The Family

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[edit] General Information

History Documentary hosted by Hugh Bonneville, published by BBC broadcasted as part of BBC Turn Back Time series in 2012 - English narration

[edit] Cover

[edit] Information

Turn Back Time - The Family In the last series shopkeepers experienced what life was like on the British high street through all the changes of the 20th century. This time three contemporary families live as their own forebears did. They must follow the social conventions of the time, but whether they’re destined for luxury or poverty is determined by their family history, which is a nice touch. You just know the posh family (the Meadows) are going to end up in the working-class house but they take to the hardship well, even though daughter Saskia reveals, “I thought we’d do chores when we were on camera but when you said cut, we’d go off, have a chat and a bit of food. This is a bit of a shock.” The other families struggle for very different reasons. It seems that living history is a bit harsher than those sepia-tinted photos would have us believe.

[edit] The Edwardian Era

Three British families turn back the clock to experience life as it was in the 1900s, and then fast-forward to four other eras. The Meadows are transformed into a typical Edwardian working-class clan, coping with poverty while their daughters adapt to their new roles as breadwinners. The Taylors become upper class, forced by etiquette and formality to live separate lives - which proves particularly difficult for Adele as her status as a working mum is stripped away - and the Goldings represent the middle class, giving dad Ian the chance to test his theories on the benefits of discipline.

[edit] 1920s and 1930s

The Interwar years In this episode, the families are put through the mill as they experience family life during the Interwar years. They experience the highs of the "roaring twenties", followed by the lows of the Great Depression and its catastrophic effect on British economy. The Taylor family lead a life of leisure in an upper class household, waited on by servants, a chauffeur and a nanny; but the good times are soon brought to an end with the Wall Street Crash. Living as a working class family, the Meadows start on a high with better pay and working conditions, but are soon forced to resort to desperate measures. Meanwhile, the Golding family are relieved to be relatively unscathed by the economic downturn and spend the era steadily improving their lot. That is, until Ian Golding is presented with some devastating truths about the 1930s lives his ancestors were forced to lead as Jews living in London's East End.

[edit] The Home Front

In this episode, the families face life on the home front with Great Britain at war; they pull together to survive and do their bit for the war effort, as well as enduring a night in a bomb shelter; and Susie Meadows finds herself responsible for everyone's safety. The Taylor family are now without servants and, just as Adele finally gets to run her own home, the family is split apart once more as husband Michael is called up for national service and her children are evacuated. With the families in disarray, there is much relief as VE Day arrives, and by the end of the era the close-knit community say goodbye to the Goldings.

[edit] 1960s

In this episode, the families are thrown into the swinging sixties and the street is introduced to a new family, the Hawkes, who are walking in the shoes of their ancestors who arrived as immigrants from the Caribbean. Brother and sister Jonathan and Rachel arrive on Albert Road first, and are shocked by life in the sixties. They discover life in the sixties was a difficult time, with racism, isolation and separation from loved ones taking its toll. The Meadows family follow their ancestors' climb up the social ladder from their traditional working class home in the forties to a sixties middle-class dwelling. All appears well, until sisters Saskia and Genevieve spoil the party with a teenage rebellion. And the twists and turns of the Taylor family tree mean they leave behind the high life they have lived since the 1900s, as they find themselves in the working class house.

[edit] 1970s

In this final episode of the series, Albert Road is transformed once again for family life in the 1970s. Single mum Lisa Rhodes moves in with her two sons, joining the other parents for whom the seventies are all about nostalgia. But as daily life is turned upside down by strikes, the three-day week, power cuts, water shortages and women's liberation, the rose-tinted glasses are off and the parents realise just how tough their own parents had it. With all the mums working, the two dads on Albert Road soon take up the strain at home: Michael Taylor puts on a pinny and cooks chicken kiev, while Phil knuckles down to the housework. As the families living on the street pull together as a community for the penultimate decade, the question to which everyone wants to know the answer is, when do they feel the golden era for the family really was