Seven Up! — Season 2026

Recently rediscovered and remastered footage of people in their Seventies filmed and broadcast in 1965, the year after the 7 Up documentary that began the Up series. Those involved had been born into Queen Victoria's imperial Britain, when life expectancy was under 50 and workhouses took in the old and destitute. Restored and re-edited, the film hears them talking about work, money, loneliness, health and dying and their hopes in 1965.

In 1964, ITV broadcast a film about 14 seven-year-olds, which became the longest-running documentary series ever. It set out to prove that Britain was divided by the class system and that these children's futures had been decided by the street they were born on. This programme looks at the year 7 Up was made, the idea behind it, and what the subjects hoped for in a Britain about to change around them.

Seven decades. One extraordinary experiment. The groundbreaking documentary series returns to meet the people we first saw as 7-year-olds as they reflect on life at 70.

Seven decades. One extraordinary experiment. The ground-breaking documentary series returns to meet the people we first saw as 7-year-olds as they reflect on life at 70.