1970 Turn Back Time

The Family, it is where we love, laugh, shout and cry.

It makes us who we are. But it hasn't always been the cherished

institution it is today. To find out how the modern family came to

be, a group of parents and kids from across Britain have turned

back time. To face the same ordeals as millions of others over the past

100 years. In the northern seaside town of Morecambe, the past has

come alive. A row of terraced houses has been turned into time

machines, to transport our families through the twists and turns of the

20th century. From the age of service. I felt a bit emotional,

because I knew she was there to take the children away. Which is

quite difficult. Through the roaring 20s, to the great

depression. Anything else of value will need to be sold. The fact it

was in front of the family, I felt really useless.

From life on the home front. Another year, another separation.

To the swinging 60s. Slightly concerned about the length of their

skirts. We are starting the rebellion right now. Now to the

groovy 70s. I couldn't give a damn about material things, for me,

family is the most important thing. The past has got personal, as they

live the lives of their very own ancestors. Rather than just living

in a museum, we are actually living an ancestor's life. She died of TB,

consumption. I'm overcome, we take so much for granted. We are turning

back time, to find out how history It's the 1970s, the final era our

families will be experiencing. But the first within their living

memory. This is a really cool car, it is the big-hair look.

Taylors are heading back to the Britain of their child Hoo, the

Taylor children are getting a -- childhood, the Taylor children are

getting a run down from tad Michael, and mum Adele. This is living the

life of your parents. I remember it as a child. I'm quite looking

forward to this era, everyone looks so cool and groovy. It's going to

be a bit of fun. The Hawkes family are heading back

to Albert Road too, and for Rachel and Hayley's mum, sand dra, the

1970s is also all about -- Sandra, the 1970s is also all about

nostalgia. I was a teenager in the 1970, I remember the music, the

Jackson five, Bay City Rollers, I was crazy about those. Joining the

Hawkes and Taylor, are Susie and Phil Meadows, with Tories Genevieve

and Saskia. I'm looking forward to this era, I love the car. The only

thing I'm not looking forward to is listening to all of mum and dad's

stories about the 70s. But the 1970s wasn't all about the

music and fashion. It was a turbulent era, which saw

Britain on the cusp of change. The country experienced political

upheaval the likes of which hadn't been seen for almost half a century.

Relentless industrial disputes, and shortages of essential services,

disrupted the British family. After the divorce reform act of 1969, the

family itself was fracturing. By the end of the 1970s, one in

eight families was headed up by a lone parent.

Single mum Lisa Rhodes from Oldham her two boys Harrison and Daniel,

are Albert Road's newest residents. I'm looking forward to it. I have

always been somebody whose quite sociable and gets on with my

neighbours. I'm hoping the neighbours we have are nice people

and up for a natter. Lisa has spent the last six years

as a lone parent. Juggling two successful businesses, and looking

after her two technology-obsessed boys. I have got like the top of

the range computer, where you can do stuff that other computers can't

do. I don't know what I will do without it. Look at granny there

don't she look nice. Who's that? That's me.

What will Lisa make of life as a 1970s single mum. The very life her

own mother Cherylin lived back then. I think probably my expectations of

a single mum in the 1970s is much higher than it is actually going to

All our families, new and old, are gathering in Albert Road to be met

by the experts who will be guiding them through the era.

Social historian Juliet Gardener. Gadget geek, Joe Crowley, and

journalist, Susan that Reid. Welcome back to Albert Road

everybody, and a very warm welcome to Albert Road's newest residents,

the Rhodes family. The 1970s, a really fascinating decade, of

course, it was a time of political unrest, of strikes, power cuts, the

three-day week, and women's lib. All the traditional family roles

were changing, the pipe-smoking, slipper-clad wife, and the children

seen and not heard, they are long gone. Your challenge in this era is

to adapt to these changing circumstances. When this week comes

to a close, we will be asking you, which do you think was the best era

for family life. But first, you all have to get through the 1970s.

the next week, the families will be fast-forwarded through the ups and

downs of an entire decade, as they live the lives of their very own

parents. And, just as it did for their parents, the 70s will end in

an historic election, in which they will all get the chance to vote.

