Audio-Visual

Question 1

Audio-Visual Secondary Literature

The Family, 1974

Answer 1

• 1974 series, fly-on-the-wall by BBC. Similar to American documentary - The American Family, 1973.
• Follows WC family of six, led by Margaret and Terry (later divorced). Culminated in marriage of one of the daughters.
• Later parodied - Monty Python’s Flying Circus - “The Most Awful Family in Britain 1974”; Benny Hill also did a spinoff - “That Family”
• Hour-long special in 1984 - “The After Years”

Quotes

• Tom refuses to place date on marriage, despite being pressurised to give an answer.
• Tom has surprisingly long hair- David Bowie’s society apparently worked
• Margaret intervenes - tries to push for August
• Mother daughter relationship outlined between Margaret and Marion - seen to be tight
• “I’m talking to ma daughta, shaddup!”
• “I’ll give you till June”

Question 2

Audio-Visual Secondary Literature

Betty Underwood - Spare Rib Abortion

Answer 2

• Detailing protest against anti-abortion society which attempted to air a show on Harlech Television in 1974.
• Abortion Act 1967 - made abortion legal in all of Great Britain (but not Northern Ireland) up to 28 weeks’ gestation. Brought in to prevent deaths occurring from illegal abortion.
• 1974 - Anti-abortion society - ‘Protection of the Unborn Child’ - formed in 1967 by gynaecologists including Prof Hugh McLaren. Another, Life, emerged in 1970.
• Writing in 1970, the Medical Defence Union saw abortion as generally negative for the NHS: ‘A further substantial increase in the demand for National Health Service hospital beds for termination will undoubtedly embarrass resources that are already overstrained and create well-nigh insuperable difficulties for hospital administrators.’
• Also features info on Italian abortion.

Question 3

Audio-Visual Secondary Literature

What is the core argument of Matthew Thomson - Lost Freedom

Answer 3

• Essentially, the utility of children’s TV was considered highly controversial - as it was an unknown quantity in the socialisation of youths. People feared American influence, which was demonstrated throughout 1950s-70s - particularly with Sesame Street. Several psychological studies were conducted during this period, in which most prominently involved Himmelweit - someone who wished to see the tight regulation of children’s TV. Commercial pressures from ITV and new generations at the BBC however stimulated change from the top, and saw the democratisation of the medium.