeman and the patch of desert they both love and for which they both feel deeply responsible.
19When Fire Fell From The SkiesThe Defeat of the German Air Force 1939-1945 One of the decisive factors in the defeat of Hitler's Germany was the Luftwaffe's failure to win the battle for the skies. Even during the war the German public criticised their Air Force and today the Luftwaffe's aims and tactics are still being questioned. Could the Third Reich have survived if Hitler had used his secret weapons-the jet planes and rockets - as his Air Generals advised him? Was there a mutiny among the German pilots at a vital stage in the war that the Nazis managed to keep secret? Was it the RAF's tactics -the decision to make massive raids on German cities, and not exclusively on military targets - that allowed the Luftwaffe to keep on fighting in spite of Hitler's mistakes and ' Goering's indecision? This documentary, made by West German Television, using combat film and interviews with ex-Luftwaffe Generals, tries to answer these questions.
20The Fight For ClydesideOn 14 June 1971 the Government announced that there would be no more money for Upper Clyde Shipbuilders. The next day a liquidator was appointed. Six thousand men and their families faced the prospect of unemployment in a city where one in ten is already jobless - where the Hungry 30s are a living memory. Shop stewards and workers refused to accept the situation. Instead they initiated an entirely new form of industrial action: a ' work-in ' - running the shipyards themselves and defying redundancy notices. Hugh Cochrane , born and raised on Clydeside, has followed the course of events since the day of the announcement. His personal account reflects the view from Clydeside of an unprecedented industrial battle.
21Christians At WarJim Douglas Henry and one film crew lived with a Catholic family. Harold Williamson and another crew lived with a Protestant family. With these two families, with their friends and relatives, it is possible to feel something of the tragedy that exists for ordinary people in Belfast. A year ago things were bad enough. The families filmed then had some hope for the future. Now, twelve months later, revisiting the same families, there is just despair and fear.
22The Car MakersThe Story of the Men Who Built Britain's Motor Industry On the eve of the Motor Show this film tells the inside story of the way a major British industry was created, from its beginnings back in 1896 up to the present day. At first it was an industry which provided fertile soil for crooks and charlatans as well as good engineers. But, although it brought fabulous wealth to a few men, it bankrupted hundreds more. Its future came to depend heavily on a handful of men, yet it became more important to the economy than any other single industry. The larger the British-owned sector grew the more did its fate rest on the clash of a few strong personalities.
23ExpulsionEvery boy and girl will come into contact with drugs, in some form or other, before they leave school. This film meticulously reconstructs five crucial days in the life of a sixth-form college in Berkshire which was brought face to face with drug-taking in its midst. The film was shot at the actual school, and the dialogue is based on statements made at the time and before a witness. Actors have replaced two police detectives and those students who were deeply implicated. But all the others appearing in the reconstruction are the actual people involved - the students, the staff of the college, and the Principal. This true story begins when a plain-clothes police officer overhears a group of pupils talking about drugs. It traces in detail the conflict of loyalty that developed within the community, the events which led to several expulsions, and a sequel that was unforeseen and tragic.
24Indira Gandhi Of IndiaMrs Indira Gandhi Prime Minister of India talks to Lord Chalfont about her life and times. She was born Indira Priyadarshini Nehru in Allahabad in 1917. Her father, Jawaharlal Nehru , was one of the supreme architects of Indian independence and became the first Indian Prime Minister. She was involved from early childhood in the struggle for freedom and like the rest of her family was imprisoned by the British. Now she is Prime Minister of the largest democracy in the world, the elected leader of 550,000,000 people. This week Mrs Gandhi comes to London as the guest of the British Government.
25Making Of A Republic - Fifty Years of Irish IndependenceFifty years ago the British presence was withdrawn from all but six counties of Ireland after seven centuries of disputed rule. A treaty signed by Britain with Irish rebels in December 1921 created not the republic the Irish had hoped for, but a British dominion comparable in status to Canada to be called the Irish Free State. Six of the 32 counties were formed into the province of Northern Ireland and remained in the United Kingdom. Tonight's documentary looks at what happened after the British left and how the Irish Free State eventually became the modern Republic of Ireland.
26Something For The ChildrenChildren now spend more than £125 million a year in pocket money and adults spend many times as much again on them. The enormous growth of the children's leisure market has had unforeseen consequences on three main industries - publishing, toys and television. The most dramatic has been in the toy industry where the Father Christmas image has been decisively put out into the snow. Books boom. Television finds the strings of its conscience tweaked by puppets - the ones that go into those series that children can watch on the screen and at the same time into the many lines of character merchandise, from soap to jigsaws, that they can buy or cry for in the shops.
27In Search Of The Real Che GuevaraAt 15, a man already knows what he wants to die for, and he's not afraid of giving his life-if he has found an ideal, which makes this sacrifice justified.' Che Guevara died for his beliefs. To the young, therefore, he's a hero. To the old, a threatening symbol of violent, long-haired disturbance. But do either young or old know what his beliefs were, or why he died? Che Guevara's life was lived and his ideals forged in South America - with problems and values a world away from ours. And yet his life and death are not irrelevant to us. This film searches his context, his actions and his ideals for clues to the man behind the myth.
28Our Children And The GermansIs the German arrogant, a beer swiller, aggressive, fat, jack-booted and blond, pompous or just not to be trusted? Ask a British citizen and impressions like these may be high on the list. Every summer, in an effort to dispel these cliches, the West German government part sponsors visits by young people from Britain. One such group is from Barnstaple in Devon: a generation who know little about the last war and may soon find themselves partners with a country their parents fought. Tonight's documentary watches as one group of young people come to grips with the German way of life and decide whether they want to be part of the new Europe or not.
29A Question Of Survival - 1: Public PoisonShould a scientist who believes that he has evidence in his hands of dangerous pollution speak out before the proof is conclusive and risk alarming the public? Or should he remain silent? Three metals - mercury, lead and cadmium-that have no place in the human body are threatening the existence of human beings in several parts of the world. Fishermen in Japan and children in Missouri have suffered physical and mental illnesses attributed to metallic poisoning. On the other side of the coin the resulting scare has put hundreds of fishermen out of work in Canada and America. There is now evidence that we on this island might be running risks of similar poisoning. What would happen if we avoided the evidence and how big would be the price to pay if we heeded it too soon?
30A Question Of Survival - 2: Go Play in the Nuclear Power ParkBy the end of the century, over half our electricity will probably be generated by nuclear reactors. As our dependence on atomic energy grows, scientists are becoming increasingly disturbed by the evidence that this technology, created to aid man, may become one of the greatest dangers to his survival. There are two major fears: first, that the constant release of low-level radiation may eventually cause a massive increase in leukaemia and cancer of all kinds; secondly, that a nuclear reactor could ' melt down ' - releasing large amounts of radioactive fall-out, causing certain death to anyone in its path. Without nuclear energy, we may lack the power on which we are increasingly dependent. With it, we may be putting the world at risk.
31Jerusalem InternationalThe tourists and pilgrims scatter across the countryside around Jerusalem in search of the shrines of three of the world's great religions-Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Tonight's film takes us with them - into the Tomb of Christ, to the site of Calvary, and the Ascension, to the Dome of the Rock where Mohammed left his footprint in the stone, and the Tomb of Abraham where Jews and Arabs worship side by side. But be prepared for some surprises. For instance there's a talking camel on the Mount of Olives. And a lady who saw the Virgin Mary. And two completely different places where Jesus went up to heaven. And a Franciscan monk whose ambition is to tear down his church. And there are problems with mice in the Manger at Bethlehem.