28 Up

In 1964, taking his cue from the motto "Give me the boy until the age of seven and I will give you the man," filmmaker Michael Apted interviewed 14 children about their hopes, disappointments and ideas about the future for the documentary This initial program became an internationally successful series, catching up with its subjects' lives every seven years, and allowing us to follow the development of Bruce, Jackie, Symon, Andrew, John, Peter, Susan, Charles, Nicholas, Neil, Lynn, Paul, Suzanne and Tony. For each episode, the protagonists are followed and subjected to intensive interviews over a period of several days. Their present-day lives and viewpoints are juxtaposed with footage from previous episodes. In , it becomes clear that their hopes have not been fulfilled in all cases. The children of 1964 are now adults, wrestling with the big decisions adult life entails: marriage, career, children. As in every episode, class distinctions are central, although the protagonists are now self-assured and aware enough to question these. As the working-classJackie puts it, "I don't even think, to be honest, we consciously think about it until this program comes up every seven years!"