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 (27)
1. Terror
Aired 5 November 1987 • 40 min
How three people's lives were permanently affected by the TWA plane hi-jack.
2. Girls Apart
Aired 12 November 1987 • 40 min
Two South African school-girls, one black, one white - their contrasting attitudes and lives.
3. Love at First Sight
Aired 19 November 1987 • 40 min
Five couples describe what happened when they first met - and the long-term consequences.
4. Poor Man's Eton
Aired 26 November 1987 • 40 min
The only inner London Education Authority boarding school, in a Suffolk country house.
5. East Side Story
Aired 3 December 1987 • 40 min
Two contrasting 26-year-olds in London's newly-developing Docklands.
6. The Case of Sherlock Holmes
Aired 10 December 1987 • 40 min
Tim Piggot-Smith investigates the famous sleuth of 221b Baker Street.
7. Party Time
Aired 17 December 1987 • 40 min
Seven entertaining parties.
8. Catch a Fallen Star
Aired 23 December 1987 • 40 min
A portrait of the once-famous British singer, dancer and film star, Jesse Matthews.
9. Convictions
Aired 7 January 1988 • 40 min
10. If You Love Him, Let Him Go
Aired 14 January 1988 • 40 min
Dilemmas faced by parents of mentally handicapped offspring who reach childhood and independence.
11. Jackpot
Aired 21 January 1988 • 40 min
Three young adults addicted to gambling on fruit machines, with disastrous results.
12. Scarfe's Follies
Aired 28 January 1988 • 40 min
Scarfe's Follies with Bob Geldof, Jane Asher, Terry Jones, Ian McKellen, Robin Bailey, Julian Glover, Marcia Warren, John Bird, John Challis, John Watts, Nellie the elephant and Ivy the camel. Gerald Scarfe records the follies of man in his cartoons. Now he wants to create his own folly. But what are follies - and why did eccentrics build them? Surrounded by high-kicking follies girls and borne by noble beasts, Scarfe sets off on a quest of discovery. He encounters a naughty vicar who built a folly garden for his gypsy girlfriend; a Welshman who burned his own son; a politician who got voters drunk; a man whose house resembles a jungle; and 'Mad Jack' Fuller, who built a steeple overnight to win a wager, and was buried in a pyramid with a bottle of port and a cold chicken. And as all the best follies contained a resident hermit, Scarfe advertises for one in the Times - with startling results.
13. Thames Wallah
Aired 4 February 1988 • 40 min
A specialist with the Thames Water Authority attempts to clean up the Ganges.
14. Changing Places
Aired 11 February 1988 • 40 min
Ten pupils from an independent public school (Rugby) and a state comprehensive school (Ruffwood) exchange places and lives.
15. Diary of a Frontliner
Aired 18 February 1988 • 40 min
A self-operated video camera was set up in Peter Tilson's home to record a personal diary in his battle with AIDS.
16. Annie Doesn't Work Here Any More
Aired 25 February 1988 • 40 min
Annie, a nurse from Manchester, leaves the NHS to set up a new life as a nurse in Los Angeles.
17. The Great North Road
Aired 3 March 1988 • 40 min
Lucinda Lambton travels along the Great North Road, the backbone of Britain that links London to Edinburgh, discovering many weird and wonderful delights en route.
18. I, Alison...
Aired 10 March 1988 • 40 min
The story of a remarkable young woman. It's Alison French's wedding day. She's 24 - vivacious, candid, attractive, with a warm smile and a lively sense of humour. Alison, professionally qualified as a youth worker, is marrying Mark John. What makes her wedding different is that she's an athetoid spastic - her body's never still, and she has difficulty with her speech. Seven years ago, 40 Minutes made an acclaimed film about Alison, telling of her bid to gain independence in the able-bodied world. Tonight's follow-up is a passionate love story. But in marrying the man she loves, Alison has to leave her family in Watford, set up a new home in South Wales, and adapt to being a clergyman's wife. Her heart is still set on finding an independent job. The harsh reality is that despite her skills and rare qualities, she may face rejection. But Alison doesn't give up easily...
19. Children of the Open Road
Aired 17 March 1988 • 40 min
Catrine Clay presents the disturbing story of gypsy children abducted from their parents in clean and ordered Switzerland.
20. Five Go to Florida
Aired 24 March 1988 • 40 min
Perhaps the last holiday for a group of children, some of whom are gravely ill. They fulfil their dream of visiting Disney World.
21. Who Will Love Billy?
Aired 7 April 1988 • 40 min
A 13-year-old boy hopes to be adopted by Dave, a single man of 42 - but things go wrong.
22. Who Needs a Machine Gunner?
Aired 14 April 1988 • 40 min
Long-term unemployment in rural Herefordshire.
23. Women in Black
Aired 21 April 1988 • 40 min
Three widows at different stages of their recovery.
24. My African Farm
Aired 28 April 1988 • 40 min
An old white woman colonial settler staying on in up-country Kenya.
25. Separate Tables
Aired 5 May 1988 • 40 min
An old-fashioned sea-side hotel, with many retired residents, is to be refurbished. The residents must go.
26. Waiting
Aired 12 May 1988 • 40 min
Two people are waiting on an NHS hospital waiting list - one for a minor operation, the other for a major one.
27. Mixed Blessings
Aired 19 May 1988 • 40 min
The story of a mix-up in a Nottingham nursing-home. Margaret Wheeler and Blanche Rylatt each gave birth to a baby girl on the same day. Margaret is convinced that she was given the wrong baby.