1 00:00:02,003 --> 00:00:05,163 This programme contains some strong language. 2 00:00:05,163 --> 00:00:08,603 Today, Britain stands at a fork in its crossroads. 3 00:00:08,603 --> 00:00:11,363 And its people are asking questions. 4 00:00:11,363 --> 00:00:14,403 Now we've got our country back - what actually is it? 5 00:00:14,403 --> 00:00:17,363 Who are we? And why? 6 00:00:17,363 --> 00:00:20,123 The best way to find out where Britain's heading 7 00:00:20,123 --> 00:00:23,963 is to look behind us into something called history - 8 00:00:23,963 --> 00:00:26,483 a sort of rear view mirror for time. 9 00:00:26,483 --> 00:00:28,323 So that's where I'm going. 10 00:00:28,323 --> 00:00:30,123 Back there. 11 00:00:30,123 --> 00:00:34,443 It's a journey that'll take me the length and width of the country. 12 00:00:34,443 --> 00:00:39,203 On my odyssey, I'll be starting sentences in one location, 13 00:00:39,203 --> 00:00:42,243 and finishing them in another. 14 00:00:42,243 --> 00:00:45,323 And looking at some of the biggest faces in British history, 15 00:00:45,323 --> 00:00:48,043 and asking other people's faces about them. 16 00:00:48,043 --> 00:00:53,043 What was the difference between punk rock and just being angry 17 00:00:53,043 --> 00:00:55,323 but without a guitar? 18 00:00:55,323 --> 00:00:59,323 All of it taking place in this skepterred isle we call home. 19 00:00:59,323 --> 00:01:01,803 So join me, Philomena Cunk, 20 00:01:01,803 --> 00:01:03,523 as I take you right up the history 21 00:01:03,523 --> 00:01:05,643 of the United Britain of Great Kingdom. 22 00:01:05,643 --> 00:01:08,563 This...is Cunk On Britain. 23 00:01:22,323 --> 00:01:23,803 Throughout this series 24 00:01:23,803 --> 00:01:27,123 I've been on a journey up through Britain's history. 25 00:01:27,123 --> 00:01:29,203 Now I'm almost at the end of that road, 26 00:01:29,203 --> 00:01:33,163 at the point where olden times end and now times begin. 27 00:01:33,163 --> 00:01:37,403 A time when the archive footage goes colour at long fucking last, 28 00:01:37,403 --> 00:01:40,083 and some things you might have actually heard of happened. 29 00:01:40,083 --> 00:01:43,643 It's the story of how Britain went from the 1960s 30 00:01:43,643 --> 00:01:46,163 to this very moment now. 31 00:01:46,163 --> 00:01:47,563 And this moment. 32 00:01:47,563 --> 00:01:48,883 And this one. 33 00:01:48,883 --> 00:01:50,403 And also this. 34 00:01:50,403 --> 00:01:54,083 And found itself here and now, at the arse end of history. 35 00:01:55,403 --> 00:01:58,643 Britain had been uptight ever since Victorian times, 36 00:01:58,643 --> 00:02:01,723 and having two world wars on top of that had really knocked the fun 37 00:02:01,723 --> 00:02:03,243 out of everyone. 38 00:02:03,243 --> 00:02:06,003 Men had to wear bowler hats issued by the government, 39 00:02:06,003 --> 00:02:09,723 and their only form of entertainment was reading boring newspapers. 40 00:02:09,723 --> 00:02:12,163 They weren't even allowed to get erections 41 00:02:12,163 --> 00:02:14,763 and had to make do with a stiff upper lip instead. 42 00:02:14,763 --> 00:02:17,483 Meanwhile, women had to stay at home washing clothes, 43 00:02:17,483 --> 00:02:19,563 raising hundreds of children by hand, 44 00:02:19,563 --> 00:02:22,723 and agreeing with their husbands. The only form of personal expression 45 00:02:22,723 --> 00:02:25,323 they were allowed was wearing pointy glasses. 46 00:02:25,323 --> 00:02:28,963 But all that was about to change thanks to four boys from Liverpool - 47 00:02:28,963 --> 00:02:31,163 George, Ringo and their guitarists. 48 00:02:31,163 --> 00:02:34,443 A pop band called The Beatles. 49 00:02:34,443 --> 00:02:37,643 Some brave volunteers among the British police elect to act 50 00:02:37,643 --> 00:02:39,843 with heroism above and beyond the call of duty 51 00:02:39,843 --> 00:02:43,003 and escort The Beatles to their car... 52 00:02:43,003 --> 00:02:46,163 These Beatles didn't have six legs. They had eight legs. Like a spider. 53 00:02:46,163 --> 00:02:49,483 Everywhere they went, girls screamed. Like with a spider. 54 00:02:49,483 --> 00:02:52,603 But unlike spiders, The Beatles never crawled into anyone's mouth 55 00:02:52,603 --> 00:02:54,043 when they were asleep. 56 00:02:54,043 --> 00:02:57,243 Instead they sang, which scientists claim spiders don't. 57 00:02:57,243 --> 00:02:59,803 The Beatles started from humble beginnings. 58 00:02:59,803 --> 00:03:02,683 In the early days they couldn't afford individual haircuts, 59 00:03:02,683 --> 00:03:05,563 and had to copy and paste the same one onto each of their heads. 60 00:03:05,563 --> 00:03:08,203 And they had to share a microphone to save money. 61 00:03:08,203 --> 00:03:10,603 But their catchy jingles were so infectious 62 00:03:10,603 --> 00:03:13,443 they soon lead to an epidemic called Beatlemania. 63 00:03:13,443 --> 00:03:15,883 And The Beatles wanted to hold your hand, 64 00:03:15,883 --> 00:03:18,723 which only made the disease spread faster. 65 00:03:18,723 --> 00:03:20,843 Soon it spread across the Atlantic to America, 66 00:03:20,843 --> 00:03:22,563 a country which was still there. 67 00:03:22,563 --> 00:03:25,243 There are rumours around that this is Britain's revenge 68 00:03:25,243 --> 00:03:27,883 for the Boston Tea Party. 69 00:03:27,883 --> 00:03:30,683 While The Beatles were in the USA they started to become influenced 70 00:03:30,683 --> 00:03:33,603 by the hippies - which were sort of American Wombles. 