LETTER TO THE INDEPENDENT
Beginning of an historic TV show
I was pleased that your reporter called Seven Up! "the most remarkable documentary series in television history" (28 April). It is gratifying for me as the original creator and director that this film served the purpose for which I conceived it: documenting the lives of children, and thereby pointing up some of the class differences, which Australian Tim Hewatt, then head of World in Action, and I, as a Canadian, found in the England of 1963. But several misstatements in your article regarding Michael Apted's role in the first film in the series need to be addressed.
Your reporter says that Mr Apted "only wishes he had taken a more female-friendly approach when going about the project". But he had no role in "going about the project" other than, as stated later, being a first-time researcher. I chose children for the film. And for the record, I did in fact feature girls in quite a few scenes.
"Apted had originally found his 14 children in three weeks." Gordon McDougall (whose name was unfortunately excised from the credits after I left England) was a researcher on an equal footing with Mr Apted. They both found children for me to make my selection.
But I do I think it's wonderful that Mr Apted has done these follow-up films so that we can see what's happened over the years.
Paul Almond
Shigawake, Quebec, Canada
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