0:00:02 > 0:00:04This programme contains some strong language
0:00:04 > 0:00:07- 30 seconds.- Standby studio.
0:00:07 > 0:00:09MUSIC: Are Friends Electric? by Gary Numan
0:00:12 > 0:00:14# It's cold outside
0:00:17 > 0:00:21# And the paint's peeling off of my walls. #
0:00:21 > 0:00:25By 1979, one woman had become a regular fixture
0:00:25 > 0:00:27on our television screens...
0:00:27 > 0:00:29Titles!
0:00:29 > 0:00:33..as she lectured the nation in her distinctive, clipped tones.
0:00:39 > 0:00:43Cool, capable and always impeccably groomed,
0:00:43 > 0:00:45this was a woman on a mission,
0:00:45 > 0:00:50determined to drag Britain kicking and screaming into the new decade.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53And what she inspired was little short of a revolution.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57Welcome to the cookery course.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00I hope those of you who haven't had any experience of cooking
0:01:00 > 0:01:03at all are going to find a good basic groundwork here.
0:01:03 > 0:01:06It was, of course, Delia Smith.
0:01:06 > 0:01:07Not the woman you were thinking of?
0:01:07 > 0:01:09Well, stay with me.
0:01:09 > 0:01:14Take a whisk... I think a balloon whisk is the best sort to use for this.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17You see, I think Delia is the key to understanding what really
0:01:17 > 0:01:20happened to Britain in the 1980s.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23I've got my egg whites all ready to be beaten up.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29We usually remember the 1980s as "The Thatcher Years".
0:01:29 > 0:01:34A decade of extraordinary political conflict and cultural confrontation,
0:01:34 > 0:01:38shaped above all by the iron will of the Iron Lady.
0:01:40 > 0:01:44I do not intend to be the first woman Prime Minister of
0:01:44 > 0:01:47a mediocre and declining Britain.
0:01:50 > 0:01:52You know, I don't think that's quite right.
0:01:52 > 0:01:54Of course Margaret Thatcher mattered,
0:01:54 > 0:01:57but maybe she mattered less than we think.
0:01:57 > 0:01:59Maybe she wasn't driving the change.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02Maybe she was responding to it.
0:02:02 > 0:02:04# I really get a dirty mind... #
0:02:04 > 0:02:08I wonder if the great changes of the 1980s really were down
0:02:08 > 0:02:10to Britain's politicians.
0:02:10 > 0:02:13I think the real authors of change were us,
0:02:13 > 0:02:15millions of ordinary people.
0:02:15 > 0:02:19The real revolution of the 1980s didn't happen out there.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23It happened in here. And in here.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25The '80s transformed our hopes and our dreams,
0:02:25 > 0:02:29our anxieties and our aspirations.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31And what we ate...
0:02:31 > 0:02:34and where we shopped...
0:02:34 > 0:02:36to where we lived...
0:02:36 > 0:02:38and what we watched.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42This was a revolution embodied not by Margaret Thatcher,
0:02:42 > 0:02:45but by Delia Smith and by millions like her.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48And in this series, as Delia herself would say,
0:02:48 > 0:02:50I'm going to show you how.
0:02:50 > 0:02:52# You just got to let me lay ya
0:02:52 > 0:02:54# Gotta let me lay ya, lay ya
0:02:54 > 0:02:56# You just gotta let me lay ya
0:02:56 > 0:02:58# Gotta let me lay you down. #
0:03:02 > 0:03:06- ANNOUNCER:- In 55 minutes, we partake of The Old Grey Whistle Test.
0:03:06 > 0:03:08First on Two...
0:03:10 > 0:03:13Delia Smith's Cookery Course was one of THE television hits
0:03:13 > 0:03:15of the early '80s.
0:03:15 > 0:03:17Hello, and welcome again.
0:03:17 > 0:03:19This week's programme is all about how to cook pasta
0:03:19 > 0:03:21and how to make pancakes.
0:03:21 > 0:03:23# Something's cooking in the kitchen... #
0:03:23 > 0:03:28Here was a show designed to teach the great British public how to cook...
0:03:31 > 0:03:35Another little tip I'll give you, to stop spaghetti or any pasta
0:03:35 > 0:03:39clinging together in the water is to add a few drops of olive oil.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41..and even how to eat.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45The best thing to do is to take a few strands, not too many,
0:03:45 > 0:03:49and then take them to the edge of the plate, twist the fork round
0:03:49 > 0:03:52and then lift it up so that you've got a bite-sized piece.
0:03:54 > 0:03:56# Baby, there's one lesson... #
0:03:56 > 0:04:01And it introduced us to some dangerously exotic ingredients.
0:04:01 > 0:04:02That's called lasagne.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05And that makes a really delicious dish, one of my very favourites,
0:04:05 > 0:04:07baked lasagne.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10# But something's cooking in the kitchen... #
0:04:10 > 0:04:13What we're now going to do is make a souffle.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17# Something's burning in your microwave... #
0:04:17 > 0:04:21Whisk up four egg whites to the soft peak stage.
0:04:21 > 0:04:23# Something's cooking in the kitchen
0:04:23 > 0:04:26# Something's steaming up the room... #
0:04:26 > 0:04:29For millions of viewers, Delia's simple recipes and her breezy
0:04:29 > 0:04:33informality around the kitchen were nothing short of an inspiration.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36You know, my mum had all Delia's books.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39And for us, every night was Delia night.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42Now, it's true that Delia had never been formally trained.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44But of course, that was something of an asset,
0:04:44 > 0:04:46because to the viewing public,
0:04:46 > 0:04:49she seemed the idealised suburban housewife.
0:04:49 > 0:04:50The perfect neighbour.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54The nice lady next door with a rare gift for whipping up a meringue.
0:04:54 > 0:04:58Who better to teach the nation to cook from her neat little kitchen
0:04:58 > 0:05:01somewhere in the heart of deepest middle England?
0:05:03 > 0:05:06Britain was in crisis.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10Unemployment was heading towards well over three million.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13And yet, sales of domestic appliances were booming.
0:05:16 > 0:05:18People were turning inwards,
0:05:18 > 0:05:22focusing their attentions and their spending on the home.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27But while millions of people were sitting down to watch Delia on TV,
0:05:27 > 0:05:30millions more were rushing out to buy
0:05:30 > 0:05:35a new gadget that told a revealing story about life in '80s Britain.
0:05:35 > 0:05:37And that was the microwave oven.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43MUSIC: Electricity by OMD
0:05:44 > 0:05:47In the first years of the 1980s,
0:05:47 > 0:05:49microwave sales went through the roof.
0:05:52 > 0:05:54The future had arrived.
0:05:55 > 0:06:00A miracle science oven that could cook anything in minutes.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02- Baked potatoes in a flash. - One minute per rasher.
0:06:02 > 0:06:04- The golden date tart. - No fishy smells.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06Pavlova in one-and-a-half minutes.
0:06:08 > 0:06:121979 saw Margaret Thatcher sweep to power,
0:06:12 > 0:06:16but it also saw the launch of the M&S Chicken Kiev ready meal for one.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22Britain was becoming more fragmented, with more people
0:06:22 > 0:06:26choosing to live alone and an increase in single-parent families.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29And more women were embracing the opportunity to work.
0:06:31 > 0:06:33I think things have GOT to change, because the majority of women
0:06:33 > 0:06:37do work full-time and have GOT to work full-time!
0:06:37 > 0:06:41In a lot of marriages, the woman basically is the breadwinner.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47Delia Smith knew exactly what this changing Britain needed.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52Delia's recipes were quick, simple and functional.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55They were perfectly designed for aspirational,
0:06:55 > 0:07:00working people who were far too busy to spend a lot of time cooking.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03In 1985, Delia even published this.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05One Is Fun!
0:07:05 > 0:07:08aimed squarely at readers who lived on their own.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11Then, no fewer than one in four British households.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15"She was..." said one critic, "..spearheading the changes
0:07:15 > 0:07:18"brought by the fast food revolution, freezer technology
0:07:18 > 0:07:23"and working wives, without ever being so far ahead as to be freaky."
0:07:25 > 0:07:27Freaky or not,
0:07:27 > 0:07:30Delia Smith was offering exactly what Britain wanted.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33Aspiration and inspiration.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36Perfectly designed to suit the everyday rhythms of modern life.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43And in Delia's world, it's little wonder that the voters turned
0:07:43 > 0:07:46to a new kind of political leader.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51'On weekday mornings, like most other mothers,
0:07:51 > 0:07:55'Mrs Thatcher begins her day cooking breakfast at home for the family.'
