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16 Episodes 2002 - 2003
Episode 1
The strike over union recognition at a small film processing plant in North London escalated into a national cause celebre as some of the worst scenes of picket line violence ever seen in Britain at the time were played out nightly on TV news bulletins. Such was the intensity of the dispute that the para-military police Special Patrol Group was used for the first time in an industrial dispute and at one point cabinet minister Shirley Williams was arrested outside the factory gates. Grunwick was a film processing business in Willesden, North London, owned by George Ward. In the hot summer of 1976, the mainly Asian and women workers went on strike initially over pay and conditions. Though not trade union members, they were supported by the union APEX and eventually the postal workers across London came out in support. Over many months in 1976-77 the dispute involved the arbitration service ACAS, a Public Inquiry, the High Court, the Appeal Court and finally went through the House of Lords with George Ward emerging having won the right to not have to negotiate with a union. The repercussions of the strike reverberated throughout the labor movement, and helped prepare the ground for the Conservatives' success in the elections of 1979 - and their subsequent curbing of the unions' power in the 1980s. The film weaves archive from the time with drama reconstruction and interviews with key players, including Baroness Shirley Williams, Arthur Scargill, Norris McWhirter, Jack Dromey - the then leader of Brent Trades Council and a key organizer, Roy Grantham - the then head of APEX Union who represented the Grunwick workers, Jim Mortimer - the then head of ACAS, journalist/broadcaster Paul Foot, and the worker who started the strike, Jayaben Desai.
Episode 2
A Brittish documentary that traces television and the wider media's reactions to cannabis, from the hysterical vilification of the drug in the 1930s, the punitive measures of the stop and search laws and prison sentences for possession, to the more considered debates now taking place and the real possibility of a change in the law.
Episode 3
Examining the changing image of the novelist over the last 50 years.
Episode 4
In the mid 1960s Britain went boating mad. This documentary tells the story of how an extraordinary maritime revolution that was kick-started by waterproof glues developed for bomber aircraft led to a whole generation of DIY dinghy builders, and ended in tragedy with the suicide of amateur yachtsman Donald Crowhurst.
Episode 5
Charting the time of our favorite presenter at the head of the then struggling and controversial BBC2. Packed chock full of interviews, clips and reminiscences both old and new, including the very tasty Joan Bakewell of the 60s... Sir David Attenborough's reign as controller of BBC TWO, from 1965 to 1973, is still thought of as the golden age of television.
Episode 6
Timeshift celebrates the comedy double act's unsung half, with archive footage of Morecambe and Wise, Benny Hill and the Monty Python team. Contributors include Syd Little and Barry Cryer. Narrated by Mark Lamarr.
Episode 7
In 1945, two and a half million ethnic Germans were driven from their homes in Czechoslovakia. Thousands died. Now, as the Czech Republic heads for EU membership, Charles Wheeler reports on how the Czechs made the Sudeten German minority pay for Nazi occupation, and why it became a hot political issue. This is a story about Germans as victims of World War II. It has been suppressed for half a century, ever since Czechoslovakia expelled its three million strong German minority - the Sudeten Germans - at the end of the war. It is also a story of two communities with a common past, each clinging to diametrically opposed versions of the same event. To the Germans, their expulsion was a war crime, an early case of violent, ethnic cleansing. To the Czechs, after six years of Nazi occupation, the expulsions were simply retribution. What cannot be disputed is the brutality of the expulsions, especially during the chaotic transition from war to approximate peace. Newsreel film shows Germans being beaten up in the streets of Prague, forced to wear the swastika, painted on their overcoats. The expulsions were decreed by Eduard Benes, Czechoslovakia's president-in-exile, during his wartime years in Britain. One particularly controversial decree granted immunity from prosecution to Czechs who committed crimes against the Germans.
Episode 8
This program in the Time Shift strand explores the history of the current conflict over class.
Episode 9
Examining the west London riots of August 1958, which were the catalyst for black activism in Britain and inspired the annual carnival.
Episode 10
10 mins
A short film about "The Interludes" - a series of short films made by the BBC in the 1940s and 1950s to fill in during technical breakdowns and gaps in the schedules. The most famous ones showed a potter's wheel, a cat playing with a ball of wool and a horse-drawn plough.
Episode 11
From VW Beetles to Blue Nun and Kraftwerk, a look at Germany's contribution to British life.
Episode 12
The story of the women who occupied the Greenham Common Peace Camp from 1981 to 2000 - what brought them to Greenham, their protests, conflicts with authority and the life they led at the camp. Contributors include Fiona Bruce, Fay Weldon and Joan Ruddock, all of whom visited the site to show their support.
Episode 13
The story of the British love of the motor car from the earliest days of mass production in the 1920s to today's MPVs and post-modern Minis told through a succession of classic models from the Austin 7 and Morris Minor to the Ford Cortina.
Episode 14
60 mins
Created by a French animator, the show was reinterpreted for Britain, with classic characters like Dougal. It transformed the careers of actor Eric Thompson and animator Ivor Wood and has spawned a movie.
Episode 15
The controversial broadcaster is profiled by Time Shift. How did the son of a Croydon clerk become one of TV's genuine originals? Interviewees include Cormac Murphy O'Connor.
Episode 16
Time Shift examines how the philosophy of the Indian guru has traveled into mainstream British society.