It Was Alright in the...

A look back at some dangerous 1970s TV, including Tony Blackburn in a cage of lions, and a Spike Milligan sitcom so out there it was taken off screens. With Bill Oddie, Jennie Bond and Samira Ahmed.

Matt Lucas narrates a look at some classic TV paranoia, with the comedies, the painfully honest documentaries, terrifying public information films, and the satires that made people so anxious 40 years ago. From punk to pot, foreign diseases to free love, gay rights, women's rights, and newly arrived immigrants, 1970s TV and society saw danger everywhere. Some of the famous 70s shows covered include Man Alive and Brass Tacks, as well as The Goodies taking on the police and June Whitfield burning her bra. The show features first-hand accounts from the people who were making telly at the time, including Barry Cryer, Janet Street-Porter and Bill Oddie; as well as the reactions from those who watched at home, including Benjamin Zephaniah, Philippa Perry, Garry Bushell, Tom Robinson and Oona King.

The award-winning show returns with a new episode, packed with jaw-dropping clips. What do the TV programmes of the 1970s tell us about life in the UK 40 years ago? In a time before political correctness, comedy viewers were invited to laugh along at just about everyone who wasn't a straight, white, middle aged man. Whether you were foreign, black, Asian, gay or a woman, you were probably the butt of the joke in 70s hit shows such as On the Buses, The Two Ronnies, Dave Allen at Large, The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club, Are You Being Served? and even the beloved Morecambe and Wise. Matt Lucas narrates this review of classic family viewing, including Monty Python, Tiswas and It Ain't Half Hot Mum. With contributions from Melvyn Hayes, Eric Chappell, Bill Oddie, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Grace Dent, Nish Kumar, Ellie Taylor, Joel Dommett and Phil Wang.

The award-winning series continues. Packed with jaw-dropping clips, this series asks what do the programmes of the 70s tell us about life in the UK 40 years ago? This episode flirts with danger on screen. Blue Peter carried on filming as a fire broke out live on air, while The Fun of the Fair showed teenage girls riding motorcycles through burning hoops. At the same time government-produced public information films petrified viewers with scary scenarios of possible accidents in the home. There were also the dangers of the sexy schoolgirl, from St Trinian's to Confessions of a Window Cleaner, featuring storylines that would not be permitted today. Narrated by Matt Lucas, this episode includes contributions from Robin Askwith, Janet Street-Porter, Liza Goddard, Oona King, Clive Anderson, Philippa Perry, Samira Ahmed, Ellie Taylor, Mark Watson and Angela Barnes.