71 00:03:33,603 --> 00:03:37,003 They experimented with a drug called LUZZD which made the user 72 00:03:37,003 --> 00:03:39,283 see and hear things that weren't really happening - 73 00:03:39,283 --> 00:03:40,683 a bit like Netflix. 74 00:03:40,683 --> 00:03:42,563 Their music turned psychopathic. 75 00:03:42,563 --> 00:03:45,003 Rather than churning out more simple love songs, 76 00:03:45,003 --> 00:03:46,843 thanks to psychopathic drugs, 77 00:03:46,843 --> 00:03:50,563 The Beatles began to sing about deeper, more meaningful things. 78 00:03:50,563 --> 00:03:54,603 # We all live in a yellow submarine 79 00:03:54,603 --> 00:03:58,763 # Yellow submarine, yellow submarine.... # 80 00:03:58,763 --> 00:04:04,083 The Beatles created some incredible music whilst they were on drugs. 81 00:04:04,083 --> 00:04:06,603 Did they not have dope testing back then? 82 00:04:06,603 --> 00:04:09,363 How come they weren't disqualified from the charts? 83 00:04:09,363 --> 00:04:13,763 Well, erm, as a matter of fact there were songs they did 84 00:04:13,763 --> 00:04:17,883 that the BBC, who in those days were most of the radio stations, 85 00:04:17,883 --> 00:04:20,803 thought were references to drug taking 86 00:04:20,803 --> 00:04:23,003 so they did ban them from the charts. 87 00:04:23,003 --> 00:04:27,643 It's weird that The Beatles LSD songs are so happy, isn't it, 88 00:04:27,643 --> 00:04:31,123 because LSD isn't always a happy experience. 89 00:04:31,123 --> 00:04:36,403 Like, my mate Paul met this Italian couple whilst he was backpacking 90 00:04:36,403 --> 00:04:40,803 and they invited him back to their room for a threesome. 91 00:04:40,803 --> 00:04:44,523 And they gave him some LSD and when they got there the bloke one 92 00:04:44,523 --> 00:04:47,683 pulled a screwdriver on him and made him shit in his own shoe 93 00:04:47,683 --> 00:04:51,523 and eat it, whilst the woman one filmed it. 94 00:04:51,523 --> 00:04:53,083 And that's a side of drug use 95 00:04:53,083 --> 00:04:55,443 that Paul McCartney doesn't sing about, isn't it? 96 00:04:55,443 --> 00:04:57,883 No, I think, luckily, that... 97 00:04:57,883 --> 00:05:01,923 That kind of experience never came his way. Hmm. 98 00:05:01,923 --> 00:05:05,083 During one LUZZD expedition, or "trip", 99 00:05:05,083 --> 00:05:09,203 The Beatles became the first Britons to discover the existence of colour. 100 00:05:09,203 --> 00:05:12,843 And like Sir Walter Raleigh and his potatoes, they took their discovery 101 00:05:12,843 --> 00:05:17,643 home to the UK, where it caught on like hot cakes of wildfire. 102 00:05:17,643 --> 00:05:21,083 Britain went overnight from grey to groovy. 103 00:05:22,243 --> 00:05:24,803 Suddenly it was cool to ignore society 104 00:05:24,803 --> 00:05:26,803 and just be whoever you wanted to be, 105 00:05:26,803 --> 00:05:29,523 as long as you had fashionable hair and flamboyant clothing 106 00:05:29,523 --> 00:05:31,483 like everybody else. 107 00:05:31,483 --> 00:05:33,483 A pearl mink miniskirt. 108 00:05:35,763 --> 00:05:37,683 Must be tailor-made for the freeze. 109 00:05:40,003 --> 00:05:44,963 Were miniskirts actually shorter or did they just appear that way 110 00:05:44,963 --> 00:05:47,803 cos people's legs were getting longer? 111 00:05:47,803 --> 00:05:51,483 They were actually quite a lot shorter. 112 00:05:51,483 --> 00:05:55,003 And they got shorter as the '60s went on. 113 00:05:55,003 --> 00:05:57,083 Was there a miniskirt for men? 114 00:05:57,083 --> 00:06:00,443 You know like trousers that just stopped under the balls? 115 00:06:00,443 --> 00:06:03,843 No, there wasn't. There wasn't a miniskirt for...for men. 116 00:06:03,843 --> 00:06:06,843 That seems like a shame. For whom? For men. 117 00:06:06,843 --> 00:06:09,563 So they didn't feel left out, you know. 118 00:06:09,563 --> 00:06:13,963 And it must be nice to have that sort of...air circulating. 119 00:06:13,963 --> 00:06:16,083 But it wasn't just clothes that were changing. 120 00:06:16,083 --> 00:06:19,963 The sexual revolution was coming, and the country was lapping it up. 121 00:06:19,963 --> 00:06:24,443 Much of the change was due to this - the pill - a condom you could eat. 122 00:06:24,443 --> 00:06:27,923 A sort of "Get Out of Child Free" card, that meant at last 123 00:06:27,923 --> 00:06:30,643 women could have sex for fun, with any man of their choosing, 124 00:06:30,643 --> 00:06:32,283 for two or three minutes, 125 00:06:32,283 --> 00:06:35,603 until he spaffed off, rolled over and went to sleep. 126 00:06:35,603 --> 00:06:38,803 Some women were having so much sex they decided to burn their bras 127 00:06:38,803 --> 00:06:42,043 cos it was quicker than putting them on and taking them off all the time. 128 00:06:42,043 --> 00:06:43,603 Free love was all the rage. 129 00:06:43,603 --> 00:06:46,323 Thanks to the pill, sex was turned on its head. 130 00:06:46,323 --> 00:06:47,523 And its back. 131 00:06:47,523 --> 00:06:48,883 And over the table. 132 00:06:48,883 --> 00:06:50,643 People let it all hang out, 133 00:06:50,643 --> 00:06:53,403 like your dad doing the gardening in loose shorts. 134 00:06:53,403 --> 00:06:55,963 And the law was catching up with the times. 135 00:06:55,963 --> 00:06:58,323 For years, homosexuality was illegal 136 00:06:58,323 --> 00:07:01,643 and gay men were sent to prison where, as punishment, they'd have to 137 00:07:01,643 --> 00:07:05,043 share a tiny room with a man, for years. 