0:07:56 > 0:08:01A working mother who'd grown up in a grocer's shop and spoke openly
0:08:01 > 0:08:05about good housekeeping, home economics and family budgets.
0:08:07 > 0:08:12I too know what it's like running a house and running a career.
0:08:12 > 0:08:14I know what it's like having to live within a budget.
0:08:14 > 0:08:16I know what it's like having to cope.
0:08:19 > 0:08:23She was a housewife. She knows what it's like on a limited budget.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26Everything like that. It appealed to me. You know?
0:08:26 > 0:08:30- And I thought, "Well, a woman..." - SHE CHUCKLES
0:08:30 > 0:08:34BIG BEN CHIMES
0:08:36 > 0:08:40# Happy New Year, happy New Year... #
0:08:40 > 0:08:46As 1980 dawned, the new decade seemed charged with possibility.
0:08:46 > 0:08:50And Britain's first woman Prime Minister published her call-to-arms.
0:08:53 > 0:08:55"You're probably reading this sitting at home,
0:08:55 > 0:08:57"maybe with your family around you.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00"In the living room, there's almost certainly a television set,
0:09:00 > 0:09:02"probably a colour model.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04"In the kitchen, there is more than likely to be
0:09:04 > 0:09:07"a washing machine and almost definitely a fridge."
0:09:07 > 0:09:09Now, this is very clearly aimed at the kind of people who are
0:09:09 > 0:09:11watching Delia Smith.
0:09:11 > 0:09:13But here's the killer question.
0:09:13 > 0:09:17How many of these items were made in Britain?
0:09:17 > 0:09:19"Once we were the best. We built well and sold well.
0:09:19 > 0:09:24"We delivered on time, people bought British because British was best."
0:09:24 > 0:09:25Not any more, of course.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29Now people were buying German or American or Japanese.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33And this is what Mrs Thatcher had come to power promising to change.
0:09:33 > 0:09:36"So as you raise a glass to the '80s tomorrow night,
0:09:36 > 0:09:40"drink with me to the awakening of Britain."
0:09:40 > 0:09:45What all this did was to tap into two very powerful forces.
0:09:45 > 0:09:46One of them was something new,
0:09:46 > 0:09:49our growing obsession with gadgets and appliances,
0:09:49 > 0:09:51home and household.
0:09:51 > 0:09:53But the other was very old indeed.
0:09:53 > 0:09:58Our deep sense of national identity, our patriotism, our pride,
0:09:58 > 0:10:00our bulldog spirit.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03Some of you may have noticed that for the past few years,
0:10:03 > 0:10:07Britain has been invaded by the Italians, the Germans,
0:10:07 > 0:10:10the Japanese and the French.
0:10:10 > 0:10:12Now we have the means to fight back.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16# Oh, yeah
0:10:16 > 0:10:18# Oh, yeah. #
0:10:18 > 0:10:22This attempt to turn the domestic aspirations of Delia's Britain
0:10:22 > 0:10:26into a patriotic crusade would soon produce one of
0:10:26 > 0:10:28the great icons of the early '80s.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33# Bow, bow (chick chicka-chickaa). #
0:10:33 > 0:10:36Now, today, this might not look like a car
0:10:36 > 0:10:38to set Jeremy Clarkson's pulse racing.
0:10:38 > 0:10:40But at the dawn of the 1980s,
0:10:40 > 0:10:43the Austin Metro was something of a public obsession.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46Indeed, I think that never before had the appearance of
0:10:46 > 0:10:52a new British car been anticipated with such patriotic expectation.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55"Not just a motor car..." said one headline,
0:10:55 > 0:10:58"..more a symbol of national survival."
0:10:58 > 0:11:00The new Austin Metro.
0:11:00 > 0:11:04The new Metro is so aerodynamic, that at a steady 50mph,
0:11:04 > 0:11:07the Metro HLE gets 62 miles per gallon.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15Amid the industrial turmoil of the 1970s, strikes had brought our
0:11:15 > 0:11:20biggest car manufacturer, British Leyland, to the verge of bankruptcy.
0:11:21 > 0:11:25But by the dawn of the 1980s, new management had tackled
0:11:25 > 0:11:27the problem head-on and seemed to be winning.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32Leyland believe that by involving the workers in decision making,
0:11:32 > 0:11:35they will not only reduce the number of disputes, they will,
0:11:35 > 0:11:39as a bonus, improve the quality of their vehicles.
0:11:40 > 0:11:42We want to prove to everybody that we can make these cars and
0:11:42 > 0:11:44make the demand that they want, you know?
0:11:44 > 0:11:46We can make a good job as well.
0:11:46 > 0:11:47We know we can do it.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52The Austin Metro was their secret weapon.
0:11:54 > 0:11:56You know, for me, this is a bit of a nostalgic treat,
0:11:56 > 0:11:59because my dad had one of the very first models.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02Of course, he was far from alone.
0:12:02 > 0:12:06Because here was a car that was reliable, affordable and economical.
0:12:06 > 0:12:12The ideal car for a country coming to terms with industrial decline.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15MUSIC: Pull Up To The Bumper by Grace Jones
0:12:15 > 0:12:18But the key selling point and the one that chimed perfectly
0:12:18 > 0:12:22with Mrs Thatcher's bullish rhetoric, was that it was British.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25The new Austin Metro.
0:12:25 > 0:12:26A British car
0:12:26 > 0:12:29to beat the world.
0:12:35 > 0:12:39The Metro was an undeniable British manufacturing success story.
0:12:39 > 0:12:41But it was fighting against the tide.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47For across much of industrial Britain,
0:12:47 > 0:12:50the outlook could hardly have been grimmer.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56Honey Tree Close, with its neat gardens and carefully
0:12:56 > 0:13:00maintained modern houses, is a reflection of the prosperity
0:13:00 > 0:13:03in the West Midlands that was once taken for granted.
0:13:06 > 0:13:09But in the last two years, a dream has been shattered.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12Where there was hope, there's now fear and uncertainty.
0:13:17 > 0:13:21A few years earlier, when Honey Tree Close had been built, this area,
0:13:21 > 0:13:25the West Midlands, had been Britain's manufacturing heartland.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28But now, it found itself in deep trouble.
0:13:28 > 0:13:32Years of cheap foreign competition, terrible labour relations,
0:13:32 > 0:13:37appalling productivity and falling demand had eaten away
0:13:37 > 0:13:39at Britain's industrial base.
0:13:39 > 0:13:40And by the early '80s,
0:13:40 > 0:13:44many of the families on this Dudley estate were becoming increasingly
0:13:44 > 0:13:48worried about the future of the local Round Oak steelworks.
0:13:53 > 0:13:57Round Oak had been producing iron and steel since Victorian times.
0:13:59 > 0:14:03But by 1980, the future of the British steel industry looked bleak.
0:14:06 > 0:14:11Two days before Christmas 1982, Round Oak closed its doors.
0:14:15 > 0:14:17Some 1,300 jobs were lost.
0:14:19 > 0:14:21It was an all-too-familiar story.
0:14:22 > 0:14:27Steel-built Corby and its passing means the town must make massive psychological...
0:14:27 > 0:14:30Dunlop's tyre factory at Speke is to close down entirely,
0:14:30 > 0:14:32with the loss of 3,000 jobs...
0:14:32 > 0:14:36Soon, the now-cold blast furnaces will be broken up for scrap.
0:14:36 > 0:14:38This whole skyline will change.
0:14:40 > 0:14:42# A cloud hangs over me
0:14:44 > 0:14:45# Marks every move... #
0:14:45 > 0:14:48Previous governments had been terrified of unemployment.
0:14:48 > 0:14:52So when times were tough, they had pumped money into the economy
0:14:52 > 0:14:58to prop up consumer demand and to bail out our struggling businesses.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01But Mrs Thatcher was different.
0:15:01 > 0:15:06Printing more money will lead to more inflation...
0:15:06 > 0:15:08HECKLING
0:15:08 > 0:15:10..not to more jobs.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15This government has no intention of printing more money
0:15:15 > 0:15:18to finance big pay settlements.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24This wasn't just bitter medicine, this was shock therapy.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27Within months, British manufacturing had plunged into the deepest
0:15:27 > 0:15:30recession since the war.