These are so nice. Look at the wallpaper. Oh my word. The Taylor

family are returning to number 3 Albert Road, to follow in the

footsteps of Michael's family, who in the 1970s, worked in

construction. The string picture! The Taylors journey has seen them

slide from the hey day of running a successful cotton mill in the

Edwardian era, to all six living in a two-up, two-down in the 1960s.

Now they are only one generation away from their present lives. They

are unaware what the decade has in store. Your wall is furry.

That really is hidious. As the Taylor adjust to the new deck cor,

the Meadows are moving in next door to number two.

We have gone Moroccan themed. hippy.

So far, the Meadows journey through time has taken them from the lows

of 1900s hard labour, to the highs of successful business. Now they

will be living the life of their own middle-class parents. A

nostalgia trip for mum and dad, and into the unknown for their

daughters. What's this? That is a video player. That's quite cool.

could have brought our wedding video. Granddad still has that.

People still use them. Look at that painting. That looks exactly like

me. Who is it, mummy? It has my hair right now with Genna's face.

Yes. Who is it? David Bowie. He was my absolute hero, and I will know

every single word to every single song. This is all very, very nice,

I'm loving it. The 1970s saw an explosion in domestic appliances

and labour-saving gadgets. Helping to free women from the endless

round of cooking and cleaning they had endured in previous eras.

that a chest freezer? Most liberating of all was the chest

freezer. It its arrival of quickly followed by a revolution in pre-

cooked, frozen, convience food. Which meant meals could be on the

table in fraction of the time. Which was just as well. As by the

beginning of the 1970s almost 50% of married women were working. It

wasn't just the kitchen that became less labour-intensive. Upstairs a

bedding revolution was taking place. Guys we have duvets. Oh yeah!

That's a change. That is definitely an advance.

In the 1960s, the largest house on the street, number one Albert Road,

was carved up in the flats -- into flats to house the Hawkes family.

As newly-arrived immigrants, all four shared a squalid bedsit.

goodness, is this how bad it is. Family hug.

Now, while son Jonathan works in London, Sandra and her daughters

are mirroring her parents' generation, moving up in the world.

Like her uncle, Hawthorn Morgan, who owned and ran a boarding house

in London, Sandra is becoming a landlady. Look at that. This is

great. This is what I remember my mum's front room to be like.

Caribbean people like colour, look at the carpet, typical carpet, just

like we used to have. I can't believe it is so clean, it feels

like a completely different place. Look at this fish, every household

had a glass fish, amazing. They have even got the dog. We had our's

under the table. I remember the dog. This is testimony to what our

granddad did, he came over and probably stayed in a scumy flat

like we were in the 1960s, throughout the 1960 and into the

70s he had to find ways through property to develop himself as a

businessman. Downstairs, the Hawkess's --

Hawkes's new tenants have arrived. Hello, who have we got here? Daniel.

Excited. I'm Harrison, nice to meet you.

Coming from a spacious four- bedroomed semi- -- semi in 2012,

this is a bit of a shock. With the state not lend ago hand until 1976

this is all single mothers like Lisa could afford.

I'm speechless, to be honest. are you speechless? I thought we

might have had a proper cooker, actually. Proper cooker, like

that's it, isn't it. That comes on and it heats up the grill. This is

where you would do most of the cooking and heating up water, all

right. It may not be what the Rhodes family are used to, but

landlady Sandra is having none of it. She has lived through worse.

Just takes some time to get used to, I know. When we came it was far

worse than this, Lisa, trust me. We didn't have wallpaper on the walls,

we didn't have carpets, we had filth, actual filth on the walls.

We had absolute nothing. It's not very nice, I don't really

like t it is a bit tacky, and there is not much things to do. With no

other options, Lisa knuckles down to her new life. This is just

absolutely disgusting and manky, and I don't like anything like this.

So I'm just going to give it a wipe, really, and try to make it a bit

cleaner. Because it is minging, if I was at home I would chuck it and

buy a new one. But every penny counts when you are a 70s single

mum. The rest of the adults of Albert

Road are basking in the warm glow of their childhoods, to amusement

of their kids. They are the coolest like you could get when you were a

kid. In the 70s, children of all classes were united by the new toys

that were flooding the market, Action Men, yo-yos, chopper bikes,

they were open to everybody. But back upstairs in single mum,

Lisa's bet sit, the boys are un-- bedsit, the boys are unimpressed

with what's on offer. There is only two games. If you saw my room now,

it would have hundreds of toys. I think in the 1970s it was a bit

disgusting. With the cramped living space, and

cufrpy kids, Lisa is finding -- grumping kids, Lisa is finding

cooking convience food rather inconvenient. It is difficult,

there is no bloody room anywhere, to be honest. Everything's minging.