138 00:07:05,043 --> 00:07:08,083 But in the '60s, same-sex sex was decriminalized. 139 00:07:08,083 --> 00:07:10,403 It was a time of liberation. 140 00:07:10,403 --> 00:07:13,323 Soon everyone in Britain was swinging. 141 00:07:13,323 --> 00:07:16,803 Except convicted murderers, because hanging had just been abolished. 142 00:07:16,803 --> 00:07:20,203 For the first time ever, Britain was cool, not just the weather. 143 00:07:20,203 --> 00:07:23,243 Britain even decided to be cool at sport. 144 00:07:23,243 --> 00:07:24,923 England, the posh bit of Britain, 145 00:07:24,923 --> 00:07:28,203 brought back memories of the war by beating the Germans again. 146 00:07:28,203 --> 00:07:32,363 This time they bounced a ball into a net, rather than a bomb into a dam, 147 00:07:32,363 --> 00:07:35,323 killing far fewer civilians and coining the infamous phrase 148 00:07:35,323 --> 00:07:38,323 "They think it's all over, presented by Nick Hancock." 149 00:07:38,323 --> 00:07:40,803 Things were really looking up. 150 00:07:40,803 --> 00:07:44,323 But the fun, like a Toblerone, couldn't last forever, 151 00:07:44,323 --> 00:07:47,923 and almost as quickly as the '60s had arrived, they were over, 152 00:07:47,923 --> 00:07:52,323 give or take ten years. And now it was the 1970s turn to happen. 153 00:07:53,763 --> 00:07:55,963 The 1970s was a time of great change 154 00:07:55,963 --> 00:07:58,243 and the first change was the economy. 155 00:07:58,243 --> 00:08:01,643 Britain had a new Prime Minister, Edward Heath. 156 00:08:01,643 --> 00:08:04,483 With his love of yachts, classical music and church organs, 157 00:08:04,483 --> 00:08:07,083 Edward Heath seemed to be a real man of the people. 158 00:08:07,083 --> 00:08:10,483 But Heath soon found himself facing a financial crisis, 159 00:08:10,483 --> 00:08:14,643 the likes of which the world only sees about every ten years or so. 160 00:08:14,643 --> 00:08:17,283 Thanks to inflation, prices were getting bigger, 161 00:08:17,283 --> 00:08:18,963 while wages were getting smaller. 162 00:08:18,963 --> 00:08:20,763 The country was in chaos. 163 00:08:20,763 --> 00:08:23,363 Britain was said to have "the British disease". 164 00:08:23,363 --> 00:08:25,323 And there was no known cure. 165 00:08:25,323 --> 00:08:27,443 Apart from not to be Britain any more. 166 00:08:27,443 --> 00:08:31,563 Which is why Ted Heath insisted we should became part of Europe. 167 00:08:31,563 --> 00:08:34,323 Soon Britain entered the European Common Market, 168 00:08:34,323 --> 00:08:37,523 in what should have been called Brentrance, but wasn't. 169 00:08:37,523 --> 00:08:40,843 It was so perfect we held a referendum to check 170 00:08:40,843 --> 00:08:42,803 whether Britain should stay in Europe... 171 00:08:42,803 --> 00:08:46,523 Yes is now at 67% and the no vote at 33%. 172 00:08:46,523 --> 00:08:49,163 ..and it turned out everybody was happy with the idea, 173 00:08:49,163 --> 00:08:52,843 as a majority secretly are today but daren't mention. 174 00:08:52,843 --> 00:08:55,123 But things were still rubbish. 175 00:08:55,123 --> 00:08:58,723 There was rising unemployment, widespread industrial action 176 00:08:58,723 --> 00:09:01,803 and an energy crisis, which meant for the first time 177 00:09:01,803 --> 00:09:05,243 people had to justify how much electricity they were using. 178 00:09:05,243 --> 00:09:08,883 But elsewhere on the estate, one bar of an electric fire 179 00:09:08,883 --> 00:09:11,803 was heating a defiant old-age pensioner. 180 00:09:11,803 --> 00:09:16,203 If we don't need two bars on, well, we don't have two bars on. 181 00:09:16,203 --> 00:09:19,443 If we need two bars on we put two bars on! 182 00:09:19,443 --> 00:09:22,923 It's like... It's not... It's logic. It's human nature. 183 00:09:22,923 --> 00:09:25,643 So if the weather suddenly turns very cold again you're probably 184 00:09:25,643 --> 00:09:27,683 going to have to put the other bar on, are you? 185 00:09:27,683 --> 00:09:31,803 I'll put the other bar on and a reflector. I'll have the lot on. 186 00:09:31,803 --> 00:09:34,163 Soon power cuts became all the rage. 187 00:09:34,163 --> 00:09:37,203 Because the lights kept going out at a moment's notice, 188 00:09:37,203 --> 00:09:40,683 plunging everyone into darkness, there was no point dressing nicely. 189 00:09:40,683 --> 00:09:44,243 And as a result the world of fashion decided to simply give up. 190 00:09:44,243 --> 00:09:47,123 Every item of clothing in the world went off overnight. 191 00:09:47,123 --> 00:09:50,163 And the sickness spread to haircuts, which caught Dutch elm disease 192 00:09:50,163 --> 00:09:52,083 and became horribly disfigured. 193 00:09:52,083 --> 00:09:54,883 Even the air and the sky started to look dingy and awful, 194 00:09:54,883 --> 00:09:57,283 and like it was all filmed underwater. 195 00:09:57,283 --> 00:10:00,803 To cap it all, in Northern Ireland, a civil war was breaking out, 196 00:10:00,803 --> 00:10:03,323 but so as not to scare anyone, they didn't call it a civil war, 197 00:10:03,323 --> 00:10:06,323 they just called it The Troubles, like it was a tummy bug or something. 198 00:10:06,323 --> 00:10:10,403 People were angry and all that pent-up fury had to go somewhere. 