7-49 Up (dir. Michael Apted): released by Network on 16/02/09

[Maurice]

award-winning series available in UK for first time on DVD: 6 discs/500 minutes



MovieMail price: £44-99p:



"Now entering its fifth decade, this extraordinary exploration of the British class system has become a national institution, as well as one of the most compelling narratives in television history.



"Taking the Jesuit maxim, 'give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man', as his starting point, in 1964 Michael Apted selected 14 7-year-old British schoolchildren on the basis of their socio-economic backgrounds, asking them their hopes and dreams for the future.



"The children were revisited seven years later, almost as an after-thought with no long-term provision made to ensure their future participation.



"This gave the series its format, but also its sense of unpredictability, and a television tradition was born - every seven years the nation would eagerly await to see which participants would return, and how their lives had progressed.



"This long-awaited collection contains all seven series made thus far. Long before the current fad for reality television, this landmark series revealed how unscripted encounters can be more articulate and compelling than any TV drama." AB

[cornershop15]

I was really delighted to see this on Network's site recently and am particularly interested in the 1971 edition. When I first saw it in 1978 the title was 21Up. I was fascinated with the way the documentary would show these still very young people at two significantly different ages, changing from open and humorous to (mostly) awkward and self-concious. As I'm not a fan of children, the 1971 images resonated most and seeing the very likeable Neil

[MrSkipling]

Does anyone know if the Network '7-49 Up' release is the same as the US version that came out a while ago under the title 'The UP Series'...? The US version seems to be a straight forward set containing each film, but it isn't clear if the Network set is the same.