0:15:30 > 0:15:32# I am the one in ten
0:15:32 > 0:15:34# (A number on a list)
0:15:34 > 0:15:36# I am the one in ten... #
0:15:36 > 0:15:39By the end of 1980, unemployment had hit two million.
0:15:41 > 0:15:46In some parts of Merseyside, unemployment has reached 40%.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50The odds against the unskilled getting a job are 424-to-1.
0:15:54 > 0:15:56At the time this was seen, understandably enough,
0:15:56 > 0:16:01as Margaret Thatcher's recession and Margaret Thatcher's unemployment.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04Now, she certainly made a very convenient scapegoat,
0:16:04 > 0:16:07but I think the truth is a bit more complicated.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10You know, there's a persistent caricature that the Thatcher
0:16:10 > 0:16:13government just pulled the plug on British industry,
0:16:13 > 0:16:16and yet in the early 1980s, they were actually giving hundreds
0:16:16 > 0:16:20of millions of pounds to the steel industry alone.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23And I think the underlying reality is that with or without
0:16:23 > 0:16:26Margaret Thatcher, industrial working-class Britain,
0:16:26 > 0:16:31this Britain, was always heading for the scrapheap.
0:16:31 > 0:16:33# Get your nose out the paper
0:16:33 > 0:16:37# Take a good look at what's going down... #
0:16:37 > 0:16:39Over the course of the next decade,
0:16:39 > 0:16:43the collapse of these industries would drastically reshape our lives.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47# Have you seen the writing on the wall? #
0:16:47 > 0:16:51Entire communities, once defined by their local industry,
0:16:51 > 0:16:53the mill, the mine, the factory,
0:16:53 > 0:16:55faced unemployment and disintegration.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01But out of the ashes of these old industries,
0:17:01 > 0:17:02something new was rising.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13Even before the Round Oak works had closed,
0:17:13 > 0:17:16the government had declared the area an "enterprise zone".
0:17:16 > 0:17:19Very '80s phrase, that, "enterprise zone".
0:17:19 > 0:17:25And in 1985, work began on this. Merry Hill Shopping Centre.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28And in a way, this building tells the whole story of what
0:17:28 > 0:17:30happened to Britain in the 1980s.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33The transition from manufacturing to services.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36From making things to buying things.
0:17:36 > 0:17:41From the roar of the blast furnace to the ring of the cash register.
0:17:41 > 0:17:46A brave new world built on credit and consumerism.
0:17:52 > 0:17:56In a society ruled by the values of the marketplace,
0:17:56 > 0:17:58identity itself was now becoming a product.
0:17:58 > 0:18:00Even a brand.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06A question less of class, than of taste.
0:18:09 > 0:18:11In the spring of 1980,
0:18:11 > 0:18:15a brand-new publication appeared on the shelves of Britain's newsagents.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18Its founding father was a man called Nick Logan.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21Now, Logan had previously been the editor of the NME,
0:18:21 > 0:18:25as well as the man who'd set up the magazine, Smash Hits,
0:18:25 > 0:18:27so he certainly knew his way around the business.
0:18:27 > 0:18:30And what he wanted to produce was something glossy and aspirational,
0:18:30 > 0:18:34squarely aimed at people in their late teens and early 20s,
0:18:34 > 0:18:38but with the production values of Tatler or Vogue.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42And what he came up with was less a music magazine,
0:18:42 > 0:18:44than a style Bible.
0:18:44 > 0:18:48MUSIC: Fade To Grey by Visage
0:18:48 > 0:18:52The Face became one of the most influential magazines of the decade.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58It even had its own advert on TV.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02DISTORTED: The Face!
0:19:02 > 0:19:05"What The Face does..." Nick Logan once said,
0:19:05 > 0:19:09"..is combine racy copy with a lot of photography.
0:19:09 > 0:19:13"People do underestimate the power of a good picture."
0:19:13 > 0:19:16And for me, what The Face absolutely captured was one
0:19:16 > 0:19:20of the defining characteristics of the advertising-crazed 1980s.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25The idea that consumerism isn't really about the stuff,
0:19:25 > 0:19:27it's about you, the consumer.
0:19:27 > 0:19:29It's about who you are,
0:19:29 > 0:19:32who you want to be and what you want to look like.
0:19:32 > 0:19:34It's all ultimately about the image.
0:19:39 > 0:19:43The Face was keen to champion the New Romantic and New Wave stars
0:19:43 > 0:19:45of the early '80s.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48The Human League, Grace Jones,
0:19:48 > 0:19:50Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran,
0:19:52 > 0:19:55Ultravox, Heaven 17.
0:19:55 > 0:19:57New music for a new decade.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02# Here comes the daylight, here comes my job... #
0:20:02 > 0:20:05An age of materialism, glitz and glamour.
0:20:06 > 0:20:07# Here comes the night-time
0:20:07 > 0:20:10# Here comes my role
0:20:10 > 0:20:11# Goodbye to the pavement
0:20:11 > 0:20:13# Hello to my soul. #
0:20:13 > 0:20:17You know, I don't think it's an accident that so many of these bands
0:20:17 > 0:20:20emerged from the old industrial cities of the North and the Midlands.
0:20:20 > 0:20:24Places like Liverpool and Sheffield and Manchester.
0:20:24 > 0:20:28Cities that had been rooted in the old certainties of class and
0:20:28 > 0:20:32industry and now, of course, were blighted by unemployment.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35What's also striking is just how radically these bands broke
0:20:35 > 0:20:37with the music of the 1970s.
0:20:37 > 0:20:39Not just in the way they sounded,
0:20:39 > 0:20:42but perhaps even more so in the way they looked.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48# Sitting on a park bench
0:20:48 > 0:20:51# Years away from fighting
0:20:51 > 0:20:53# Oh, to cut a long story short... #
0:20:53 > 0:20:57Far from attacking the new materialism of the 1980s,
0:20:57 > 0:21:02many of these bands eagerly embraced the spirit of individual aspiration.
0:21:02 > 0:21:04My dad was a Ted, you know?
0:21:04 > 0:21:07He dressed up because, you know... Most kids, when you're in your
0:21:07 > 0:21:11teens and early 20s, you do it because you want attention.
0:21:11 > 0:21:13When you open the door of your council flat,
0:21:13 > 0:21:16when you go to a comprehensive school with 2,000 kids there,
0:21:16 > 0:21:18you don't want to merge into the background.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21You want to stand out from that background and you want to
0:21:21 > 0:21:23look good just individually, yourself.
0:21:23 > 0:21:25And that's what it's about.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29Now, bands like Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet have always
0:21:29 > 0:21:32carried a certain amount of political baggage.
0:21:32 > 0:21:34And even today, there are plenty of people who will just write
0:21:34 > 0:21:37them off as money-grabbing Thatcherites.
0:21:37 > 0:21:39Which is, I think, a bit unfair, because of course,
0:21:39 > 0:21:42most of them were Labour voters.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46Even so, it is, I think, true that in their values, in their language
0:21:46 > 0:21:50and even in their clothes, they were reflecting a changing mood.
0:21:50 > 0:21:54More individualistic, more aspirational and, dare I say it,
0:21:54 > 0:21:59more entrepreneurial. Less free love, then, more free market.
0:21:59 > 0:22:01I think everybody's basically a capitalist.
0:22:01 > 0:22:02You know, you see all these people...
0:22:02 > 0:22:04Whether you vote Labour or Conservative,
0:22:04 > 0:22:05you're still a capitalist.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08Even if you're just a housewife who simply want a new cooker,
0:22:08 > 0:22:10that's capitalistic, you know?
0:22:10 > 0:22:12Having come from nothing, you know, having come from
0:22:12 > 0:22:16a quite poor background, I know what it's like not to have money.
0:22:16 > 0:22:20MUSIC: Rio by Duran Duran
0:22:21 > 0:22:25For the New Romantics, class belonged to history.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29The future was all about style, swagger and the gospel of success.
0:22:29 > 0:22:36# And when she shines she really shows you all she can... #
0:22:36 > 0:22:39In its relentless emphasis on image and identity,
0:22:39 > 0:22:43style and aspiration, The Face was very much of its time.
0:22:43 > 0:22:47These values would play an enormous role in the wider popular culture
0:22:47 > 0:22:52of the 1980s and they're associated with one industry above all -
0:22:52 > 0:22:53advertising.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59Remember, this was Delia's Britain -
0:22:59 > 0:23:02a country obsessed with consumerism and aspirations.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05So, brand identity mattered more than ever.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07MUSIC: All Of My Heart by ABC
0:23:07 > 0:23:10And for Britain's ad men, brand identities
0:23:10 > 0:23:13no longer just applied to products, they now applied to people.
