It Was Alright in the... Episode Rating Graph

Matt Lucas narrates another look back at TV shows from past decades, with clips and reactions to programmes from people not around to watch them at the time. This edition revisits the changing social attitudes reflected on the small screen in the 1960s, including humorous shows which took liberties in the name of satire, disability being mocked and bulletproof vests being put to the test on live TV.

Narrated by Matt Lucas, this episode looks at the world, as seen on TV in the 1980s. With jaw-dropping clips and a range of bemused, amused and just plain horrified reactions, this series revisits the television of the past. The 80s was a time of revolution on the small screen: from breakfast TV to breaking boundaries, a brand new channel shaking it up, to the anxieties of being a girl or a boy in a scary world of big changes, bid ideas and even bigger hair. The 80s was the decade in which men could co-habit with sea lions without raising eyebrows; when children's TV became a parade of lingerie displays; aggressive poets bombarded us with right-on performance art; and gay men and women came out on TV to shock their friends. It was also a time when monkeys really did play tennis.

With attitudes to feminism, foreigners and family values being somewhat different 40 years ago, the second of two programmes narrated by Matt Lucas focuses on `good old-fashioned Britishness' on TV in the 1970s. From blacking-up in popular pre-watershed programmes, through to homophobia and xenophobia, the decade seems to have had a different set of manners and morals, and took a casual approach to sexism and racism. Looking back on a selection of surprising clips are the people who made the shows, those who watched them at the time, and younger viewers providing a fresh perspective.

Matt Lucas narrates a look back at the decade's TV shows, meeting people who appeared in them, those who watched them and their creators. The first of two programmes focuses on pleasure and leisure on 1970s television, with featured clips including outrageous adult jokes in pre-watershed sitcoms, smoking cigarettes on prime-time panel shows, a surprising history lesson aimed at children, and St Bernard dogs being offered for prizes. The footage is also seen through the eyes of people who missed the decade altogether and who find the moral values exhibited to be a real eye-opener.