‘It Was Alright In The…’ gets six part Channel 4 series

Television is on trial once again as Channel 4 return to the shows taste forgot in a new series of It Was Alright In The…

The six part series will take a witty, tongue in cheek look back at twentieth century television from the 1960s, 1970s 1980s and 1990s, 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?

“The past really is a foreign country and so prepare for the culture shock of the television from the past fifty years. Who would have thought we find an actual clip of monkey tennis.” – Channel 4 Features Commissioning Editor, Kate Teckman

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, Peter Duncan, Valerie Singleton, Peter Purves, Chris Tarrant (pictured in 1975 top), Tony Blackburn and Roy Hudd (pictured in 1969 below), 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, Channel 4 ask whether we should 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.

“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.” – Andrew Newman, Executive Producer for Objective Productions