0:23:15 > 0:23:17Your after-dinner mints weren't just mints.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20They were a statement of elegance and sophistication.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25Your stock cubes, a reflection of wholesome family life...
0:23:25 > 0:23:27with a saucy twist.
0:23:27 > 0:23:29Remember, Preston...
0:23:29 > 0:23:33Entire social groups were now defined not by class or income,
0:23:33 > 0:23:36but by what they bought, what they ate and where they shopped.
0:23:39 > 0:23:41And to one group of youngsters,
0:23:41 > 0:23:45wearing the right shirt was a symbol of something more.
0:23:45 > 0:23:47# All of my heart... #
0:23:48 > 0:23:50Tribal, innit?
0:23:50 > 0:23:53I mean, it's like football, it's just tribal.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56One tribe onto another tribe.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59Who can go and do the next tribe?
0:24:01 > 0:24:04It boils down to human nature, don't it?
0:24:04 > 0:24:07MUSIC: A Forest by The Cure
0:24:07 > 0:24:10By the early '80s, Saturday afternoons had become
0:24:10 > 0:24:15associated with one thing -
0:24:15 > 0:24:17football hooliganism.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29On Saturday, you get the regular football guys
0:24:29 > 0:24:33and you get troublemakers.
0:24:33 > 0:24:35It definitely affects the trade.
0:24:35 > 0:24:36People are frightened.
0:24:39 > 0:24:43Football hooliganism was, of course, nothing new.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46In the 1970s, the back page headlines had been dominated
0:24:46 > 0:24:49by one punch-up after another.
0:24:49 > 0:24:53But by the early '80s, it was beginning to feel different.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56The look had changed. Less flares and bovver boots,
0:24:56 > 0:24:59more drainpipe jeans and Adidas trainers.
0:24:59 > 0:25:04And the violence itself had changed too. It was now sharper, nastier
0:25:04 > 0:25:05and better organised.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13Football in the 1980s seemed a national disease.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18But even as the mob mentality of the football terraces was destroying
0:25:18 > 0:25:20the image of the beautiful game,
0:25:20 > 0:25:24a very different game was taking Britain by storm.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34The 1980s was snooker's decade.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38Here, in stark contrast to the turbulence on the terraces,
0:25:38 > 0:25:40was a game of gallantry and precision.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44A gentlemanly contest of skill and stamina,
0:25:44 > 0:25:48a game made for television with cameras to pick up every break,
0:25:48 > 0:25:51every miss, every blink and every twitch.
0:25:51 > 0:25:55It had a rich cast of charismatic characters,
0:25:55 > 0:25:58individual heroes for an individualistic age.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01MUSIC: Hit Me With Your Best Shot by Pat Benatar
0:26:01 > 0:26:03APPLAUSE
0:26:05 > 0:26:11There was Alex "Hurricane" Higgins, Dennis Taylor, Jimmy White,
0:26:11 > 0:26:16Ray Reardon, Willie Thorne, and, of course...
0:26:18 > 0:26:19..Steve Davis.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24He's breathing heavily as he comes down to this final pink.
0:26:24 > 0:26:26- CHEERING - And that's it.
0:26:26 > 0:26:30The World Snooker Champion, Steve Davis.
0:26:30 > 0:26:35In 1981, a young Steve Davis beat Doug Mountjoy to win the
0:26:35 > 0:26:40World Snooker Championship at the Crucible in Sheffield.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43Congratulations there from his manager, Barry Hearn.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46It kick-started a national love affair with baize and balls.
0:26:50 > 0:26:54Steve Davis was much more interesting than he pretended to be.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56Well, a bit more interesting.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59A working-class south London boy made good,
0:26:59 > 0:27:03he brought to the table some of Mrs Thatcher's favourite
0:27:03 > 0:27:07virtues - talent, ambition and sheer hard work.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10But the man who really turned snooker into a global
0:27:10 > 0:27:15money-spinner was his manager, the accountant and promoter Barry Hearn.
0:27:17 > 0:27:19- PHONE RINGS - The good manager.
0:27:19 > 0:27:20Hello, Barry Hearn.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23Also known in the business as Barry 'Earn.
0:27:23 > 0:27:25Yes, well, if you're talking about...
0:27:25 > 0:27:28No, if you're talking about an afternoon and evening,
0:27:28 > 0:27:31I'd do... If we were in your area, we'd do 1,250 the night-time
0:27:31 > 0:27:34but an afternoon session will be an extra 500.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36So that's 1,750 plus VAT,
0:27:36 > 0:27:40plus any expenses that Steve incurs.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43Thanks to Barry Hearn, Steve Davis became one of the highest earning
0:27:43 > 0:27:46sports stars of the decade.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49Not just a sporting hero but a brand.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52An '80s advertiser's dream...
0:27:52 > 0:27:54in any language...
0:27:56 > 0:27:59..and a magnet for corporate sponsorship.
0:27:59 > 0:28:01Listen, I'm a little bit worried about the gloves.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04I don't really think they're going to suit this image.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06Yes, it could be a bit over the top.
0:28:06 > 0:28:08Toni, do you want to take off the gloves?
0:28:08 > 0:28:10The gloves get the big heave.
0:28:10 > 0:28:14All pictures must reflect the clean-cut image of Barry Hearn's boy
0:28:14 > 0:28:18who gets £25,000 a year to appear in The Star newspaper.
0:28:18 > 0:28:20That's lovely.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23Crucially, while football appealed overwhelmingly to
0:28:23 > 0:28:27young, working-class men, snooker's audience went right across
0:28:27 > 0:28:31the spectrum - young and old, rich and poor, men and women.
0:28:31 > 0:28:34Here was a sport that the whole family could enjoy,
0:28:34 > 0:28:38gathered around the television on a wet bank holiday weekend.
0:28:38 > 0:28:40And enjoy it we did.
0:28:42 > 0:28:45The defending world champion, Steve Davis.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48The 1985 World Championship final.
0:28:50 > 0:28:54Dennis Taylor battled Steve Davis down to the final frame
0:28:54 > 0:28:57in an unbearably tense match.
0:29:00 > 0:29:03Victory rested on the very last ball.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06CHEERING
0:29:11 > 0:29:13He's done it!
0:29:13 > 0:29:16CHEERING
0:29:16 > 0:29:20Dennis Taylor, for the first time, becomes
0:29:20 > 0:29:23Embassy World Snooker champion.
0:29:23 > 0:29:27The match was watched by almost 19,000,000 people.
0:29:27 > 0:29:30A record figure for BBC Two to this day.
0:29:33 > 0:29:37MUSIC: Passing Strangers by Ultravox
0:29:40 > 0:29:43In a world where snooker was taking over from football,
0:29:43 > 0:29:47New Romantics from punk rockers and service industries from
0:29:47 > 0:29:51heavy industry, the old assumptions seemed in headlong retreat.
0:29:55 > 0:29:58But what of the political opposition?
0:29:59 > 0:30:05On 29 September 1980, a bruised and battered Labour Party
0:30:05 > 0:30:08convened here, the Winter Gardens in Blackpool, to try and make
0:30:08 > 0:30:11sense of their election defeat a year earlier.
0:30:11 > 0:30:16The atmosphere could be described as, well, poisonous.
0:30:16 > 0:30:19Many young activists were seething with righteous anger,
0:30:19 > 0:30:21not so much at the Tories,
0:30:21 > 0:30:24but what they saw as the betrayals of the last Labour government and,
0:30:24 > 0:30:29in particular, at their veteran leader, Jim Callaghan.
0:30:29 > 0:30:33MUSIC: Upside Down by Diana Ross
0:30:33 > 0:30:37Many of us in this conference are also angry about much of what
0:30:37 > 0:30:41the last Labour government did and a great deal of what the last
0:30:41 > 0:30:43Labour government failed to do.
0:30:43 > 0:30:45And we have the right, comrades,
0:30:45 > 0:30:47to be angry and to do something about our anger.
0:30:51 > 0:30:56Between Labour's left and right, the gulf had been deepening for years,
0:30:56 > 0:31:00but never before had the divisions been so blatant or so bitter.
0:31:00 > 0:31:02# Inside out and round and round... #
0:31:04 > 0:31:05Andrew Faulds,
0:31:05 > 0:31:07MP for Warley East.
