About this season
Documentary series which ranges widely over Britain's social and cultural history, its narrative-led storytelling offering a richly immersive and varied window onto the past.
Episodes (10)
1. The Great British Seaside Holiday
Aired 5 May 2003 • 60 min
Timeshift presents a bank holiday celebration of the British seaside holiday experience from its Victorian origins and heyday in the 1950s to its slow decline and attempts at reinvention since. Interviewees including Jonathan Meades, Martin Parr and Bill Pertwee explain the way that the seaside has always been the place we all visit to lose our inhibitions and reveal a different side to ourselves.
2. Children's News
Aired 18 May 2003 • 60 min
Time Shift explores the significance of children's programmes in developing young people's worldview. With Jon Snow and John Craven.
3. Watching You
Aired 22 May 2003 • 60 min
Undercover reporter Donal Macintyre is among the interviewees as Time Shift looks at hidden-camera TV. Nigel Kneale discusses how his satire The Year of the Sex Olympics feels prescient in the Big Brother world.
4. TV and Charity
Aired 5 June 2003 • 60 min
Terry Wogan, Lenny Henry, Michael Buerk and Esther Rantzen guest on Time Shift's look at how charity and TV are interwoven - from the early days of Christmas collections for needy children to the successful annual telethons of today.
5. Tyneside
Aired 12 June 2003 • 60 min
Time Shift celebrates Tyneside's cultural contribution and its development through the eyes of writers, actors and others.
6. Political Thrillers: Plays of State
Aired 15 June 2003 • 60 min
From banned 1950s drama Party Manners to House of Cards and State of Play, the secrets of TV thrillers are uncovered in an edition of the Time Shift strand.
7. High Rise Dreams
Aired 19 June 2003 • 60 min
Time Shift looks back at how a group of idealistic architects changed the face of council housing in Britain, inspired by the modernist philosophy of Le Corbusier and new materials, only to be thwarted by financial restraints, poor craftsmanship and Margaret Thatcher 's private ownership creed.
8. Vicars: Dearly Beloved?
Aired 3 July 2003 • 60 min
Timeshift looks at the changing role of the Church of England parish priest over the last 40 years.
9. Footballers’ Lives
Aired 21 September 2003 • 60 min
In the last 40 years, money and fame have transformed footballers from working class heroes to multimedia icons. Time Shift explores how this change has come about and asks if today's lower league players aren't worse off than they were before.
10. Six Days to Saturday
Aired 21 September 2003 • 60 min
John Boorman-directed documentary from 1963, recounting a week in the life of the players and manager of Swindon Town football club, a fascinating snapshot of a profession a world away from Premiership and sponsorship.