C4 to take a look back at what TV used to get away with

Television is on trial once again as last year’s successful Saturday night look back at the TV that taste forgot, It Was Alright In The… , returns with a brand new 6x60’ series from Objective Productions. The series will take a witty, tongue in cheek look back at twentieth century television from the 60s, 70s 80s and 90s, much of which was perfectly acceptable at the time but certainly wouldn’t make it to air today. And will ask, should we look back with a sense of outrage or a sense of humour?

With jaw dropping clips and jaw dropping reactions the series will explore what we can learn about life from the TV people watched in their millions before 21st century morals and attitudes took hold.  

With interviews from those who appeared in the programmes, those who watched them and those who made them, including Melvyn Bragg, Simon Groom, Sarah Greene and Peter Duncan, from Blue Peter  Valerie Singleton and Peter Purves, Chris Tarrant, Tony Blackburn and Roy Hudd, we ask what they think of it now.

Tackling topics including Health and Safety (or the lack of it)in the 60s; 70s Sex Education and the era’s stance on Corporal Punishment; the 80s Nuclear Threat, and Lad and Ladettes of the 90s, should we worry more that in this ‘politically sound’ age, that we’re missing the fun and colour of TV from a more straightforward and trusting time?

It Was Alright In The… will also feature celebrities who are too young to have seen the shows the first time round, including Made in Chelsea’s Ollie Locke and TOWIE’s Lauren Pope, as they react to the TV rules of today being flouted by stars of the past.

The series was commissioned by Channel 4 Features Commissioning Editor, Kate Teckman. It Was Alright In The… will be made by Objective Productions with Adam McLean series editor, Simon Harries series producer and executive producers Andrew Newman and Toby Stevens.

Kate Teckman said: “The past really is a foreign country and so prepare for the culture shock of the television from the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s. Who would have thought we find an actual clip of monkey tennis.”

Andrew Newman added: “It’s amazing what broadcasters used to think was acceptable to put on telly, sometimes in a shocking way and occasionally in an amusing one and in the case of Tony Blackburn, locked in a cage serenading Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree to some very angry circus lions live on Saturday night BBC One primetime - it’s probably both.”