0:31:07 > 0:31:11And I represent the true Labour Party in Smethwick.
0:31:11 > 0:31:15Not the Workers Revolutionary Party,
0:31:15 > 0:31:17nor the militant Trots...
0:31:17 > 0:31:21APPLAUSE AND BOOING
0:31:21 > 0:31:24..who have, who have...
0:31:26 > 0:31:31..who have infiltrated so many constituency parties, as you know!
0:31:31 > 0:31:33CHEERING
0:31:33 > 0:31:34Madam Chairman,
0:31:34 > 0:31:38the baying of the beast betrays its presence.
0:31:38 > 0:31:39You can hear them.
0:31:39 > 0:31:42# Upside down
0:31:42 > 0:31:44# Boy, you turn me
0:31:44 > 0:31:45# Inside out
0:31:45 > 0:31:48# And round and round... #
0:31:48 > 0:31:52What the TV pictures from Blackpool showed was a party engulfed
0:31:52 > 0:31:54in a bitter civil war.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57This was political theatre at its most luridly melodramatic,
0:31:57 > 0:31:59a clash not just of big personalities,
0:31:59 > 0:32:03but of two very different visions of Britain's future.
0:32:03 > 0:32:06But what all this reflected was a much deeper story that went
0:32:06 > 0:32:08well beyond Westminster politics,
0:32:08 > 0:32:11because here was an old-fashioned institution
0:32:11 > 0:32:15struggling to come to terms with social and economic change,
0:32:15 > 0:32:18with the decline of the old industrial working classes,
0:32:18 > 0:32:20the eclipse of the trade unions
0:32:20 > 0:32:23and the rising power of social aspiration.
0:32:23 > 0:32:25And it was under these pressures
0:32:25 > 0:32:29that the Labour Party was tearing itself apart.
0:32:29 > 0:32:31MUSIC
0:32:38 > 0:32:42To heal the divisions, Labour's MPs chose a new leader,
0:32:42 > 0:32:44the left-wing veteran, Michael Foot.
0:32:44 > 0:32:48The party's not going to be...divided.
0:32:48 > 0:32:52The party's not going to... tear itself to pieces.
0:32:53 > 0:32:57But sentiment alone couldn't hold the party together.
0:32:57 > 0:33:00A rousing speaker and first-rate writer,
0:33:00 > 0:33:03Foot was nonetheless a media disaster.
0:33:03 > 0:33:05Oi!
0:33:09 > 0:33:13In January 1981, the former Labour grandee Roy Jenkins
0:33:13 > 0:33:15issued a very public challenge.
0:33:15 > 0:33:19Jenkins joined forces with the Labour moderates,
0:33:19 > 0:33:21David Owen, Shirley Williams and Bill Rodgers.
0:33:23 > 0:33:25And the so-called Gang Of Four
0:33:25 > 0:33:29launched the Social Democratic Party, or SDP.
0:33:30 > 0:33:33And the trouble didn't stop there.
0:33:33 > 0:33:37Tony Benn's infinite capacity to surprise and sometimes to dismay
0:33:37 > 0:33:40has never been better demonstrated than in the early hours
0:33:40 > 0:33:43of the morning, his decision made public at 3:40am
0:33:43 > 0:33:46to challenge Denis Healey for the deputy leadership of the party...
0:33:46 > 0:33:49VOICE FADES OUT
0:33:49 > 0:33:53In April 1981, the charismatic left-winger Tony Benn
0:33:53 > 0:33:56casually tossed a grenade into the chaos.
0:33:56 > 0:34:00By challenging Labour's Deputy Leader Denis Healey,
0:34:00 > 0:34:05Benn was inviting the party to lurch even further to the left.
0:34:05 > 0:34:06# For making your mind up! #
0:34:06 > 0:34:09"Tony Benn for deputy" badge. 20p.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12The result could hardly have been closer.
0:34:14 > 0:34:16The final decision, and I'll say this now,
0:34:16 > 0:34:19the votes have been counted three times.
0:34:20 > 0:34:24Tony Benn, 49.574.
0:34:26 > 0:34:31Denis Healey, 50.426.
0:34:31 > 0:34:33CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:34:36 > 0:34:39If Tony Benn had won, well,
0:34:39 > 0:34:42then the future of the Labour Party would've looked very different.
0:34:42 > 0:34:44Funnily enough though,
0:34:44 > 0:34:48both the Benn crusade and the short-lived emergence of the SDP
0:34:48 > 0:34:51were basically responses to the same thing,
0:34:51 > 0:34:55the tumultuous upheaval in our social and economic life.
0:34:55 > 0:34:57And so, Labour found itself caught
0:34:57 > 0:35:00between the lights of left-wing purity
0:35:00 > 0:35:03and the demands of appealing to the centre ground.
0:35:03 > 0:35:05And of course, for the Labour Party,
0:35:05 > 0:35:08that particular problem has never gone away.
0:35:14 > 0:35:17MUSIC: Reasons To Be Cheerful by Ian Dury and The Blockheads
0:35:17 > 0:35:19# Reasons to be cheerful, part three
0:35:19 > 0:35:21# One, two, three
0:35:21 > 0:35:23# Summer, Buddy Holly, The working folly
0:35:23 > 0:35:25# Good golly Miss Molly and boats... #
0:35:25 > 0:35:28Labour activists weren't alone in struggling to come to terms
0:35:28 > 0:35:29with a change in mood.
0:35:29 > 0:35:31# 18-wheeler Scammells, Dominecker camels
0:35:31 > 0:35:33# All other mammals Plus equal votes...
0:35:33 > 0:35:35CHEERING
0:35:35 > 0:35:38In the summer of 1981,
0:35:38 > 0:35:42Britain basked in the warm glow of the Royal Wedding.
0:35:42 > 0:35:43# Reasons to be cheerful
0:35:43 > 0:35:46# One, two, three... #
0:35:46 > 0:35:49But for all the pageantry and patriotic optimism,
0:35:49 > 0:35:53some sections of society had fewer reasons to be cheerful.
0:35:53 > 0:35:55# Reasons to be cheerful
0:35:55 > 0:35:57# Part three. #
0:35:57 > 0:36:02The beginning of the 1980s, Brixton was not a happy place.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05Transformed in the previous 30 years by waves of West Indian
0:36:05 > 0:36:09immigration, this was one of the poorest areas in London,
0:36:09 > 0:36:14blighted by very high crime and very high unemployment.
0:36:14 > 0:36:18In these run-down streets, Mrs Thatcher's talk of aspiration
0:36:18 > 0:36:22and self-improvement sounded like something from a different planet.
0:36:22 > 0:36:25And for much of Brixton's black community, this was an age,
0:36:25 > 0:36:28not of opportunity and entrepreneurship,
0:36:28 > 0:36:32but one of prejudice, alienation and everyday racism.
0:36:37 > 0:36:42In January 1981, 13 black teenagers were killed
0:36:42 > 0:36:45in a house fire in New Cross, south London.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48# 13 dead
0:36:48 > 0:36:51# And nothing said... #
0:36:51 > 0:36:55Many local activists blamed a racially-motivated arson attack.
0:36:55 > 0:36:57When no arrests followed,
0:36:57 > 0:37:00they accused the police of treating black lives as cheap.
0:37:00 > 0:37:03A capital smouldered with indignation.
0:37:06 > 0:37:09In Brixton, where relations with the police had long been strained,
0:37:09 > 0:37:12the mood was especially volatile.
0:37:12 > 0:37:14Are they really harassing people every day?
0:37:14 > 0:37:16People have been beaten, kicked,
0:37:16 > 0:37:18I saw it with my own eyes, the people...
0:37:18 > 0:37:20- Racism.- Racist, man.
0:37:21 > 0:37:24# Mothers and fathers... #
0:37:25 > 0:37:28On the afternoon of Saturday, the 11th of April,
0:37:28 > 0:37:30here on Railton Road,
0:37:30 > 0:37:33two young plainclothes policemen stopped and searched
0:37:33 > 0:37:37a minicab driver whom they suspected of dealing drugs.
0:37:37 > 0:37:41A crowd gathered and scuffles broke out. A man was arrested.
0:37:41 > 0:37:44By now there were more than 100 people here and the mood was ugly.
0:37:44 > 0:37:49The police called for reinforcements and then all hell broke loose.
0:37:49 > 0:37:51MUSIC: Sound Of The Crowd by Human League
0:37:58 > 0:38:01# Put your hand In a party wave... #
0:38:01 > 0:38:03As the fighting intensified,
0:38:03 > 0:38:06Railton Road became the front line of a running battle.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13Bricks and petrol bombs were thrown at the police...
