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 (25)
1. Gigolo
Aired 1 November 1984 • 40 min
Gigolos and the different types.
2. The Happy Medium
Aired 8 November 1984 • 40 min
About the medium Doris Stokes.
3. The Grendon Experiment
Aired 15 November 1984 • 40 min
Grendon prison in Buckinghamshire, Britain's only voluntary psychiatric prison.
4. Love in Exile
Aired 22 November 1984 • 40 min
The Duke and Duchess of Windsor in self-imposed exile.
5. On the Throne
Aired 29 November 1984 • 40 min
The history of lavatories.
6. Rent Boys
Aired 6 December 1984 • 40 min
Young male prostitutes in Manchester and Birmingham.
7. Asylum
Aired 13 December 1984 • 40 min
The mental asylum in Choroszcz in Poland where patients work in the community.
8. The Loved Ones
Aired 20 December 1984 • 40 min
The Animal Medical Centre in New York.
9. The Promised Land
Aired 10 January 1985 • 40 min
Britain forty years ago, contrasted with present day Britain.
10. Talking Proper
Aired 17 January 1985
Accents and dialects provoke strong prejudices and reactions. In a 40 Minutes film that examines why this should be, broadcaster Janet Street-Porter, Radio 4 announcer Susan Rae and actor Peter Bowles are among those who have suffered because of the way they speak. Meet the Queen's English Society, which keeps a candle burning for the purity of the spoken word, and the Devon Dialect Society, which has very different ideas about how vowels should sound. Eavesdrop on an elocution class, hear from Scottish schoolchildren whose accents might affect their job prospects, and go behind the scenes at the BBC Pronunciation Unit and the northern auditions for the Speaking Clock. See how fashions have changed over the years, and how trends are likely to develop in the future as we enter a world of talking robots and computers.
11. Sweet F.A.
Aired 24 January 1985 • 40 min
The group 'Fascinating Aida' and the making of their first pop record.
12. The End of the Pier Show
Aired 31 January 1985 • 40 min
The problems of putting on a show in the old style of pier entertainments at Cromer, Norfolk.
13. The Outcasts
Aired 7 February 1985 • 40 min
A group of 'Hell's Angels' in East Anglia.
14. Love Story
Aired 14 February 1985 • 40 min
A film for St Valentine's Day.
15. Free!
Aired 21 February 1985 • 40 min
Old Victorian mental hospitals are being closed down and the former patients face problems.
16. Whose House Is It Anyway?
Aired 28 February 1985 • 40 min
A local Council has a compulsory purchase order on the home of two elderly men.
17. The Eternal Triangle: The Mistress
Aired 7 March 1985 • 40 min
The first film in a trilogy which examines the Eternal Triangle.
18. The Eternal Triangle: The Wife
Aired 14 March 1985 • 40 min
The second film in a trilogy which examines the Eternal Triangle.
19. The Eternal Triangle: The Husband
Aired 21 March 1985 • 40 min
The third film in a trilogy which examines the Eternal Triangle.
20. Union Street
Aired 28 March 1985 • 40 min
Plymouth, the area near the docks.
21. Whatever Happened to Baby Paul?
Aired 4 April 1985 • 40 min
The story of a woman who took her baby to hospital where he was found to have several fractures. She denied having caused the injuries but he was taken from her care.
22. Matters of Life and Death
Aired 11 April 1985 • 40 min
The effects of government cuts leading to the closure of a ward in Guy's Children's Hospital.
23. Star Paws
Aired 18 April 1985 • 40 min
Animals used in advertising.
24. Laughter in Gabrovo
Aired 2 May 1985 • 40 min
The biennial festival of humour in Bulgaria. Can humour cross national boundaries?
25. Dear Mr President
Aired 9 May 1985 • 40 min
The story of a family whose daughter is handicapped because of a drug taken by her mother during pregnancy. The American drug company claims the drug is safe.