If we could get the smash right, that will be fun, I haven't a clue

what we are doing. Even the instant mash, which for a brief period in

the 70s replaced potatoes in every households is difficult to make.

I'm not having enough water. There we go, one, two. One single

mum's 70s dinner. Do I have to eat all of it? (sings out of tune)

door, while Phil relives the golden era of pop, unleashing his Elton

John, Susie dives into the chest freezer. I'm not sure my mum fed me

these most of the time, she definitely did on occasion. This

era of cooking has definitely got easier, but potentially more

revolting, I'm not sure what I will be feeding my family. It looks

pretty gross to me. You are so bad.

# Don't let the sun go down on me I really want to let the sun go

down on you and your singing. You're so mad, stop it.

Susie's serving up a 70s TV dinner in under 20 minutes. Crispy

pancakes, sauteed potatoes and peas, all straight from frozen, but she

has overcooked the pancakes. Welcome to It's A Knockout.

They stink, it is disgusting. solid, rock. The rose-tinted specs

of the 1970s hasn't lasted long, suddenly they are nostalgic for

other eras. Have we sat with it on our laps before? This is the first

time. That was the best thing about 1910, was we sat round the table

and talked about it. This is much more anti-social than the last eras.

You don't say anything, you are engrossed with the television.

it is like 2012. This is our house. This isn't just, I'm not just

talking about us, I'm talking about everyone.

As night falls on Albert Road, single mum, Lisa, reflects on her

first day on the street. Being in the 70s totally different than how

I expected it, bit shocked about the accommodation. Absolutely

knackered, it has been very hard work. I can certainly tell you I'm

ready for my bed. Morecambe Bay, on a Monday morning.

And time for the kids to go to school. For the past 60 years, 15-

year-old Genevieve has been classed as an adult, and had to work for a

living. From assisting her mum in her Edwardian laundry business, to

domestic service in the 1920s, to working as a 1960s shop girl. But

in 1792 the school leaving age was raised to 16, which means it is

back to school for Genevieve, and back to being a child. Having to go

to school, like a child again, it's quite strange. Saskia's going too,

but as a reluctant Teaching Assistant. I don't really like

young kids, so, it will be interesting. I heard they used to

have punishment, so you could hit them with the cane and the slipper,

so I'm taking one! In fact, for the first time, all the women of Albert

Road will be working. Lisa is no exception, which means her lads

will be making their own way to school. Lisa has a job at a local

cafe. While Adele is following in the footsteps of her mum, who was a

district nurse in the 1970s, not far removed from her modern day job

as an A&E nurse. Now I'm moving into the realm of having a career.

This appeals. Adele's husband, Michael, is following in his

father's foot steps, working on the building site as a joiner. The kids

are on their way to school. Helped across the busy roads by suss

circumstance the resident lollipop lady. -- Susie, the resident

lollipop lady. The only person still at home is Susie's husband,

Phil Meadows. He should be working as dratsman, just like his father,

Ronald, but he's being forced to stay at home. On January 1st,

1974Ted Heath's Conservative Government introduced a three-day

working week. Two years of industrial action by the coal

miners and rocky oil prices had created a nationwide energy crisis.

To keep the country from grind to go halt, all businesses, except

shops and those essential to the life of the country, would receive

electricity for just three days a week. And men like Phil, only

receiving three days pay, found themselves out of pocket and at a

loose end. Historian, Juliet, is dropping by

to check in on Phil. Hello Phil, how are you, doing some washing up?

A little bit. Why is that? Well all the family disappeared off. So

someone has to do it. So you are doing it. Been at it for a while.

So here we are. Three-day week. Did you experience that at all, can you

remember anything about your father? He went to work in a suit

and white shirt and tie. I remember him hanging about a bit. I got the

feeling he was on a three-day week, he was private sector, not public

sector, I don't know if it affected that those people. I think he was

on a three-day week. The idea of the three-day week was to conserve

electricity so coal just didn't run out. Everybody was subjected to the

three-day week. How do you think you are going to spend your time,

what do you think you might do? would be quite difficult to fill

your time, without spending money. That's the poifrpbt. I would do --

The point. I would do a lot of running the household, do a bit of

washing and cooking and hoovering. So the two days you have off will

be busy than those at work. You're not an idle man? No. While Phil is

at home, some of the women are well into the working day. Do you have a

chocolate milkshake? I can find out. Do we have chocolate milkshake? Yes.