0:38:16 > 0:38:19..who called for thousands of reinforcements.
0:38:22 > 0:38:28# Add your voice to the sound of the crowd. #
0:38:31 > 0:38:33The rioting went on well into the night.
0:38:39 > 0:38:42It was only when fire hoses were turned on the crowds
0:38:42 > 0:38:45that the police began to regain control.
0:38:48 > 0:38:53The Brixton riots caused £6.5 million worth of damage.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56450 people were injured,
0:38:56 > 0:38:59hundreds of buildings burned and vehicles destroyed.
0:39:01 > 0:39:03Was Brixton preventable?
0:39:03 > 0:39:06And can it be prevented from happening again?
0:39:09 > 0:39:13Amid a fierce debate about the causes and consequences,
0:39:13 > 0:39:15Britain was forced to look hard
0:39:15 > 0:39:18at its attitude to race and multiculturalism.
0:39:18 > 0:39:20Quite clearly, we've got to limit
0:39:20 > 0:39:23any further mass immigration into this country,
0:39:23 > 0:39:25and if any people wish to return to their country of ethnic origin,
0:39:25 > 0:39:27they should be encouraged to do so.
0:39:27 > 0:39:30The police should recognise that in fact,
0:39:30 > 0:39:33it's not on to treat people in what seems to many blacks
0:39:33 > 0:39:36in Brixton as an oppressive and injust manner.
0:39:38 > 0:39:40Over the next few months,
0:39:40 > 0:39:42more riots broke out across the country,
0:39:42 > 0:39:44Toxteth in Liverpool,
0:39:44 > 0:39:46Moss Side in Manchester,
0:39:46 > 0:39:48Chapeltown in Leeds.
0:39:49 > 0:39:50A few months later,
0:39:50 > 0:39:53Mrs Thatcher's Employment Secretary, Norman Tebbit,
0:39:53 > 0:39:58witheringly dismissed attempts to blame the rioting on unemployment.
0:39:58 > 0:40:03I grew up in the '30s with an unemployed father. He didn't riot.
0:40:03 > 0:40:05He got on his bike and looked for work,
0:40:05 > 0:40:08and he kept looking till he found it.
0:40:08 > 0:40:09APPLAUSE
0:40:10 > 0:40:13But Britain in the '80s was a very different place
0:40:13 > 0:40:15from Britain in the '30s.
0:40:15 > 0:40:18A much more fragmented, individualistic society,
0:40:18 > 0:40:21in which people no longer felt a strong sense of loyalty
0:40:21 > 0:40:23to their local community.
0:40:23 > 0:40:27And yet, you know, the surprising thing, it was precisely that
0:40:27 > 0:40:32sense of community spirit that the Brixton riots did much to revive.
0:40:35 > 0:40:37In the aftermath of the riots,
0:40:37 > 0:40:41local politicians made a concerted effort to regenerate the area.
0:40:42 > 0:40:46And Lambeth Council commissioned a series of murals designed
0:40:46 > 0:40:49to foster pride in the local neighbourhood.
0:40:49 > 0:40:51# I'm never going to cry again
0:40:53 > 0:40:55# I'm never going to die again
0:40:56 > 0:40:57# I shed some tears for you
0:40:59 > 0:41:02# I shed more tears for you Than the ocean
0:41:04 > 0:41:05# The ocean... #
0:41:09 > 0:41:12In a decade when people all over the country were carving out
0:41:12 > 0:41:14new identities for themselves,
0:41:14 > 0:41:17these murals represented a very different vision of Britishness,
0:41:17 > 0:41:22tolerant and inclusive, a country of all creeds and all colours.
0:41:22 > 0:41:25In that sense, I think it's these murals,
0:41:25 > 0:41:29far more than the televised images of fighting and looting,
0:41:29 > 0:41:34that really held the key to Brixton's and Britain's future.
0:41:36 > 0:41:38Although not the zombie on the end.
0:41:38 > 0:41:40I think that's actually a bit creepy.
0:41:42 > 0:41:44Even as the dust settled in Brixton,
0:41:44 > 0:41:46high streets up and down the country
0:41:46 > 0:41:49were facing an upheaval of a rather different kind.
0:41:49 > 0:41:53MUSIC: New Life by Depeche Mode
0:41:54 > 0:41:57On Friday the 12th of February, 1982,
0:41:57 > 0:42:01a quiet revolution came to the British high street.
0:42:01 > 0:42:04Because in seven towns and cities across the nation,
0:42:04 > 0:42:08a new kind of shop opened its doors for the first time.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11This was a place that would transform not just how we dressed,
0:42:11 > 0:42:13but how we shopped.
0:42:13 > 0:42:16Its target audience was an entirely new kind of customer -
0:42:16 > 0:42:21the young, affluent, professional woman.
0:42:21 > 0:42:24# Moderating, generating new life
0:42:24 > 0:42:25# New life... #
0:42:25 > 0:42:29- REPORTER:- Next sells stylish clothes, from stylish shops,
0:42:29 > 0:42:31to a stylish sector of the market,
0:42:31 > 0:42:34the upwardly mobile 20-40 year-old,
0:42:34 > 0:42:36and they're outstandingly successful.
0:42:41 > 0:42:44With so many young women now going out to work,
0:42:44 > 0:42:48Next were tapping an increasingly lucrative and influential market.
0:42:48 > 0:42:51# Alive and kicking In the culture club! #
0:42:53 > 0:42:56Within just six years, Next's annual profits
0:42:56 > 0:43:01had soared from barely £3 million to more than 90 million.
0:43:01 > 0:43:06# Alive and kicking in the culture club... #
0:43:06 > 0:43:10You know, Next could really only have been born in the early '80s,
0:43:10 > 0:43:13and its ethos absolutely caught the mood of the day.
0:43:13 > 0:43:17The shop's publicity hammered home a simple mantra - affordable,
0:43:17 > 0:43:19collectable, aspirational.
0:43:19 > 0:43:24And at its heart was that classic '80s obsession with choice,
0:43:24 > 0:43:27although cleverly, the shop rather took the heavy lifting out of it
0:43:27 > 0:43:29for the ordinary customer.
0:43:29 > 0:43:31So, what they offered was a total concept look,
0:43:31 > 0:43:33and within the confines of the style
0:43:33 > 0:43:35you could choose whatever skirt you wanted,
0:43:35 > 0:43:38a top to go with it and accessories to match.
0:43:38 > 0:43:42Power dressing straight off the rail.
0:43:42 > 0:43:44MUSIC: The Message by Grandmaster Flash
0:43:48 > 0:43:52The average Next customer came in to buy just one item
0:43:52 > 0:43:54and walked out with five.
0:43:57 > 0:43:58The clothes are with-it and really,
0:43:58 > 0:44:02the quality is good, but the prices are low and that's really,
0:44:02 > 0:44:05I think, why it will be a success. You know, it's something different.
0:44:05 > 0:44:07It's a total look, it's really...
0:44:07 > 0:44:09taking the risk out of buying clothes.
0:44:13 > 0:44:15In a decade when millions of women
0:44:15 > 0:44:19were keen to rebrand themselves as stylish,
0:44:19 > 0:44:21modern, individual consumers,
0:44:21 > 0:44:24Next could hardly have been better timed.
0:44:27 > 0:44:30And it wasn't long before it applied its formula
0:44:30 > 0:44:33to that other great '80s symbol of social aspiration...
0:44:33 > 0:44:35the home.
0:44:39 > 0:44:421985, Next launched its own home collection,
0:44:42 > 0:44:45effectively off-the-peg interior design.
0:44:45 > 0:44:50Stylish, affordable, this was basically an upmarket IKEA.
0:44:50 > 0:44:51Now, if only you shopped properly,
0:44:51 > 0:44:53you could become exactly the kind of people
0:44:53 > 0:44:55you always dreamed of being.
0:44:55 > 0:44:59A Next family, literally living the Next life.
0:45:02 > 0:45:06The perfect expression of the Next lifestyle, a house decorated
0:45:06 > 0:45:10and furnished with the company's products with just a few non-Next
0:45:10 > 0:45:12items to complete the picture.
0:45:12 > 0:45:14This might be described as a bit over the top for some of us,
0:45:14 > 0:45:17- you're aware of that? - No, no, no!
0:45:17 > 0:45:19This is for the average person.
