About this season
Documentary programmes looking at aspects of contemporary British life.
Episodes (12)
1. The Man at Dover
Aired 17 May 1957 • 30 min
Tonight the Eye to Eye Documentary team has a look at life in this country as it strikes a newcomer to these shores.
2. Crime in a Big City
Aired 24 May 1957 • 30 min
Tonight 'Eye to Eye' focuses on crime in Birmingham. You will meet real characters from the underworld 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.
3. Line of Defence
Aired 31 May 1957 • 30 min
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, the capital of a country of fifty million people, only a quarter of whom are vaccinated.
4. No Title to Life
Aired 7 June 1957 • 30 min
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.
5. Night in the City
Aired 14 June 1957 • 30 min
'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
6. London-New York
Aired 21 June 1957 • 30 min
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
7. Elba Boomerang
Aired 16 August 1957 • 30 min
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
8. Climbing
Aired 23 August 1957 • 30 min
'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 courtesy of Mr. Charles Evans.
9. The Big Gamble
Aired 30 August 1957 • 30 min
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.
10. I Was a Stranger
Aired 6 September 1957 • 30 min
First transmitted in 1957, this documentary tells the stories of men who reside and work at the Salvation Army's factory and residential hostel in Spa Road, Bermondsey.
11. So Long to Learn
Aired 13 September 1957 • 30 min
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.
12. Onion Johnnie
Aired 20 September 1957 • 30 min
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.