Coming to work I'm lucky to have a job I can fit around the children

at school. In the 1970 women's wages were low, many earning 35%

less than men in the same job. Single mothers, who also had to

struggle to find childcare, faced huge financial problems. A 1974

report found they were worse off than any other group in the

population. Five years ago Gary's father left home, Gary, now 12, is

the man of the family n a house where there's no money, no food, no

clothes to spare, only the dull necessities of life, day in, day

out. They had meagre benefits, and no guarantee of support from absent

fathers, without expensive court proceedings. Dorothy's children,

brought up on social security in Britain today, are still doubly

deprived, first of pride, scrounger is a term they are familiar with,

they also lack a father's care. Like her 70s counterparts, Lisa's

feeling the pinch. For the bedsit, for me and the two children, it is

�8.50 a week. I do actually get �3 off the Government. By the time we

have paid the rent and the bills. I think -- and the bills, I think we

have about �1 a day to live on, that means your food and clothes

and everything else the kids need. Adele, heading home after her shift

at the local hospital, is confident in the knowledge that the Taylors

have two incomes to support them, or so she thinks. With industrial

action sweeping the country, there is a surprise in store. Michael

Taylor's father, John, worked in the construction industry in the

1970, and now, just as his father did in 1972 Michael has downed

tools and gone on strike. The start of the decade saw nearly half the

entire working population of Britain a member of a union. In

1972 disputes over better pay and conditions brought the workers to

the picket line. Get out, get out. Once again, there has been no work

on the building sites today. The men who are staying out, claim they

are no better off now, after last week's national settlement, than

they were when the strike began 11 weeks ago. Hello, are you all right.

What are you doing home? We are on strike until further notice. That

is a bit brave. I don't know what is going to happen. How long are

you striking for? I don't know. you get paid if you are on strike.

No, don't get any pay. So I don't know what will happen. That is

worse, if you don't get paid. don't know how it will last. I will

take extra shifts if you are not working. I will become a man of

leisure. No, the man of the house, there is a big difference. Lisa is

home too she's struggling with the ancient boiler. There is no hot

water at all. She would normally call out a plumber, instead Lisa

pays a visit to her landlady. to bother you, I can't seem to get

the hot water to work, can you come and have a look for you. OK, I will

have a quick look. Have you tried running it. We have a problem as

well. That's blocked. What else is going wrong? It is hard isn't t I

find it hard, I didn't have a husband from when they were small,

he left me early on. I had to learn to do it all by myself. Oh, what is

that? What is that? Already. Already? Teabags. Screw that back

on. Yes mum, well done. Well done ladies, girl power! Whilst the

women get on with it, down the road at number 3, Michael Taylor is on

strike. His mum and dad are visiting, to talk about the

realities of their life in the 70s. Hello, come in. It's lovely. Dad,

John, joined the construction workers' strike in 1972, to demand

a minimum wage of �30 a week. how long, dad, did you actually

stay off over the strike period? About four weeks. Continuous.

nothing for four weeks. Your union says you are striking, does

everybody have to strike? No. you don't you wouldn't be popular.

We weren't militant people, we wanted a fair day's work for a fair

day's pay. If you look at the conditions of the building trade,

there was more people killed in the building trade than down the mines.

There were lots of accidents, the health and safety was non-existant.

We just got a young family, a big mortgage, so it was a frightening

time. You don't know where the bread will come from. What happened

if you went and you got, if at some point it had gone on, you would

have got to the point where you couldn't have gone on? I just

managed on the family allowance, on a Tuesday I would go down to the

Post Office and get the family allowance, that would pay for some

of the food for all week. Then I used to borrow a fiver off my mum

on a Monday, and pay it back on a Friday. I was skint and broke. We

didn't go out because we had young children, if you had babysitter it

would cost you money to go out. You played out in the street, you were

always playing out on the street. That is what I remember, bombing

through the house, getting a jam butty, and out through the door,

not closing anything behind you, mum, jam butty and off down the re

c. They don't like kids having jam butties now! Look what happened!