199 00:10:10,403 --> 00:10:14,563 Conditions were ripe for a musical explosion known as punk. 200 00:10:14,563 --> 00:10:17,723 # Remember you're a Womble Remember you're a Womble 201 00:10:17,723 --> 00:10:21,163 # Remember you're a Womble Remember you're a Womble 202 00:10:21,163 --> 00:10:24,043 # Remember you're a Womble Remember you're a Womble 203 00:10:24,043 --> 00:10:28,003 # Remember you're a Womble Remember you're a Womble 204 00:10:28,003 --> 00:10:33,363 # Remember member member what a Womble Womble Womble you are... # 205 00:10:33,363 --> 00:10:35,643 As you can see from this searing performance, 206 00:10:35,643 --> 00:10:38,923 the punks were antisocial, cynical, and dangerous. 207 00:10:38,923 --> 00:10:44,003 And no punk band was bigger or more shockinger than the Sex Pistons. 208 00:10:44,003 --> 00:10:47,243 # I am an antichrist 209 00:10:47,243 --> 00:10:50,283 # And I am an anarchist... # 210 00:10:50,283 --> 00:10:53,643 They had shocking names like Johnny Bottom and Sid Knickers, 211 00:10:53,643 --> 00:10:56,163 they wore shocking home-made clothes, 212 00:10:56,163 --> 00:10:58,083 and put hankies on their heads, 213 00:10:58,083 --> 00:11:01,923 hence their famous call to arms - Handkerchiefs in the UK. 214 00:11:01,923 --> 00:11:05,483 But the most shocking thing they did was swearing on TV, 215 00:11:05,483 --> 00:11:09,723 an incident so outrageous that in the time since it first happened, 216 00:11:09,723 --> 00:11:12,883 it's only ever been seen again three, or maybe four hundred times, 217 00:11:12,883 --> 00:11:14,723 in music documentaries. 218 00:11:14,723 --> 00:11:18,363 It's what? Nothing. A rude word. Next question. 219 00:11:18,363 --> 00:11:20,643 No, no, what was the rude word? 220 00:11:20,643 --> 00:11:21,803 Shit. 221 00:11:21,803 --> 00:11:23,643 Was it really? Good heavens! 222 00:11:23,643 --> 00:11:28,323 The Sex Pistols were fired, weren't they, as TV presenters? 223 00:11:28,323 --> 00:11:30,243 What was all that about? 224 00:11:30,243 --> 00:11:33,803 Well, I think the thing about the Sex Pistols were that they were... 225 00:11:33,803 --> 00:11:36,123 They had a lot of impact cos they got a lot of, you know, 226 00:11:36,123 --> 00:11:39,363 shock value and sensation in the papers and on telly. 227 00:11:39,363 --> 00:11:41,603 And they help really launch the movement of punk 228 00:11:41,603 --> 00:11:44,043 because everybody knew about what they were up to. 229 00:11:44,043 --> 00:11:46,843 But I don't understand why they got fired on the telly? 230 00:11:46,843 --> 00:11:50,483 Well, they swore. Oh, right, yeah. OK. 231 00:11:50,483 --> 00:11:53,043 That was quite shocking back then, wasn't it? Back then it was. 232 00:11:53,043 --> 00:11:54,683 Not now though, really. No. 233 00:11:54,683 --> 00:11:57,723 Now you'd have to do something much bigger, wouldn't you? Yeah. 234 00:11:57,723 --> 00:12:00,843 You'd have to like do a poo on The One Show or something. Yes. 235 00:12:00,843 --> 00:12:03,763 Even then, you know, you might not get fired. 236 00:12:03,763 --> 00:12:09,163 What if you then sort of hoike your trousers up without even wiping? 237 00:12:09,163 --> 00:12:12,963 But punk wasn't the only sign the country had gone to the dogs. 238 00:12:12,963 --> 00:12:16,043 In 1978, literally everyone went on strike in 239 00:12:16,043 --> 00:12:17,963 the Winter Of Discomfort. 240 00:12:17,963 --> 00:12:22,563 Even punks went on strike, refusing to put on their punk uniforms 241 00:12:22,563 --> 00:12:25,323 and instead dressing like normal people. 242 00:12:25,323 --> 00:12:28,923 Something had to be done, so it was decided to start the 1980s 243 00:12:28,923 --> 00:12:33,923 a year early, with the election of a new Prime Minister in 1979 - 244 00:12:33,923 --> 00:12:35,323 Margaret Thatcher. 245 00:12:35,323 --> 00:12:37,803 Street name: Mrs. 246 00:12:37,803 --> 00:12:42,963 Her Majesty the Queen has asked me to form a new administration. 247 00:12:42,963 --> 00:12:45,043 Thatcher's election was a watershed. 248 00:12:45,043 --> 00:12:48,043 It proved that absolutely anyone could become Prime Minister, 249 00:12:48,043 --> 00:12:51,243 provided they went to Oxford and married a millionaire. 250 00:12:51,243 --> 00:12:54,963 As well as a uterus, Mrs Thatcher had a vision. 251 00:12:54,963 --> 00:12:56,483 An economic vision. 252 00:12:56,483 --> 00:12:58,203 With all coins up it. 253 00:12:58,203 --> 00:13:00,163 She believed in laissez faire economics - 254 00:13:00,163 --> 00:13:01,883 which is French for something, 255 00:13:01,883 --> 00:13:04,843 and then English again for the "economics" bit. 256 00:13:04,843 --> 00:13:09,723 OK, let's pretend it's the 1980s and I'm Margaret Thatcher. 257 00:13:09,723 --> 00:13:11,683 This is a political interview. 258 00:13:11,683 --> 00:13:13,043 What would you ask me? 259 00:13:13,043 --> 00:13:17,483 I think I would start by asking, 260 00:13:17,483 --> 00:13:22,203 if this was, erm, the early part 261 00:13:22,203 --> 00:13:24,003 of her period in office, 262 00:13:24,003 --> 00:13:28,643 erm, why she was setting interest rates so high, 263 00:13:28,643 --> 00:13:32,443 why she was allowing the exchange rate to go so high 264 00:13:32,443 --> 00:13:38,723 in a way that was really damaging British industry and, er, 265 00:13:38,723 --> 00:13:42,883 causing a huge rise in unemployment, 266 00:13:42,883 --> 00:13:48,843 and didn't she think that she was causing huge, unnecessary suffering? 267 00:13:48,843 --> 00:13:53,403 You're not expecting me to answer that, seriously. 