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!

How did we not know that John lost his dad aged 9? That's a huge thing to miss out.

I wonder if his mother felt some shame about not having been left enough money to keep John at school and thus having to work herself, so he kept quiet until she'd died maybe?

Ah Charles! Yes, ironic he makes documentaries now...

It did make me cringe that they kept asking the 7/14 year olds if they had a girlfriend/boyfriend.

I agree and I doubt they'd ask it if they were making the programme today, or they'd approach it in a much less blunt way at least. Same with Jackie's complaint of how he tended to ask the girls more mundane questions. You can see how much Michael Apted has changed over the years (he must have only been in his early 20s when it all started) and how much he also reflected the norms of the time he was living in.

Hoping that Nick pulls through his cancer. He was very sanguine about it, don't you think?

No, I don't think he was, sadly. I think he was repressing his own fears by projecting them onto his family. He said he was worried and upset for them. But of course, he was worried and upset for himself. Another child, interestingly, who went off to boarding school and seemed to have grown up somewhat detached from, and unable to address his own feelings.

Neil said his parents did their very best so he's not without empathy for his mother. Some people on here are very touchy about him partly and indirectly blaming them for the way he's turned out. Why is that? Aren't we all products of our upbringings?

Again, I disagree. We are in part a product of our upbringings but also subject to physiological factors. There are plenty of children who grew up at the same time as Neil who would have had very similar upbringings, most came through it unscathed. His parents may well have made mistakes but all parents do.

I think he's handicapped by his uncompromising nature which is most likely down to an undiagnosed spectrum condition. The great sadness is that born in another time he might have been helped much earlier and had a happier life. So good to see him involved with the church, and with his house in France. I dreaded hearing that he had come to grief.

I have watched every series as it was aired from 7Up to the present day. Fascinating stuff as I am just three years older than the participants so can relate so closely to each era portrayed.

There are plenty of children who grew up at the same time as Neil who would have had very similar upbringings, most came through it unscathed

^^This. There were other participants who had far poorer upbringings than Neil and have much more stable lives despite that.

The boyfriend/girlfriend questioning was uncomfortable - although I don't remember feeling uncomfortable in previous series. Maybe we're hyper aware of sexualising children these days. Jackie had him sussed though! A proper gobby feminist!

Michael Apted though tbh probably wasn't sure how to speak to children being only young himself.

One thing I was puzzled about, Nick said that he disliked the way he was portrayed in 28 (I think) and that people thought he'd gone to America for the money and the shopping. What was that about? I've watched the series many many times and never got that impression, or remembered any allusion to it?

I don't think it was implied in the programme but maybe local reaction was negative following the programme. I always thought Nick went to America because that was where the funding for his specialism (nuclear fusion?) was. Like Silicone Valley for those working on AI. It seemed inevitable and eminently sensible. However it might not have gone down well at home when there was a family farm to run.

It was Nick's wife who wasn't happy about how she was portrayed in 28 Up and iirc didn't appear again. By about 49 Up he'd divorced and remarried.

I know that she wasn't happy, he said that once they'd divorced. But what he said this time round was slightly different. Maybe it was local reaction, it certainly made it pretty clear in the interviews that he followed the work. He seemed broken this time round, understandably. So sad to see.

I just watched the first episode and have seen most of the rest since 1964, It is very good.
On this latest one the councillor/lay preacher at least has got a life in a house, inherited enough money even to buy a place in France. When he was asked why he change so much from 14 - 21 I suspec the answer is simply he has been unpucky enough to have his mental health problems which have probably blighted his ilfe, poor thing. It is very good of him to keep letting us see him as reflecting people with their ups and downs is more realistic and useful than just seeing people where everything has followed a fairly set path of career, marriage etc.

It's a shame that ballet girl chose not to be in this series.
The two boys from children's home seem to have turned out okay and coped with their inevitable lack of self confidence.

I always like the barrister chap who seems very nice indeed.

I haven't watched the seocnd or any later episodes yet. I hope htey can all continue even if Michael Apted has to be replaced by his assistant when he feels he cannot carry on as who people change between 63 and 83 or even 93 can be interesting too.

