Reel History of Britain — Season 1, Episode 7: Britain's National Disgrace
Documentary • 30 min • 1 season, 20 episodes • ★ 6.0/10
Episode synopsis
Today we're pulling up in Columbia Road in the East End of London, to look back to the 1930s and a time when millions of people across Britain lived in the squalor of urban slums. Two cousins Pat and Carole will come face to face with their grandfather, who was captured in a remarkable 1935 film of Stepney tenement slums. We'll hear about the sense of community which existed amongst the slum dwellers from childhood friends Roger Packer and Brian Davies. And Stan Hardy will share with us his incredible story about his years in the workhouse as a young boy.
About Reel History of Britain
Reel History of Britain is a 20 part series being shown on BBC Two, presented by Melvyn Bragg and about the history of modern Britain; through the eyes of people who were there. It was shown from 5–30 September 2011. The programme is a social history documentary, charting the course of the twentieth century through archive film, plus interviews and recollections of key events that have taken place in the last one-hundred years, since the advent of moving film. In each episode, Bragg goes to a different place in the UK and shows people film in a 1950s Ministry of Technology mobile cinema, then gauges their reactions and captures them on film.