268 00:13:53,403 --> 00:13:55,963 Mrs Thatcher had saved the nation from chaos 269 00:13:55,963 --> 00:13:58,243 with her tough economic policies, 270 00:13:58,243 --> 00:14:02,723 and a grateful nation erupted into lively street parties. 271 00:14:02,723 --> 00:14:05,723 The sense of jubilation continued during the royal wedding 272 00:14:05,723 --> 00:14:07,123 of the century. 273 00:14:07,123 --> 00:14:09,043 It was a dream come true, 274 00:14:09,043 --> 00:14:11,883 as the then future and still future King of England, 275 00:14:11,883 --> 00:14:13,483 the Prince of Charles, 276 00:14:13,483 --> 00:14:15,683 married one of the three people in his marriage, 277 00:14:15,683 --> 00:14:19,203 the future Queen of Hearts, Lady Diana Frank Spencer, 278 00:14:19,203 --> 00:14:22,363 in a wedding just like something from a fairy tale, 279 00:14:22,363 --> 00:14:26,323 except without a wolf or dwarves or a beanstalk, or a happy ending. 280 00:14:26,323 --> 00:14:30,043 But while people waved flags like idiots at home, 281 00:14:30,043 --> 00:14:33,803 trouble was brewing overseas, at a faraway corner of foreign Britain 282 00:14:33,803 --> 00:14:36,483 known as the Isle of Falklands Island. 283 00:14:36,483 --> 00:14:40,163 This island was invaded by Argentinas, 284 00:14:40,163 --> 00:14:42,923 who'd mistaken it for an identical island they'd left lying around 285 00:14:42,923 --> 00:14:45,923 in exactly the same place a few centuries ago. 286 00:14:45,923 --> 00:14:49,683 Mrs Thatcher immediately fought back by bravely ordering troops 287 00:14:49,683 --> 00:14:51,843 to fight and die on her behalf. 288 00:14:51,843 --> 00:14:53,483 And soon that famous flag, 289 00:14:53,483 --> 00:14:58,803 the Onion Jack, was flying over the Isle of Falklands Island once again. 290 00:14:58,803 --> 00:15:02,683 Beating the Argentines at war sealed Mrs Thatcher's reputation 291 00:15:02,683 --> 00:15:06,723 as a tough guy so much that people started to call her the Iron Lady. 292 00:15:06,723 --> 00:15:09,763 And she soon got another chance to prove just how hard she was, 293 00:15:09,763 --> 00:15:12,923 not in a major war but a minor strike. 294 00:15:12,923 --> 00:15:16,483 During Mrs Thatcher's reign there was the Minor's Strike, 295 00:15:16,483 --> 00:15:17,723 wasn't there? Yeah, yeah. 296 00:15:17,723 --> 00:15:20,203 Why was it considered minor? 297 00:15:20,203 --> 00:15:22,603 It wasn't considered minor. 298 00:15:22,603 --> 00:15:25,443 It was a strike by miners. 299 00:15:25,443 --> 00:15:28,963 People who go, you know, underground and dig out coal. 300 00:15:28,963 --> 00:15:30,963 Right. What's a mine? 301 00:15:30,963 --> 00:15:34,123 So a mine is the underground construction 302 00:15:34,123 --> 00:15:36,043 where you dig out the coal. 303 00:15:36,043 --> 00:15:38,403 Right. What's coal? 304 00:15:38,403 --> 00:15:43,643 So, coal is this black, er, rock that you burn. 305 00:15:43,643 --> 00:15:45,083 Right. 306 00:15:45,083 --> 00:15:47,763 And that's grown underground? And that's underground. 307 00:15:47,763 --> 00:15:51,123 So the min-ers go in the mine... They do. 308 00:15:51,123 --> 00:15:53,163 ..and they get the coal. And they get the coal. 309 00:15:53,163 --> 00:15:55,483 And then they went on strike. Yeah. 310 00:15:55,483 --> 00:15:58,683 The miners' struck their strike in 1984, led by their leader, 311 00:15:58,683 --> 00:16:00,323 Arthur Scarface. 312 00:16:00,323 --> 00:16:02,443 If we've got to suffer, 313 00:16:02,443 --> 00:16:05,323 through November and December we'll beat this... 314 00:16:05,323 --> 00:16:07,803 CHEERING 315 00:16:07,803 --> 00:16:12,683 Thatcher refused to back down and soon the two sides were at war. 316 00:16:12,683 --> 00:16:13,763 A class war. 317 00:16:13,763 --> 00:16:17,203 The rich police on their horses in their smart uniforms, 318 00:16:17,203 --> 00:16:20,083 and the poor dirty miners fighting with bits of coal. 319 00:16:20,083 --> 00:16:22,923 It was like something out of the Russian Revolution. 320 00:16:22,923 --> 00:16:24,563 Except it was happening here. 321 00:16:24,563 --> 00:16:25,723 In Britain. 322 00:16:25,723 --> 00:16:27,083 Somewhere near you. 323 00:16:27,083 --> 00:16:28,843 If you lived near a mine. 324 00:16:28,843 --> 00:16:30,323 The miners' strike, 325 00:16:30,323 --> 00:16:33,163 perhaps the most bitter dispute Britain had seen in years, 326 00:16:33,163 --> 00:16:36,883 tore generations apart, before ending in 1985 - 327 00:16:36,883 --> 00:16:40,203 one whole year before the terrestrial broadcast premiere 328 00:16:40,203 --> 00:16:43,003 of the BBC sitcom Brush Strokes. 329 00:16:51,963 --> 00:16:56,443 # Because of you 330 00:16:56,443 --> 00:16:58,923 # These things I do 331 00:17:01,163 --> 00:17:04,523 # Because of you 332 00:17:04,523 --> 00:17:08,083 # Because of you 333 00:17:08,083 --> 00:17:10,923 # Oh, oh... # 334 00:17:12,443 --> 00:17:15,763 With the miners crushed, like miners in a bad mine, 335 00:17:15,763 --> 00:17:18,683 Thatcher was free to pursue her economic dreams 336 00:17:18,683 --> 00:17:21,843 by privatizing some of Britain's biggest assets. 337 00:17:21,843 --> 00:17:25,003 Thanks to the big sell off, anyone could get rich, 338 00:17:25,003 --> 00:17:27,843 providing they had loads of spare money already - 339 00:17:27,843 --> 00:17:30,363 a system still in use to this day. 340 00:17:30,363 --> 00:17:32,603 Suddenly having money was cool 341 00:17:32,603 --> 00:17:37,283 and no-one had more money than the yuppies, or Young Urban Twats. 