About this season
World in Action was Granada Television’s flagship ITV current affairs series, running from 7 Jan 1963 to 7 Dec 1998, and built a reputation for film-led investigative reporting and a forceful editorial stance. Its journalism produced major public and political repercussions—including investigations associated with miscarriages of justice such as the Birmingham Six—and it also served as a platform for landmark documentary projects, including the first broadcast of “Seven Up!” as part of the strand in 1964.
Episodes (30)
1. Mr. Benn's Secret Service
Aired 7 January 1980
Mr Benn questions the role of the Civil Service and whether it is becoming too powerful and unanswerable for the country's good?
2. Cambodia Year One - The Aid Crisis
Aired 14 January 1980
3. Cambodia Year One - Life After Death
Aired 21 January 1980
4. The Man Who Bought United
Aired 28 January 1980
5. The Steel Papers
Aired 4 February 1980
6. Behind the Paper Curtain
Aired 11 February 1980
7. The Pulse of America
Aired 18 February 1980
8. The Final Harvest
Aired 25 February 1980
9. Claimant, Scrounger, Snooper, Spy
Aired 3 March 1980
Case studies of people on both sides of the current crackdown on social security fraud.
10. Follow the Yellow Cake Road
Aired 10 March 1980
11. Decline and Fall
Aired 17 March 1980
12. Alive and Well in the U.S.A.
Aired 24 March 1980
13. Not in the Public Interest
Aired 14 April 1980
14. Spying for Survival
Aired 21 April 1980
15. The Pound in Their Pocket
Aired 28 April 1980
16. The Trial of Stanley Adams
Aired 12 May 1980
17. Britain Over a Barrel
Aired 19 May 1980
18. A Bad Day for Southall
Aired 2 June 1980
19. Mr. Kane's Campaign
Aired 9 June 1980
20. Special: What Do You Think of It So Far?
Aired 10 June 1980
A review of Britain's membership of the Common Market.
21. Market Day
Aired 16 June 1980
22. Fly the Flag, Pay the Price
Aired 23 June 1980
23. Russian Games
Aired 30 June 1980
24. Mr. Stock and the Thursday Gang
Aired 7 July 1980
25. Last Stand at Lisburn
Aired 14 July 1980
With communities across Northern Ireland, from the end of the 1960s Lisburn suffered through three decades of political violence, "The Troubles". For Lisburn the first killings came in 1976: in the course of the year, five Catholic residents died as a result of gun and bomb attacks by the Ulster Defence Association and the new Ulster Volunteer Force, loyalist paramilitary groups that subsequently entered their own feud.
26. Vietnam - Prisoner of War
Aired 14 July 1980
27. A Dignified Exit
Aired 28 July 1980
"EXIT" - the society for the right to die with dignity, are publishing a controversial suicide guide for terminally ill people who require a dignified death.
28. The Tirion Programme
Aired 4 August 1980
29. Suffer the Children
Aired 11 August 1980
30. The Chart Busters
Aired 18 August 1980
Investigating allegations that the pop music charts are controlled not by consumers, but by manipulative tactics of the big record companies, thus not being a true reflection of popularity at all.