The children of Albert Road, are oblivious to the troubles of their

parents. With no computer games or social networking to entertain them,

they are playing out on the street. Unsupervised. Today, only 40% of

kids play outside, compared to 72% of the kids who grew up in the

1970s. It gets less rules as the eras go on. This year is the best,

you have most of the time outside, you are not stuffed up inside and

all that. A sailor went to sea sea sea. Mum doesn't normally let us

out to run off on our own. She normally has a safety area, near

her. I do feel like I have more freedom. Because we can do what we

want, because we're outside. As the sunsets over Morecambe, in number 2

Albert Road, Susie is making the most of her husband's free time.

She wants Phil to connect with his spiritual side. Look what she's

doing now. I know, you used to be able to do it all. Ow, ow, ow!

What's she doing now. Eastern mysticism, popularised by groups

like the Beatles, was all the rage for Britains in search of their

inner hippy. It is really bad on the back, does that hurt? I can't

do it. I continuity do it! I have never known that can't cross their

legs on the floor! I can't. A new day, and while the men of the

street are suffering the effects of the industrial unrest, the women

are preoccupied by a very different phenomenon. The demands are for 24-

hour nurseries, for equal pay now, equal job and education

opportunities, and free contraception and abortion on

demand, and on the National Health Service. It wasn't just the workers

who took to the streets to fight for their rights, women did too.

The women's liberation movement had arrived. And house work was under

fire. # We're universal house wives # And we are really to blame

# If we accept this bondage any more

At the Meadows house, Susie is sampling a 70s classic, as a guide

to avoid house work without guilt. Number one, don't wear nail varnish.

If life gets unbearable, don't wash up at all. I think in the 70s I can

imagine women wanting to assert themselves a bit more. Books like

this gave women the idea that they could actually do it. That was sort

of permission that women could take the lead and decide for themselves.

I don't think they had ever thought that they had that opportunity

before. A woman's work is never done. For me, this is the first

time in any of the eras where I have actually got to do stuff like

this. That would have been as it was in true life during those

periods, I think. I don't think the guy did very much. It was women's

work to put the hoover on and to dust, and to clean and do the

washing up and the washing. That was definitely women's work. I

think this was maybe the start of the change, where it became more of

a shared job to look after the household in general. The 1970 saw

a transformation in men's domestic lives, as 70% of professional men

began helping with cooking, cleaning and childcare. I made more

mess than I started with. I'm not going to verbatim do all the things

that I'm asked to by Shirley Conran, I will pick things that I want to

take out of these books. I'm quite happy to sit here and reed, while

Phil brings me a cup of tea -- read, while Phil brings me a cup of tea.

In the Taylor home, temporary house husband, Michael, is now in charge

of the domestic chores. With a hungry family to feed, he's called

on gadget geek Joe, for help, who has come armed with his Cold War

cooking book. This is the action cook book. He wrote lots of spy

novels, it is macho stuff. Men in the kitchen, making it more

acceptable. Lots of things to look at, lots of macho language,

stabbing bits of meat, and synchronising watches for timing.

It is all very spy and thriller stuff. It is my sort of cook book,

it seems straight forward with the pictures. What do you reckon Megan?

(she whistles). Thank you! Action cook book in hand, it is chicken

Kiev tonight on Michael's menu. This is man's job, bash the hell

out of the chicken. Whack it in. They can be cooling. Hello. Hello.

Hi mum. I'm pleased there is no fire engines. Do you want to go

through the lounge and I will pass you a cup of tea. You have got the

apron on. Dead sexy, me. What does mum cook? Tinned stuff. What does

dad cook? Proper stuff! This looks incredible. That is very nice,

actually, Michael. I do appreciate the effort, you have done a very

good job. I'm glad you like it. don't like it t I love it. Up the

road, Susie Meadows has also been busy. She's hosting a 1970s soir

ray for the street, with no men allowed. What can I get you?

pints of bitter, please, and some nuts, if possible. Susie is not

just being sociable, though. If you would like to all come to the other

end of the room, we have a tupperware layout, feel free to

pick them up, touch them, be one with your tupperware. Tupperware

parties took off in this era, offering a totally new way for

women to make money. While it took a brilliant male chemist, Earl

Tupper, to invent tupperware in the 1940s, it was single mother,

Brownie Wise, who turned it into a worldwide phenomenon. For millions

of women who started to sell it to friends and nairbs, it offered the

first chance -- neighbours, it offered the first chance to set up

business. All the water goes out, and you tip it straight in. Oiled

by the 70s classic, Blue Nun, and Liebfraumilch, the women of Albert

Road are getting down to the important business of shopping. The

hard sell was concealed by social niceties of quizs and games, women

loved it. I say a word, and you answer what usually goes with it.