342 00:17:37,283 --> 00:17:42,083 To be a 1980s yuppie, did you have to qualify as a wanker first 343 00:17:42,083 --> 00:17:43,843 and then just work your way up? 344 00:17:43,843 --> 00:17:47,923 Eh...I think some people identified as yuppies but it was also, 345 00:17:47,923 --> 00:17:52,403 I think, used as an insult in the 1980s. 346 00:17:52,403 --> 00:17:58,643 I've seen footage of yuppies holding Filofaxes and mobile phones. 347 00:17:58,643 --> 00:18:04,443 Er, are they still in that footage or where are they now? 348 00:18:05,563 --> 00:18:07,163 Er, where are they now? 349 00:18:07,163 --> 00:18:11,283 Well, they're sort of 30 years older now so... 350 00:18:11,283 --> 00:18:13,483 So they're not in that footage any more? 351 00:18:13,483 --> 00:18:16,363 Well, that footage is historical so... 352 00:18:16,363 --> 00:18:20,803 So if you look back at that footage it'll just be empty? No... 353 00:18:20,803 --> 00:18:22,843 Cos that person has now left. 354 00:18:22,843 --> 00:18:26,403 No, the footage is...is....is a recording of what happened 355 00:18:26,403 --> 00:18:27,883 in the past. 356 00:18:27,883 --> 00:18:30,403 So the footage stays the same but those people, 357 00:18:30,403 --> 00:18:32,883 we don't know what's happened to them. 358 00:18:32,883 --> 00:18:36,603 But what... What of their Filofaxes? What happened to them? 359 00:18:36,603 --> 00:18:39,603 It seemed like a golden age of twattery. 360 00:18:39,603 --> 00:18:44,483 But Thatcher's luck couldn't last forever and as the 1990s approached 361 00:18:44,483 --> 00:18:49,083 she got too ambitious, by unveiling the controversial Paul Tax. 362 00:18:49,083 --> 00:18:51,363 A tax on people called Paul. 363 00:18:51,363 --> 00:18:53,603 And they were furious. 364 00:18:53,603 --> 00:18:56,203 Following a wave of protests, 365 00:18:56,203 --> 00:18:59,283 Thatcher wound up on her Iron Arse, leaving Downing Street crying 366 00:18:59,283 --> 00:19:03,963 tears down her face, which she'd never done before in case it rusted. 367 00:19:06,763 --> 00:19:10,643 The next Prime Minister, Major John, was as fearsome as he looked, 368 00:19:10,643 --> 00:19:14,523 and he presided over yet another depressing period of recession. 369 00:19:16,483 --> 00:19:19,123 Britain was in a right state, not only financially 370 00:19:19,123 --> 00:19:22,363 but also economically, and in money terms, too. 371 00:19:22,363 --> 00:19:26,723 The only hope was that we could somehow paint and sing our way out. 372 00:19:26,723 --> 00:19:29,243 It was an art and culture renaissance. 373 00:19:29,243 --> 00:19:33,443 An era defined by Oasis, The Spice Girls, Swede, 374 00:19:33,443 --> 00:19:38,163 Chris Evans, Take This, Damien Hurts, The Proddy Guy, 375 00:19:38,163 --> 00:19:43,763 Trainspotting, Chris Evans, Mr Blobby, Jamie Oliver, mopeds, 376 00:19:43,763 --> 00:19:46,283 ironic wanking, The Italian Job, 377 00:19:46,283 --> 00:19:49,563 Chris Evans, Chris Evans, and Chris Evans. 378 00:19:49,563 --> 00:19:54,483 But one name sums up the nineties better than anyone else: Blur. 379 00:19:54,483 --> 00:19:56,323 In the 1997 election, 380 00:19:56,323 --> 00:20:00,763 why do you think more people voted for Tony Blur than Oasis? 381 00:20:02,083 --> 00:20:06,083 You're making, erm, a mistake which was quite common at the time 382 00:20:06,083 --> 00:20:08,523 because the Prime Minister, or Labour Party leader 383 00:20:08,523 --> 00:20:11,323 at the time, was called Tony Blair. 384 00:20:11,323 --> 00:20:13,163 Blur. Blair. 385 00:20:13,163 --> 00:20:15,163 Blur. Blair. Blur. 386 00:20:16,723 --> 00:20:18,123 Blair. Blur. 387 00:20:18,123 --> 00:20:20,363 Tony Blair was.... Blur. Blair. Blur. 388 00:20:20,363 --> 00:20:25,403 ..was Prime Minister and leader of the Labour Party and there was one 389 00:20:25,403 --> 00:20:29,243 of the biggest, erm, rock or pop bands of the time was Blur. 390 00:20:29,243 --> 00:20:31,123 Blur. Blur. 391 00:20:31,123 --> 00:20:32,203 Yeah. 392 00:20:32,203 --> 00:20:33,723 It's hard to remember today, 393 00:20:33,723 --> 00:20:36,803 but Blur and Blair were actually two different things. 394 00:20:36,803 --> 00:20:41,443 Blur were a rock band locked into a notorious rivalry with Oasis. 395 00:20:41,443 --> 00:20:44,203 Oasis were rough-and-tumble lads from Manchester, 396 00:20:44,203 --> 00:20:47,763 whereas Blur were from art school, which is the opposite of Manchester. 397 00:20:47,763 --> 00:20:50,203 And that's why they hated each other. 398 00:20:50,203 --> 00:20:53,683 Tony Blur, meanwhile, was a guitarist and D:ream fan, 399 00:20:53,683 --> 00:20:57,643 who reinvented the Labour Party and rode it to victory at the election. 400 00:20:57,643 --> 00:20:59,763 Blur hosted a party at Number Ten, 401 00:20:59,763 --> 00:21:02,523 inviting lots of the Cool Britannia crowd 402 00:21:02,523 --> 00:21:05,403 and immediately making them much less cool. 403 00:21:05,403 --> 00:21:08,083 Anyone who was anyone who was a massive prick was there. 404 00:21:08,083 --> 00:21:11,843 But the party atmosphere was interrupted by tragedy. 405 00:21:11,843 --> 00:21:15,603 Diana's death couldn't have come at a worse time for a nation 406 00:21:15,603 --> 00:21:18,963 that had just got really into being judgmental about her sex life. 407 00:21:18,963 --> 00:21:21,803 The sense of loss was shocking. 