About this season
40 Minutes was a BBC TV documentary strand broadcast on BBC Two between 1981 and 1994. The documentaries could be on any possible subject, the only connection being that they last forty minutes. Some documentaries in the original series were revisited and updated in a 2006 version, Forty Minutes On.
Episodes (26)
1. Mistress
Aired 30 October 1983 • 40 min
Interviews with three mistresses.
2. Bodyline
Aired 8 November 1983 • 40 min
The M.C.C. Cricket tour of Australia in 1931 and the controversial tactics of the M.C.C. Captain Douglas Jardine.
3. Something for the Ladies
Aired 13 November 1983 • 40 min
Mr Universe, Bachelor of the Year and others competitions for men.
4. House of Love
Aired 20 November 1983 • 40 min
The religious cult of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.
5. Innocent Until Proved Guilty
Aired 27 November 1983 • 40 min
The remand system in the UK and the lives of untried prisoners.
6. Jail Within a Jail
Aired 4 December 1983 • 40 min
The maximum security unit at Maidstone Prison.
7. Who's a Pretty Girl, Then?
Aired 11 December 1983 • 40 min
Finding Miss Pears 1983.
8. Pranks
Aired 18 December 1983 • 40 min
Professional pranksters and singing telegrams.
9. 1984 Voices in a City
Aired 5 January 1984 • 40 min
Comparison between life in Orwell's novel and the reality of life in 1984.
10. Health Farm
Aired 12 January 1984 • 40 min
A week at a health farm.
11. Swiss Finishing School
Aired 19 January 1984 • 40 min
Three English girls at Institut Villa Pierrefeu in Switzerland.
12. Divorce: Unreasonable Behaviour
Aired 26 January 1984 • 40 min
The effect of a divorce on a couple and their children
13. Divorce: The Law... and After
Aired 2 February 1984 • 40 min
How parents' access to children of a broken marriage is determined.
14. The Mating Season
Aired 9 February 1984 • 40 min
The annual 'crack' at Lisdoonvarna in Ireland visited by a group of Chicagoan women in search of romance.
15. Skiffle
Aired 16 February 1984 • 40 min
The history of Skiffle and the development of 'home-made' music.
16. Pigeons: Queer Facts
Aired 23 February 1984 • 40 min
Attitudes to pigeons.
17. Educating Michael
Aired 1 March 1984 • 40 min
Working class children in assisted places at public schools.
18. Delmelza's Baby
Aired 8 March 1984 • 40 min
Attitudes in a small Cornish community to two lovers and their baby.
19. A Problem with Sex
Aired 15 March 1984 • 40 min
The work of the sex therapist.
20. The School on the Hill
Aired 22 March 1984 • 40 min
Lagan College in Belfast, a school planned for the integration of protestants and Roman Catholics.
21. Animal Antiques
Aired 29 March 1984 • 40 min
Rare breeds of farm animals.
22. Travelling Hopefully
Aired 5 April 1984 • 40 min
Professional political lobbyists.
23. Sun City
Aired 12 April 1984 • 40 min
The African Las Vegas.
24. Bertie and the Bomb
Aired 19 April 1984 • 40 min
Bertrand Russell and the founding of CND.
25. Oh Alien
Aired 26 April 1984 • 40 min
How the world would look to a being from another planet.
26. Boycott
Aired 3 May 1984 • 40 min
The career of cricketer Geoffrey Boycott.