I always feel very lucky that these people have been prepared to let us look in on their lives like this.

I'm worried about what Neil will do for income when he can't be a councillor any more.

I thought Jackie was great and what I really would like is for younger people to watch this whole series and realise that women have had a big struggle to get to where we are today (not having to put up with being talked down to or treated dismissively any more) and perhaps they might also have a bit more understanding of the experiences of their parents' generation (or grandparents' generation) and realise that it has not, in every case, been an easy carefree life for their predecessors and that every generation has to battle through their own hardships, worries and anxieties.

Well said, @mrsjoyfulprizeforraffiawork!

Surely Neil can sell the French house and live off the proceeds?

Neil will get a state pension and/or pension credits. He does now own property too and has always been able to live frugally.

I love this programme too, I'm 48 and it makes me think of how I was at 7, 14, 21 etc and how my life would have been portrayed. I think I would definitely see the 7 year old child in me now. I like them all, but Paul, the little boy from the children's home is the one who gets to me the most.

Good post, mrsjoyful. I think the series gives a good insight into people's lives and the struggles a lot of people have, even if they are well off.
I have always liked the barrister and the taxi driver best but Neil is interesting. I think he had a reasonably good education and has now inherited some money so has been able to get back into some kind of life with his local council jobs and as said above once he retires should have state pension and presumably no rent to pay. I do wonder as he is still married though if he current wife will take half the inerhitance on a divorce. He might have ben better off just having her as a girl friend (unless she is better off than he is of course which may be likely at their age if she owned a property before they married).

I find this programme so moving. Fascinating how the essence of the person is there at 7 but people are in such different places during their lives due to their development and circumstances. The barrister turned into a lovely man but was abit of a twit at 21. Relationships seem to be key for most people having a good marriage is of enormous value

There are plenty of children who grew up at the same time as Neil who would have had very similar upbringings, most came through it unscathed

But we have no idea what Neil’s childhood was really like. Watching the difference between Neil at 7, a bright, wonderful little boy full of joy and enthusiasm, and 14- he’s dead behind the eyes and his voice lacks any emotion, make me want to weep. I think something traumatic happened to him between those years and he can’t talk about it.

I may well be very wrong, but actually none of us probably know the truth.

I liked John until he dropped the bombshell that he thinks there’s no inequality anymore in the UK. It’s quite a bizarre statement for anyone to make, especially a barrister.

I liked John until he dropped the bombshell that he thinks there’s no inequality anymore in the UK. It’s quite a bizarre statement for anyone to make, especially a barrister. Yes, I was shocked by that comment, but would see it as typical of someone who has had an ivory tower trajectory through life.

Wasn't Neil badly bullied at secondary school? That could have made an enormous difference to his mental health.

NewModel I agree mind you, he has form for being a knob, at 21 he also said he thought those working at Cowley Car works could easily afford to send their dc to private school, if they wanted to.

He reminds me of the likes of Rees-Mogg.

LizzieSiddal totally agree. That single-minded way of arguing a point has probably stood him in very good stead as a barrister.

I didn't see what everyone else is seeing in the 14 year old Neil. I saw a serious and thoughtful boy, bright, articulate and able to make eye contact.

I can see if you were watching 14Up now, with the benefit of knowing what subsequently happened to Neil, you might think you can see signs of what was to come. Watching it at the time, however, and then seven years later, there were no obvious signs of inner distress. If there were it would have been much talked about.

The big change for me was between 14 and 21. Not getting into Oxford was probably a body blow if it had been expected of him. My theory is that all of his self esteem was built on his academic aptitude and was shattered by unexpected failure. I don't think he knew what to do with himself from that point on. A more resilient character would have recovered, but a young man with undiagnosed ASD, (if that's the case), inevitably faced greater challenges.

Did I read somewhere- possibly around the time of 49 Up that the producers wish that they had not only included more girls, but also more MC kids, as the explosion in the growth of the MC was just beginning, but they hadn't spotted it.