For instance, if I say salt, you say, pepper. They used to play

games at tupperware parties, if you were going to advertise your

husband, what would you put as the selling points. "man available,

well fed, Squidgy around the edges, makes him huggable and saves on

heating bills, excellent with children and interior decorator and

handyman, snazzy dresser, and excellent sense of humour, needs

some work". I'll see you in the divorce court! Down at the working

mens' club, Phil and Michael have settled in for the evening. So they

are doing a tupperware party, Phil. We have a full on, there is about

nearly 15 women round my house, can you imagine the noise. Loads of

wine. I think there is more to it, myself. I don't know what's going

on. I can't see why they are getting so excited about a bit of

plastic, I don't get it. I'm very suspicious. I must admit I'm

feeling a bit emasculated, I'm house keeping, I'm home keeping. I

don't mind doing it for a little while, I think it might get a bit

dull after a while. I don't mind it, I cooked dinner, it was quite nice.

What did you cook? Chicken a la Kiev. Out of a fact? No, straight

up. What will scare a man out of a house more, than a load of plastic,

talking about cooking, they are gone, and nobody said we want you

to leave, they volunteered to leave. I think they kind of use it as a

little bit of a get together for a chat of all sorts of things,

women's rights, burning bras. and Michael are in pursuit of their

lost masculinity, with the help of another popular phenomenon of the

1970s. Images of women that would have

been considered obscene a few decades earlier, became a part of

every day life in the 70s. The Sun Newspaper introduced page 3 girls

to the nation. And the Miss World beauty contest brought semi-clad

women into the living room. Miss Belgium. Throughout the 60s and 70s,

Miss World was the BBC's most popular programme of the year.

Often pulling in around 30 million viewers. She's quite nice. Easy

there Phil! They are so young. while many injoyed it, the women's

movement took -- enjoyed it, the women's movement took it on as as

you for protest. Proceedings have been temporarily suspended, the

interruption, unwelcome though it is to the organisers, isn't all to

the unexpected. Now Miss World continues to this day, it stopped

being screened to millions in the 1980s. Susie Meadows's tupperware

party is in full swing, but it is about to be sabotaged by the

playing of the 70s. A couple of tips for dancing.

Oh, power cut. A power cut. With power cuts up and down the country

becoming almost a daily occurrance, in some parts of the country.

rather where industrial disputes continued to rage, oil supplies

dwindled and energy prices soared. The Government was forced to ration

power. The power cuts, some of which lasted up to nine hours at a

time, came to define the decade. But having lived through far worse

in the Blitz 30 years earlier, British families soon learned to

just get on with it. It is really weird not having power, it is kind

of like there is nothing we can do about it. It kind of puts you in a

state of helplessness. Clearly, you know how to light a candle. You

have to be very, very careful, maybe I'm being patronising. It is

not a toy or game. One of the risks is the candle toppling over, make

sure it is quite secure. We need to move this. So, that's not what to

do! You moan at us. This is how you handle a candle! So when we are

going to bed, we will take one into the bed.

It is a new day on Albert Road, and having gone to bed without

electricity, the families have woken up to another unwelcome

discovery. No water. No bloody water. The water is not working.

First the power cut, now the water isn't working. I have just been to

the loo and I can't even flush the loo because there is no water, I

couldn't wash my hands. Disgusting. I'm not touching you. Do not touch

my body. I wouldn't neither, to be honest. No, they have turned the

water off already. We have tonnes of washing up from yesterday.

maybe we should have done it yesterday, darling. Maybe we should

have done, straight after the party. You can't leave me washing up from

a women's meeting to do, that is taking the mick, big time. I don't

think it is about that, Phil. I think it is sharing and caring.

is not sharing and caring, if you want to have the tupperware

Liberation Front round here, you can do your own washing up. This

country is now in one of the worst periods of drought since records

began 200 years ago. During the long hot summer of 1974,

the country was hit by a -- 1976, the country was hit by a water

shortage, when reservoirs ran dry, and it became another thing that

families had to do about. The authorities did something far more

drastic. It is the water thing. Water rationing. To ensure they

protect the limited reserves of water, there will be no direct

supplies to homes and businesses in the affected areas. It is over

there. What is it? It is a standpipe. So you have to go up,

fill your kettle, and then boil it, and then that's the water you use.

