63 UP (7 Up series)

[Leyani]

Does anyone know when this will be aired? Last year it said expected first week of May but can’t find it. Paranoid I’ll miss it, I love that series

And does anyone know what happened to Child of Our Time and Born to be special (not sure that was the name)? Are they still going?

Thanks!

I feel sorry for Neil because he's been tormented by his mental demons for nearly all his life and I think it's impossible to look at the clips of him as that joyous 7 year old and then a tortured 28 year old and not feel so sad for the way things panned out for him. Having said that I think it would be intolerably difficult to live with someone like Neil. All in all though he seems to be in a pretty good place now, he's got his councillor work, enough money to sustain himself, his house in France, his church work.

I don't think him saying that his Australian ex was the only woman he's ever truly loved will do much to help him get back together with his estranged wife!

It doesn't matter if it's anyone's "fault" that Neil's life turned out the way it did. I feel sorry for him. It is immensely sad to see such a bright happy boy with enormous potential end up the way he has. Mental illness, whatever the cause, is a terrible thing.

You could see Bruce in one of his wedding snaps although things might have changed since then.

So lovely to see Simon and Paul together. I'm delighted they've both had happy personal and family lives. Was very touching to see the clip at the end of all the children playing together and the 'two boys from the children's home are building a house'.

Wah.

Qunitella

"I don't think him saying that his Australian ex was the only woman he's ever truly loved will do much to help him get back together with his estranged wife!"

I said exactly the same thing! lol!

There was a huge difference between Neil at 7 and Neil at 14. The joy in his eyes was replaced by misery. It makes you wonder if something happened. He wouldn't necessarily reveal it if it did.

I think there was a hell of a lot that happened with his family that we'll probably never know about. He's still angry and sad about the way the treated him, which is understandable.

It did sound as if Neil had a troubled childhood, he didn't speak of his parents with any love at all. I was a bit puzzled by Paul's life - he moved to Australia with his dad and step-mother, but did he say he was in a children's home there too?

Yes, 14 year old Neil looked so unhappy. Hard to even connect him to that sweet 7 year old.

The difference in Neil that I found most painful to watch was between 14 and 21. He must have shown real promise to have been an Oxbridge applicant, even though he wasn't ultimately successful. He looked completely at sea trying to cope with life on his own.

Paul's dad sounded like he put him in a children's home when things were tricky for him. In London after the divorce and then in Australia for reasons unexplained.

Poor Paul with a dad like that. And he got so choked when he talked about the man's death.

I love them all. I know that sounds pitiful. The Colet Court/Westminster person is just as lovely as all the rest. Did he have children? I always wish children on people He was very interesting as he was Bulgarian really.

I'm not sure anything bad actually happened to Neil - he did say at 21 his parents should have made his life more difficult to develop his resilience. I just think his MH issues reared their head in his teens and stayed with him his entire life. Shame he wasn't prepared to try medication long term. He didn't really give himself a chance, a symptom I guess.

Colet/Westminster - John. No children, not sure whether through choice. But mentioned lots of nieces and nephews in 56. Happily married, gets a lot from his charity work.

Yes I liked John too. I assume he didn't have kids as he didn't mention them. Interesting to hear about his family's financial situation after his father died. Looking at him though (and all the others really) how old he looked at 35! And that was only 1991. People looked so much more middle aged at an earlier age backs in Ye Olden Dayes of the early 1990s.

Yes I think his refusal to take medication and his jumping from job to job would make him very hard to live with. I don't know re his parents - maybe his mental health failed and he saw them through a skewed lense.

I think you've put your finger on it, Noeuf.

I suspect Neil's parents did their best within their own limitations, but had a son with complex mental health issues not then understood.

Also, Neil had a sibling, who was not mentioned. His perspective might be interesting, though of course we'll never hear it.

Oh I didn't know that. Actually they don't seem to mention siblings at all, just parents and children.

Neil always makes me want to cry. I distinctly remember him once saying in an earlier 7up that his parents were "very nice, quiet people" but they didn't give him any coping strategies. It's sad to see that happy little boy was already disappearing at age 14. I suspect these days during one of his regular bad patches (the Scotland episode etc) a GP would have got him support & possibly talked him round on medication.

I'm watching the second episode with the marching boarding school boys. Was the little boy who was being kicked by the older boy Bruce? That little boy looked tiny. Younger than 7. About 5 or even 4.
Bruce looked miserable when he was doing the drill exercises. A sad little face but holding his emotions in.

I think Neil’s parents were what would these days be called narcissistic, who let him down massively.

Interview with Neil in the Guardian

He sounds a lot more content in this than in the programme