21 Up

21 Up
ITV
9 May 1977
Documentary
DVD
B


The "kids" are grown and venturing into adulthood, some doing exactly what they expected-- John still the confident Tory, Tony bouncing back from not making it as a jockey to the Plan B he's always had to be a cabbie-- and others taking unexpected turns, like Neil, who's now a squatter.  Shy, awkward, sensitive Nick is still very modest but starting to come into his own.  The East End girls know intuitively that they're better off than the poor little rich girl, although two of them have married young.  And so on.  This episode, much more than the "14" installment, compares and contrasts the participants, and even reunites them in London again.  It's about double the length of that installment, and it goes into greater depth, with less of the "What do you think of...?" questions that the 7- and 14-year-olds had to answer about society and more of what their individual stories are, which I think fits the mood of the late '70s, not apolitical but more reflective.