Right, come on then. Can I go out to get it? We will all go.

This is the way water will be rationed, the pressure will be

reduce, so the water will reach the standpipe, but not the houses. The

authorities will then control the time it is available, and, if

necessary, cut it off all together. All the families are having to

adjust to this new hardship. enjoying this at all. Oh dear. It

is like being back in the 1900s, with better clothes. This water

looking minging, it has all sorts of things floating in it. If the

families are going to get through this, house rules need to change.

If you have a wee, then we won't worry about it, we will leave it

until the end of the day. Or if you need a number two, go somewhere

else. Go next door. When we do have water and we have a bath, we keep

the bath water to put down the toilet. We don't get the water out

of the toilet? No we put it down the toilet. I thought you meant get

the water out the toilet to drink. I was like, not recycling like that.

After the long hot summer, comes a cold bleak winter. As the 70s

ground on, 1978 brought the "Winter of Discontent", with yet more

strikes and shortages, and every family began to feel the pressure.

I wonder about food, are they going to, because everybody's going to be

worrying that it will affect food, surely do we not need to stockpile

the cupboards. Yes, but as I'm on strike and not working, how much

money have we got to go and buy food? True. It is worrying times

the fact we don't know when I will be going back to work, our income

has halved, if not more, so we are just going to have to cut our cloth

accordingly. In an attempt to check rampent inflation, and keep down

rising unemployment, the Government introduced a pay freeze for public

sector staff. Many stopped work all together, making it the biggest

labour stoppage since the general strike of 1926. Transport workers,

hospital staff, grave diggers and binmen, all joined the picket line.

On Albert Road, the bin bags are piling up, and the effects are

being felt by our families. come we have so much rubbish

outside? Everybody has put the rubbish out for bin day, and nobody

will collect it today by the looks of it. There is loads of it, isn't

there? Adele calls a residents meeting. Look at that, you don't

want that outside your house, it is disgusting. What a mess. Rotting

rubbish. We need to obviously sort out the rubbish, we will end up

with rats if we don't get cleared. It seems daft we all take it. I

don't know, Michael's on strike at this minute with the builders'

union, I'm not sure if everybody else is striking, I don't know if

you are working Phil, you are still working you are not on strike?

you working today Phil?...yeah! you know what, I don't care how you

do it guys. Just get it done. not just the women of Albert Road

who have had enough. This was a turning point for the people of

Britain. The country had ground to a halt, and the Government appeared

to have lost control. With the nation desperate for change, it was

a woman who seized the opportunity. In March 1979, the Conservative

opposition leader, Margaret Thatcher, called for a vote of no

confidence. Wave up there at the cameras.

The Labour Government lost by just one vote, and a general election

was called. Sandra's son, Jonathan, has arrived back, just in time, for

the historic vote. Who will the families chose? Going to vote,

Jonathan? I think I might. Are you undecided? I am. With all that's

going on, and you are going to vote the same party back in? Yeah, but?

They are all the same. Maybe it's time to give women a go, if this

will be our first female Prime Minister, maybe a woman Prime

Minister might have her head screwed on and we might get

something done. Margaret Thatcher was the first woman in Britain to

lead a political party, she was also a wife and mother of two.

is the interest of a blonde at Number Ten, that every television

station with a film crew is in London. We have always been very

lucky, and the number of people have been so loyal. You are all

dressed up looking lovely. Michael Taylor, son of a loyal trade

unionist, is struggling to decide where his political loyalties lie.

