Seven Up

Seven Up! ¬'  Was made as a one-off documentary by Granada's flagship current affairs series " World in Action" in 1964. It featured fourteen seven-year-olds who were interviewed about their lives and what they wanted to be when they grew up. The children were selected to provide a representative cross-section of British society, and the program's intention was to test the Jesuit maxim--" give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man" --in the context of the British belief in the overriding and determining importance of class origins. The series developed into subsequent programs, filmed at seven-year intervals, the most recent being¬'  49 Up,¬'  broadcast in 2005.

Stella Bruzzi is Professor of Film and Television Studies at the University of Warwick.