408 00:21:21,803 --> 00:21:24,763 It's hard to convey the atmosphere to younger viewers, 409 00:21:24,763 --> 00:21:27,763 although it's fair to say the general mood was... 410 00:21:27,763 --> 00:21:29,803 And also... 411 00:21:29,803 --> 00:21:32,563 But because emojis hadn't yet been invented, 412 00:21:32,563 --> 00:21:34,123 people had to cry with their faces. 413 00:21:34,123 --> 00:21:38,603 Millions looked to the Queen to pull a ceremonial sad face in solidarity. 414 00:21:38,603 --> 00:21:40,923 But with the monarch constitutionally forbidden 415 00:21:40,923 --> 00:21:44,563 to express emotion, their pleas fell on deaf tear ducts. 416 00:21:44,563 --> 00:21:47,843 Tony Blur stepped in to say what needed to be said. 417 00:21:47,843 --> 00:21:50,043 He called Diana "the Peebles Princes." 418 00:21:50,043 --> 00:21:51,923 "She was the People's Princess." 419 00:21:51,923 --> 00:21:54,763 Even though she wasn't from Peebles, she was from Norfolk, 420 00:21:54,763 --> 00:21:58,603 but sometimes the facts aren't as important as how something sounds. 421 00:21:58,603 --> 00:22:02,083 It was the first step on a post-pop career that turned the 422 00:22:02,083 --> 00:22:07,443 Prime Minister into a living saint, like Bono, or Holly Willoughby. 423 00:22:07,443 --> 00:22:10,763 Through the '90s, Blur solved all the nation's problems - 424 00:22:10,763 --> 00:22:14,323 the economy, health, education, education, education, 425 00:22:14,323 --> 00:22:17,363 even the Irish Troubles - there was nothing he couldn't do. 426 00:22:17,363 --> 00:22:20,163 But no sooner had the 21st century started happening, 427 00:22:20,163 --> 00:22:23,123 than Blur dragged Britain into the war on terror. 428 00:22:23,123 --> 00:22:25,403 But the war in Iraq proved about as popular 429 00:22:25,403 --> 00:22:27,523 as infanticide-flavoured crisps. 430 00:22:27,523 --> 00:22:31,123 And Blair's legacy was well and truly shat through a bin bag. 431 00:22:31,123 --> 00:22:34,083 Blur slinked off to live inside a haunted mirror, 432 00:22:34,083 --> 00:22:36,403 leaving Number 10 under the stewardship of a man 433 00:22:36,403 --> 00:22:40,043 with all the carefree joie de vivre of a haunted cave in Poland - 434 00:22:40,043 --> 00:22:41,283 Gorgon Brown. 435 00:22:41,283 --> 00:22:44,483 Gorgon Brown knew mainly about coins, but that wouldn't help him 436 00:22:44,483 --> 00:22:47,323 cos all the coins were about to implode 437 00:22:47,323 --> 00:22:50,643 in a financial crisis which would become known as 438 00:22:50,643 --> 00:22:53,123 "the financial crisis". 439 00:22:53,123 --> 00:22:57,083 People queued outside banks in scenes of boring desperation. 440 00:22:57,083 --> 00:23:00,923 The world of money was broken and no-one knew how to fix it. 441 00:23:00,923 --> 00:23:04,243 Today stock markets across the world tumbled, imploded, 442 00:23:04,243 --> 00:23:07,243 continued to collapse like deflated dirigibles. 443 00:23:07,243 --> 00:23:09,843 People say the financial crisis happened 444 00:23:09,843 --> 00:23:15,003 because it just got too complicated and it's all because of the maths. 445 00:23:15,003 --> 00:23:18,723 If we took maths out of the equation it'd be much easier. 446 00:23:18,723 --> 00:23:22,643 Couldn't we use something else instead of numbers? 447 00:23:22,643 --> 00:23:27,643 I think that actually you're right, in a way. 448 00:23:27,643 --> 00:23:31,883 That there is too much maths in the way that people 449 00:23:31,883 --> 00:23:33,723 think about the economy. 450 00:23:33,723 --> 00:23:38,603 One of the things that occasionally goes wrong is that economists 451 00:23:38,603 --> 00:23:43,443 think that they can build... 452 00:23:43,443 --> 00:23:45,923 PHONE RINGTONE: Man! I Feel Like A Woman by Shania Twain 453 00:23:45,923 --> 00:23:48,403 # Let's go girls... # 454 00:23:51,003 --> 00:23:52,363 Sorry about that. 455 00:23:52,363 --> 00:23:55,403 After Gorgon Brown stuck a plaster on the economy and left, 456 00:23:55,403 --> 00:23:57,683 the country needed a strong leader, 457 00:23:57,683 --> 00:24:01,843 and luckily one man stepped up to single-handedly save the nation. 458 00:24:01,843 --> 00:24:04,243 The finest Prime Minister Britain has ever had. 459 00:24:04,243 --> 00:24:06,803 A man whose name will never be forgotten. 460 00:24:06,803 --> 00:24:08,763 Davis Cameron. 461 00:24:08,763 --> 00:24:12,163 Davis Cameron skilfully almost won the 2010 election, 462 00:24:12,163 --> 00:24:15,203 and formed a Brokeback Mountain style coalition 463 00:24:15,203 --> 00:24:18,043 with the equally visionary and beloved Nick Clegg. 464 00:24:18,043 --> 00:24:20,563 Almost immediately, Britain's problems, 465 00:24:20,563 --> 00:24:23,683 apart from the economy and social injustice and all the other ones, 466 00:24:23,683 --> 00:24:27,803 were solved, and by 2011 everything was going swimmingly. 467 00:24:27,803 --> 00:24:31,003 There was even a new Diana, in the form of Kate Middleton, 468 00:24:31,003 --> 00:24:32,603 who married King William 469 00:24:32,603 --> 00:24:35,083 in a high definition reboot of the Royal Wedding. 470 00:24:35,083 --> 00:24:37,603 By the time the Olympics came to Britain 471 00:24:37,603 --> 00:24:40,443 the country was riding the crest of a wave. 472 00:24:40,443 --> 00:24:43,683 Suddenly, it seemed like we could do anything if we put our mind to it, 473 00:24:43,683 --> 00:24:47,603 even stop moaning. It was a great time to be British. 474 00:24:47,603 --> 00:24:49,563 Unless you were Scottish. 