I am considering voting for Margaret Thatcher. My dad, who is a

very union man, is a bit of a clash. I'm tired of being pushed from

pillar to post with the strike, I'm tired of not knowing what's going

to happen, I'm tired of having to take the rubbish to the tip. I'm

tired of the electricity shortages. I think this Government is just not

running the country very well. I think it's time for change. In the

capital polling has been heavy, with weather to entice out the not

fervent voter. Some don't need encouraging, one official found an

eager queue of his polling station before he unlocked the doors, it

was the first time for 30 years that has happened. This election is

a first for the 18-year-old Saskia. I want Margaret Thatcher to be our

Prime Minister, because it's a woman and it will allow, and will

help more women get into the parliament and all sorts. But I

want what the labour are saying. I voted for Labour. I voted

Conservative. Conservative. I voted for The Iron Lady herself. I voted

Thatcher I voted for a lady, and women will do better than others.

She seemed someone who would not could you to you to the unions.

wanted all three, I'm not allowed. The 1969 general election saw a

massive turnout, with more than 75% of the electorate voting. On Albert

Road, it is the dawn of a new era for our families. Heard the news?

I'm pleased she's in. Her Majesty the Queen has asked me to form a

new administration, and I have accepted. For the first time, a

wife and mother is in charge at Number Ten. All the fight for

equality and to have a women as Prime Minister, that is a fantastic,

it ends a decade for women, doesn't it. We need that Iron Lady

tendencies to bring us out of what is a complete slump and depression.

Listen to all the people booing. I'm quite pleased. But not everyone

is convinced that a woman's touch will be good for the nation.

you vote for her? No, it is not good news for the single mum is

that. Margaret Thatcher is very much about making the rich richer

and the poor poorer. With her in power I will go out and find myself

a rich fella, that's it. As the 1970s roll into the 1980s,

and Thatcherism takes hold, the journey is almost over for the

families of Albert Road. But before they return to the 21st century,

there is time for a final celebration for the street's

residents. The Golden Calf family, who left after the Second World War

have returned to join the festivities, marking the next great

historical event for Britain, the royal wedding of 1981. So what did

they make of the final era? from a woman's perspective it has

got ease yes, we have been more liberated this era, I don't feel as

though I have a struggle any more. It felt really weird being my dad,

I never realised stuff by b my father, that he actually was a big

part -- about my father, and he was actually a big part of the union

and how difficult it was for him within that time. I think, yeah,

the 70s was made you realise what is important, what is not. I have

enjoyed the most being a kid again, because for the last, all of the

eras, I have been an adult, now It is time to say goodbye for the

families in Albert Road. Juliet and Susan that are on hand to find out

which era was best for family life. Thank you for taking part in this

extraordinary project, you and your families have gone an accelerated

journey through the best part of 100 years of British life. You have

endured everything that history has had to throw at you. But what did

our families make of their journey through time? The Taylors stepped

back into the comfort of the upper middle-class life, once enjoyed by

Michael's great, great, great grandfather. Just about to go back

to the 21st century, for the family, do you think it is the past, or the

present, that is going to be the best time? For us all the 1900s

were very hard, we were separated completely, I was a single bloke by

all means, Adele was just in the drawing room with Megan, and Megan

really struggled to be a young adult, when really her heart is

wanting to be a child. Every year that has gone on, people understood

children more, we were given more of a voice and allowed to do more

things, kids' music and programmes, children were recognised more.

Newcomers Sandra Hawkes and her children arrived in Albert Road in

the 1960s to face prejudice and squalor. But an unwelcome reception

and squalid conditions did nothing to break their strong family ties.

History has raised ourself esteem, and made us who we are, -- self-

esteem, and made us who we are, families are about being there when

times are really hard and being there and supporting each other.

Family hug, I'm proud. What did single mum Lisa make of living in

the past? Personally, I haven't missed the mobile phone, I haven't

missed the television, I haven't missed any of those home comforts.

Neither have I. I think the kids have enjoyed the freedom of being

able to go-to-get-up-and-go outside. The Meadows family returned to

Phil's ancestor's working-class roots. For Phil, this meant going

cap-in-hand for labouring work, while Susie and the girls were

forced to skivvy for their well-to- do neighbours. Which is better for

family, the past or present life. The earlyly 1900s was the hardest

as a family, but saying that, it still managed to bring us closer,

and work better as a team, as a unite. As a family. So we all

became really close to each other. Family life for me, I would choose

2012 and the life that we have over what I have lived through. Because,

as a working-class family in the first three eras, it was damn hard.

In 2012, we have got every opportunity, and more fool us if we

don't capitalise on those, and make sure we have a happy life. I'm sad

to say it is time to say goodbye to each other and to Albert Road, and