0:45:23 > 0:45:27And as the average person settled into his new sitting room,
0:45:27 > 0:45:30he might well be watching a brand-new TV channel.
0:45:36 > 0:45:38Good afternoon.
0:45:38 > 0:45:42It's a pleasure to be able to say to you, welcome to Channel 4.
0:45:47 > 0:45:49Tuesday, 2 November 1982,
0:45:49 > 0:45:52Britain became a four-channel nation.
0:45:54 > 0:45:58The birth of Channel 4 was one of the emblematic cultural events
0:45:58 > 0:46:00of the early 1980s.
0:46:00 > 0:46:03In many ways, you know, it feels like a very Thatcherite moment,
0:46:03 > 0:46:07a public service broadcaster funded by advertising.
0:46:07 > 0:46:11Its programmes made by dozens of entrepreneurial independent
0:46:11 > 0:46:13companies, so, of course,
0:46:13 > 0:46:17the government should have loved it, but really, they didn't.
0:46:17 > 0:46:19You'll hear some of this is a moment.
0:46:19 > 0:46:21It's interspersed farts and it's available at £2.
0:46:21 > 0:46:24FARTING NOISES
0:46:24 > 0:46:27- And what do you think you're playing at?- Playing?
0:46:27 > 0:46:29Have you ever heard of spin the bottle?
0:46:29 > 0:46:30Well, this is pour the bottle.
0:46:30 > 0:46:34I mean Channel 4 is the channel for child porn and homosexuals.
0:46:34 > 0:46:35And I had both in my show.
0:46:37 > 0:46:41Irreverent, aggressive and often deliberately shocking,
0:46:41 > 0:46:45Channel 4 held up an unforgiving mirror to life in '80s Britain.
0:46:49 > 0:46:51And that was precisely the idea.
0:46:53 > 0:46:56Part of its mission was to reflect the experiences
0:46:56 > 0:46:59of young people in minority groups.
0:46:59 > 0:47:03Here was a perfect example of the cultural mood outpacing the
0:47:03 > 0:47:05intentions of the political elite.
0:47:09 > 0:47:14On 16 January 1981, some 22 months before Channel 4's launch,
0:47:14 > 0:47:18its chief executive, Jeremy Isaacs, came here
0:47:18 > 0:47:20to the Royal Institution in London.
0:47:21 > 0:47:26The hall was packed with independent TV producers keen to tap in to
0:47:26 > 0:47:30a new and potentially very lucrative market and up at the front,
0:47:30 > 0:47:34Jeremy Isaacs wasted no time. He cut straight to the chase.
0:47:34 > 0:47:36"What we're after," he said,
0:47:36 > 0:47:40"is programmes that show this country as it really is."
0:47:40 > 0:47:42Now Isaacs was on his way out when he was accosted
0:47:42 > 0:47:45by a 32-year-old screenwriter.
0:47:45 > 0:47:46"Hi, Jeremy," he said.
0:47:46 > 0:47:50"I'm Phil Redmond, and if what you say is true, would you let
0:47:50 > 0:47:55"me have characters who could say 'fuck' at eight o'clock at night?"
0:47:55 > 0:48:01There was a pause, a hard stare and then Isaacs grinned.
0:48:01 > 0:48:03"Come and see me," he said. "We'll talk."
0:48:03 > 0:48:05MUSIC: Brookside Theme
0:48:08 > 0:48:10It's just as well they did.
0:48:11 > 0:48:14The jewel in the crown of Channel 4's opening night was
0:48:14 > 0:48:16a brand-new soap opera.
0:48:23 > 0:48:26From the catchy theme tune to the now slightly dodgy-looking
0:48:26 > 0:48:30haircuts, Brookside was unmistakably a product of the early '80s
0:48:30 > 0:48:33and at the centre of the very first episode is
0:48:33 > 0:48:37a very '80s couple, Bobby and Sheila Grant, who've left their
0:48:37 > 0:48:41council estate for a brand-new house in suburban Liverpool.
0:48:41 > 0:48:43Bloody hell, are you sure you've got enough here, Sheila?
0:48:43 > 0:48:46You don't want to feed the starving hordes of India, do you,
0:48:46 > 0:48:48while you're at it this afternoon?
0:48:48 > 0:48:51It's not like having the shop at the end of the road any more, you know.
0:48:51 > 0:48:53No, the shop is in the boot of the bloody car.
0:48:53 > 0:48:57Like so many other couples moving into brand-new estates and
0:48:57 > 0:48:59moving up in the world, the Grants find themselves living
0:48:59 > 0:49:04alongside people from very different backgrounds, from older couples
0:49:04 > 0:49:09downsizing after losing their jobs, to aspirational young professionals.
0:49:09 > 0:49:12Liverpool's very first yuppies.
0:49:12 > 0:49:14Roger, as much as I detest shopping,
0:49:14 > 0:49:16this is the only day that it can be done.
0:49:16 > 0:49:20I did not plan to stay in bed until mid-morning.
0:49:20 > 0:49:22GRANGE HILL THEME TUNE
0:49:23 > 0:49:27Phil Redmond had already made a name for himself with Grange Hill,
0:49:27 > 0:49:30a stark portrayal of a London comprehensive school.
0:49:33 > 0:49:37And Brookside shone a similarly uncompromising light on life
0:49:37 > 0:49:39in '80s Liverpool.
0:49:39 > 0:49:41Damon, what's up, love?
0:49:41 > 0:49:44Oh, God, it's your job, isn't it?
0:49:44 > 0:49:46They've sacked me.
0:49:46 > 0:49:49They gave me that. They sacked me.
0:49:49 > 0:49:52Sheila Grant, you know, the Grants, they are realistic because
0:49:52 > 0:49:56half the things they do in their house, half the things that go on
0:49:56 > 0:49:59in their house it's like half the things that go on in our house.
0:49:59 > 0:50:01Back in November 1982,
0:50:01 > 0:50:04Brookside's main competition was ITV's Coronation Street, which
0:50:04 > 0:50:08had been running since 1960 and the contrast between the two
0:50:08 > 0:50:10tells us a lot, I think,
0:50:10 > 0:50:13about what had happened to Britain in the meantime.
0:50:13 > 0:50:16You see, Coronation Street is really basically a '60s show.
0:50:16 > 0:50:18It presents us with a warm,
0:50:18 > 0:50:21romantic vision of the working-class North.
0:50:21 > 0:50:25Nostalgic terraced street in which everybody looks out for
0:50:25 > 0:50:26everybody else.
0:50:26 > 0:50:29- Morning, Mrs Fairclough.- Morning.
0:50:29 > 0:50:31Brookside feels, to me, very different.
0:50:31 > 0:50:35It has no such idealised sense of community, for one thing.
0:50:35 > 0:50:38In fact the only thing that unites all its residents is that
0:50:38 > 0:50:41they've all come from somewhere else.
0:50:41 > 0:50:43Some of them are moving up, some of them are coming down but they
0:50:43 > 0:50:46don't live in the houses in which they were born.
0:50:46 > 0:50:48They just live in houses that they can afford.
0:50:48 > 0:50:51MUSIC: Only You by Yazoo
0:50:51 > 0:50:53I wish me mam could've seen all this, you know, eh?
0:50:53 > 0:50:56New house, fun on holidays with the kids.
0:50:56 > 0:50:58She'd have been really made up.
0:50:58 > 0:51:00# Looking from a window above
0:51:00 > 0:51:02# It's like a story of love... #
0:51:02 > 0:51:06The storylines reflected some strikingly raw social issues
0:51:06 > 0:51:11from debt, divorce and drug abuse to homosexuality and families at war.
0:51:12 > 0:51:15It's easy for you to stick to your principles.
0:51:15 > 0:51:19- Bob, you said you'd listen!- I'll listen when you start talking sense.
0:51:19 > 0:51:20I am trying to!
0:51:20 > 0:51:22# Only you... #
0:51:22 > 0:51:25Perhaps no show of the decade better captures the domestic
0:51:25 > 0:51:29repercussions of the '80s revolution, the way that
0:51:29 > 0:51:34unemployment and opportunity, disappointment and aspiration were
0:51:34 > 0:51:38forcing their way into the heart of the ordinary suburban household.
0:51:38 > 0:51:41The issues could happen anywhere.
0:51:41 > 0:51:45Death, divorce, marriage, thieving, it could be any city, anywhere.
