70 Up, the tenth and final instalment of the documentary series that has followed the same group of Britons since they were seven-year-olds, is now streaming on ITVX. Television critic Christopher Stevens gave the two-part finale five stars, calling it a fitting farewell to a project that grew far beyond its original brief.
The series began in 1963, when director Michael Apted took a group of lively seven-year-olds on a daytrip to London Zoo and declared them "Britain's future" and "a glimpse of what England will be like in the Year 2000." The children had been chosen to represent the spread of the country's social classes, from plummy young boys at prep schools to a cheeky Cockney lad, sparky girls from east London, wary boys from a care home and two children from Liverpool suburbs.
Apted, who went on to a successful second career directing films in Hollywood, including the James Bond movie The World Is Not Enough, died in 2019. He had returned to the same participants every seven years for the project.
Two of the original children have died
Two of the original participants have died since filming began. Librarian Lynn died in 2013, and nuclear engineer Nick died of cancer after filming for this tenth and final instalment.
Stevens wrote that ending the project now seemed a wise decision, noting that most of the remaining participants appear to be in robust health and enjoying their retirements. He said it would be "deeply tasteless" to keep returning to the group deep into old age until the last of them had died.
Facing mortality on screen
The second part of 70 Up, now available on ITVX, does not shy away from the subject of death. John, a barrister and hunting enthusiast, says cheerfully that he hopes to break his neck "just as the hounds are about to go home."
Symon, who has provided foster care for 130 children with his wife Vienetta, said he believes death will be "an open door to somewhere else."
A record of a changing country
Nick compared watching the series to time-lapse photography, saying: "It's amazing to see a flower grow and then decay in a couple of minutes." Conceived as a study of Britain's class system, the series has instead become a record of the country's post-war history.
Across the decades, viewers have watched the children grow into adults, often barely recognisable from one seven-year stage to the next. They have changed careers, married, had children and grandchildren, and in several cases left Britain for the United States, Australia or Europe.
Stevens noted that some of the changes on screen are superficial, such as the fashions and the cigarettes, while others are more fundamental. He pointed to Apted's description of Symon, decades earlier, as "illegitimate," a word rarely heard today.
Apted's outdated attitudes
Stevens wrote that Apted, an outspoken figure on the political left in the 1960s, now appears "horribly outdated in many of his attitudes." He was dismissive of the four girls in the group, referring to them collectively as "Jackie and her friends," and appeared to assume their purpose in life was to become housewives and mothers.
Stevens also noted that 13 of the original children were white and only one was mixed-race. None were Muslim or immigrants, and all spoke English as their first language.