475 00:24:49,563 --> 00:24:52,923 Scotland wasn't sure it wanted to be British any more 476 00:24:52,923 --> 00:24:55,003 and thought being Scottish might be good enough. 477 00:24:55,003 --> 00:24:59,563 Delegates, it's game on for Scotland. 478 00:24:59,563 --> 00:25:03,283 It's funny - why do Scottish people hate the English 479 00:25:03,283 --> 00:25:09,643 when the English have absolutely no feelings at all about the Scots? 480 00:25:10,963 --> 00:25:14,963 I suppose it's a bit like a... a marriage... 481 00:25:14,963 --> 00:25:16,963 ..of an old couple. 482 00:25:16,963 --> 00:25:20,283 Er, it's, you know, it's as though Scotland 483 00:25:20,283 --> 00:25:22,363 and England got married when they were young 484 00:25:22,363 --> 00:25:26,323 and it's constantly under debate whether they're better off 485 00:25:26,323 --> 00:25:30,083 staying together for the sake of the pension and the house 486 00:25:30,083 --> 00:25:33,603 or if they should get divorced. 487 00:25:33,603 --> 00:25:35,643 Do you think England snores? 488 00:25:35,643 --> 00:25:39,923 England looks to me like the kind of person that snores. Mm. 489 00:25:39,923 --> 00:25:42,443 The Scots held something called a referendum, 490 00:25:42,443 --> 00:25:45,163 which is a way of asking the public what they want to happen, 491 00:25:45,163 --> 00:25:49,083 and then actually taking them seriously, unlike in an election. 492 00:25:49,083 --> 00:25:51,963 In the end, Scotland voted to stay attached to England 493 00:25:51,963 --> 00:25:54,883 using a system of fields and roads, as before. 494 00:25:54,883 --> 00:25:58,043 But the referendum had been such a hit that Davis Cameron 495 00:25:58,043 --> 00:25:59,963 decided he wanted one, too. 496 00:25:59,963 --> 00:26:04,283 But this referendum would be about a different country: Europe. 497 00:26:04,283 --> 00:26:06,043 And I will go to Parliament 498 00:26:06,043 --> 00:26:10,483 and propose that the British people decide our future in Europe. 499 00:26:10,483 --> 00:26:11,923 It was a simple choice - 500 00:26:11,923 --> 00:26:15,323 should Britain leave things as they were and stay part of Europe 501 00:26:15,323 --> 00:26:18,003 or, alternatively, remain on its own, 502 00:26:18,003 --> 00:26:20,643 and become part of England instead? 503 00:26:20,643 --> 00:26:23,483 One thing's for sure, Davis Cameron's referendum 504 00:26:23,483 --> 00:26:26,843 would stop anyone arguing about Europe ever again. 505 00:26:26,843 --> 00:26:30,883 When the sun rose on 24th June, 2016, 506 00:26:30,883 --> 00:26:33,163 with it came the news that Britain had voted Out. 507 00:26:33,163 --> 00:26:36,883 Brexit was happening, and everyone was delighted. 508 00:26:36,883 --> 00:26:39,003 That is now statistically, 509 00:26:39,003 --> 00:26:43,163 mathematically there, that the Leave campaign have won. 510 00:26:43,163 --> 00:26:45,563 The Brexit result shook everything up. 511 00:26:45,563 --> 00:26:47,643 Suddenly Davis Cameron was out, 512 00:26:47,643 --> 00:26:51,563 Theresa May was in and Jeremy Corbyn was sexually attractive. 513 00:26:51,563 --> 00:26:54,963 The future of Britain is now more uncertain than at any point 514 00:26:54,963 --> 00:26:57,963 in the past, which is the opposite of its future. 515 00:26:57,963 --> 00:27:03,403 Right now, is Britain at an important moment in history, 516 00:27:03,403 --> 00:27:06,043 or a significant one? 517 00:27:06,043 --> 00:27:09,083 Erm...I'd say really important. 518 00:27:09,083 --> 00:27:11,403 Not significant? Both. 519 00:27:11,403 --> 00:27:14,883 What if you had to choose one? Important. Not significant? 520 00:27:14,883 --> 00:27:17,723 Just because it's important, doesn't mean it's... They can be both. 521 00:27:17,723 --> 00:27:21,283 They can be important and significant. Not in this. 522 00:27:21,283 --> 00:27:23,683 OK. You have to choose one. 523 00:27:23,683 --> 00:27:25,883 If I'm going to choose one... Yeah. 524 00:27:25,883 --> 00:27:29,123 ..I'll chose important. So it's not significant? 525 00:27:31,883 --> 00:27:35,163 Throughout this series I've charted the story of Britain, 526 00:27:35,163 --> 00:27:37,163 and it's a story that ends here, 527 00:27:37,163 --> 00:27:40,123 with the country once again at a turning point 528 00:27:40,123 --> 00:27:42,123 between a rock and a harder rock, 529 00:27:42,123 --> 00:27:45,963 closing one door with a foot in the past, and opening another 530 00:27:45,963 --> 00:27:49,083 with an eye to the future, an eye that's looking at itself in 531 00:27:49,083 --> 00:27:54,523 the mirror and asking the question, "What sort of massive country am I?" 532 00:27:54,523 --> 00:27:58,163 Can the nation that withstood Romans, Vikings, plagues, 533 00:27:58,163 --> 00:28:01,323 Great Fires, Rippers and Hitler survive itself? 534 00:28:01,323 --> 00:28:05,723 Will it draw upon the spirit of King Arthur, Lord Nelson, Queen Victoria, 535 00:28:05,723 --> 00:28:07,843 Charles Darwin and Andy Crane? 536 00:28:07,843 --> 00:28:11,123 Who will the Britain of tomorrow look like? And why? 537 00:28:11,123 --> 00:28:14,123 Britain didn't get to have a long history by ceasing to exist 538 00:28:14,123 --> 00:28:16,363 or being born yesterday. 539 00:28:16,363 --> 00:28:19,803 The one thing we can be sure of is that Britain is Britain. 540 00:28:19,803 --> 00:28:22,003 And it'll stay that way forever. 541 00:28:22,003 --> 00:28:23,483 Until it's not.