0:51:53 > 0:51:55As Margaret Thatcher approached the end of her first term,
0:51:55 > 0:51:57things looked bleak.
0:51:59 > 0:52:02Tory scum! Tory scum!
0:52:02 > 0:52:04Unemployment had gone through the roof.
0:52:04 > 0:52:10By 1983, one in seven of Britain's working population was out of work.
0:52:11 > 0:52:14Mrs Thatcher's popularity plummeted.
0:52:15 > 0:52:17How did Mrs Thatcher do?
0:52:17 > 0:52:21What do they think of her now? The answers are very forthright.
0:52:21 > 0:52:25- Diabolical.- Unbendable.- Dreadful. - I think she's lousy.
0:52:31 > 0:52:35But then, quite suddenly, the mood changed, putting Mrs Thatcher
0:52:35 > 0:52:39on course for a landslide at the 1983 election.
0:52:46 > 0:52:48I have no regrets.
0:52:48 > 0:52:50We had to send that task force,
0:52:50 > 0:52:52we had to regain those islands for our people.
0:52:57 > 0:52:59You know, one of the great myths about the early
0:52:59 > 0:53:03'80s is that Mrs Thatcher only won re-election in 1983 because the
0:53:03 > 0:53:05Argentines did her a favour.
0:53:05 > 0:53:09By invading the Falklands, they supposedly allowed her to
0:53:09 > 0:53:13banish the images of riots and dole queues and to unite the nation
0:53:13 > 0:53:15behind her patriotic war effort.
0:53:15 > 0:53:18But, actually, I don't really believe that at all.
0:53:18 > 0:53:21You see, the polls show very clearly that when most people went
0:53:21 > 0:53:25out to vote in 1983, they weren't even thinking about the Falklands.
0:53:25 > 0:53:28They were thinking about jobs and the cost of living and the
0:53:28 > 0:53:32economy, the classic bread and butter issues.
0:53:32 > 0:53:35So she didn't win that election in the South Atlantic,
0:53:35 > 0:53:38she won it in here or rather on there.
0:53:42 > 0:53:47MUSIC: Breakfast Time Theme
0:53:55 > 0:54:00In early 1983, Britain woke up to the brave new world of
0:54:00 > 0:54:01breakfast television.
0:54:04 > 0:54:08It's 6.30, Monday, January 17 1983.
0:54:08 > 0:54:10# Breakfast time
0:54:10 > 0:54:12# Breakfast time... #
0:54:12 > 0:54:14And for the Thatcher campaign team,
0:54:14 > 0:54:19the ethos of breakfast TV held the key to re-election victory.
0:54:24 > 0:54:28BBC's Breakfast Time was fronted by Frank Bough, Selina Scott
0:54:28 > 0:54:29and Nick Ross.
0:54:30 > 0:54:34And its daily recipe was far removed from the high-minded
0:54:34 > 0:54:37seriousness of your typical news programme.
0:54:38 > 0:54:40You see, what people wanted wasn't
0:54:40 > 0:54:42worthy analysis and furrowed brows.
0:54:42 > 0:54:47What they wanted was woolly knitwear and cheerful chitchat.
0:54:47 > 0:54:50They want family entertainment, and who better to provide it than
0:54:50 > 0:54:52Frank Bough?
0:54:52 > 0:54:54And this is where the BBC's breakfast show had absolutely
0:54:54 > 0:54:58captured the spirit of Delia's decade.
0:54:58 > 0:55:00Every morning it offered home cooking,
0:55:00 > 0:55:03high-street fashion and keep-fit classes.
0:55:03 > 0:55:06Sure, it was fun and it was frothy, but it always came back to the
0:55:06 > 0:55:13same two quintessential '80s values of domesticity and aspiration.
0:55:13 > 0:55:16We now have a gentleman whose Christian name is Glynn and
0:55:16 > 0:55:18whose surname is Christian.
0:55:18 > 0:55:21He's here with more advice about cooking with microwave ovens.
0:55:21 > 0:55:23- Good morning.- Good morning to you.
0:55:27 > 0:55:28And before long,
0:55:28 > 0:55:32TV-am was presenting an almost identical formula on ITV...
0:55:34 > 0:55:36Do you like it?
0:55:37 > 0:55:40..complete with mildly annoying rat.
0:55:41 > 0:55:43Hello, good morning and welcome.
0:55:48 > 0:55:51Mrs Thatcher absolutely grasped the potential of the breakfast
0:55:51 > 0:55:56sofa and so, more importantly, did her spin doctors.
0:55:56 > 0:55:59"Breakfast TV offers a new and potentially important
0:55:59 > 0:56:03opportunity to the government to explain its policies and measures."
0:56:03 > 0:56:08Now this comes from a secret memo circulated in December 1982 by
0:56:08 > 0:56:10the government's press office.
0:56:10 > 0:56:14"Breakfast TV," it says, "is an unknown quantity but it is predicted
0:56:14 > 0:56:17"to have a lasting impact on the British way of life.
0:56:17 > 0:56:20"The timing of its launch is particularly opportune since
0:56:20 > 0:56:23"we are now in the run-up to a general election."
0:56:24 > 0:56:28The Labour movement are going to be defenders of our country.
0:56:28 > 0:56:30The Labour leader, Michael Foot,
0:56:30 > 0:56:35stuck with the traditional formula of mass political rallies.
0:56:35 > 0:56:40# I'll be wrapped around your finger... #
0:56:40 > 0:56:43But Margaret Thatcher fully embraced the power,
0:56:43 > 0:56:47directness and intimacy of television.
0:56:47 > 0:56:49This is what it's like being on the campaign trail with
0:56:49 > 0:56:52the Prime Minister in 1983.
0:56:52 > 0:56:55It's as far removed from traditional campaigning as it's possible
0:56:55 > 0:56:58to imagine. There aren't many voters inside.
0:56:58 > 0:57:01What there are, are hundreds of members of the media
0:57:01 > 0:57:04who swarm around the Prime Minister, follow her every move
0:57:04 > 0:57:07and the idea from the Conservatives' point of view
0:57:07 > 0:57:13is to get the best possible exposure on the TV news that evening.
0:57:13 > 0:57:17# I'll be wrapped around your finger... #
0:57:17 > 0:57:19Thanking you for being here this morning...
0:57:19 > 0:57:23Breakfast TV helped to transform the way politicians engaged with
0:57:23 > 0:57:24the public...
0:57:24 > 0:57:27I'm very happy to be here. Sorry I haven't been before.
0:57:27 > 0:57:30..giving rise to a phenomenon that might best be described as
0:57:30 > 0:57:31sofa politics.
0:57:31 > 0:57:33What suits you, Prime Minister?
0:57:33 > 0:57:36The kind of way I am now with a classic suit and many,
0:57:36 > 0:57:38many varied different blouses.
0:57:43 > 0:57:47And in June 1983, the voters rewarded her with
0:57:47 > 0:57:49a landslide victory.
0:57:49 > 0:57:52# Don't you know, I'm still standing better than I ever did... #
0:57:54 > 0:57:58I think Mrs Thatcher won in 1983 because better than any of her
0:57:58 > 0:58:03political rivals, she had grasped the new priorities of '80s Britain.
0:58:03 > 0:58:06Her obsessions with image and identity,
0:58:06 > 0:58:08individualism and aspiration.
0:58:08 > 0:58:12Now who was it who set all that in motion? Well, it wasn't her.
0:58:12 > 0:58:13It was us.
0:58:13 > 0:58:17Millions of ordinary people through millions of decisions taken
0:58:17 > 0:58:21every day in our offices and our shopping centres,
0:58:21 > 0:58:23our high streets and our living rooms.
0:58:23 > 0:58:26You know the grocer's daughter may have come to embody
0:58:26 > 0:58:30the new spirit of '80s Britain, but she didn't create it.
0:58:30 > 0:58:33We did, with a little help from Delia Smith.
0:58:35 > 0:58:40# Watch out, you might get what you're after... #
0:58:40 > 0:58:42Next time -
0:58:42 > 0:58:48battle lines are drawn as Margaret Thatcher goes to war,
0:58:48 > 0:58:54video nasties invade suburbia and Daley Thompson conquers the world.
0:58:54 > 0:58:56# Hold tight
0:58:56 > 0:58:59# Wait till the party's over
0:58:59 > 0:59:00# Hold tight
0:59:00 > 0:59:04# We're in for a nasty weather
0:59:04 > 0:59:08# There has got to be a way
0:59:08 > 0:59:11# Burning down the house... #