Broadcast Started
on BBC2
Saturday 27th May 2006
9.00 pm
The Great British Summertime: as the days lengthen, the temperature rises and we emerge from winter hibernation - something happens to us. Traditional British reserve is packed away and out come sun-worshipping, pleasure-seeking party people, determined to shake things up and live a little differently, this new four part series, to be aired from May 27th for BBC 2 Saturday nights, charts extraordinary British Summers, which have changed society forever.
Summer of…. journeys through the decades revisiting summers still in living memory: 1967; 1976; 1989 and 1997, crosscutting different genres – music, fashion, society, art, politics and sport - and voices; using period archive and the soundtracks of the relevant years to evoke the mood of these summers past.
Central to the series are revealing and often witty interviews with key players – musicians; artists; fashionistas; sportsmen and women, and politicians - who all have a unique take on events. Plus interviews with journalists and social commentators, who contextualize the events with hindsight, illuminating their significance for British society, then and now.
When combined with archive and music, the result is a fascinating take on the extraordinarily rapid social change that Britain has undergone in the past forty years.
EPISODE
3
SUMMER OF… RAVE, 1989
9pm, Saturday 10th June
In the final days of the yuppie decade, the summer of ’89 saw a new type of youth rebellion rip through the cultural landscape, with thousands of young people dancing at illegal Acid House parties in fields and aircraft hangars around the M25. Set against the backdrop of ten years of Thatcherism, it was a benign form of revolution, dubbed the Second Summer of Love – all the ravers wanted was the freedom to party… The rave scene, along with the drug Ecstasy, broke down social barriers and even football hooligans were ‘loved up’, solving a problem the government had never managed to crack. But lurid tabloid headlines and cat-and-mouse games with the police eventually turned the dream sour, as the gangster element moved in at the end of the summer. The pop charts, which at the beginning of the summer had been dominated by Stock Aitken and Waterman stars Jason, Kylie and Sonia, gave way to ‘Madchester’ bands like Happy Mondays and the Stone Roses, who’d been influenced by the burgeoning dance culture. Mrs Thatcher’s grip on power was also weakening, with a radical cabinet reshuffle and her increasingly regal demeanour revealing the cracks that would eventually remove her from office a year later. And in a euphoric, blazing hot summer, the Marchioness disaster was a moment of horror that people would never forget.
Featuring interviews with:
Jason Donovan
1989: Singer
Sonia
1989: Singer
Pete Waterman
1989: Stock, Aitken and Waterman
Tony Wilson
1989: Factory Records
Bez
1989: Happy Mondays
Mani
1989: The Stone Roses
Clint Boon
1989: The Inspiral Carpets
Jazzie B
1989: Soul II Soul
Carl Cox
1989: DJ
Fabio
1989: DJ
Cass Pennant
1989: ICF
Charlie Colston-Hayter
1989: Rave organiser
Douglas Hurd
1989: Home Secretary
Bernard Ingham
1989: Chief Press Officer to Margaret Thatcher
Kelvin MacKenzie
1989: Editor, The Sun
THE OTHER
EPISODES:
SUMMER OF …
LOVE, 1967 TX: 9pm, Saturday 27th May
During the summer of 1967, the ‘youthquake’, which had been shaking 60s Britain, reached its climax. Young people turned their backs on their parents’ values, cast off the cloaks of convention and threw themselves into social, sexual and pharmacological revolution. British hippies rallied to anti-Vietnam war demos and partied to the sounds of pirate radio, which was banned in August by an outraged establishment. Love was in the air in ’67. The Beatles ‘All You Need is Love’ became the anthem of the summer and ‘free love’ was enabled by the pill, which was declared safe for use in May. The summer of love also witnessed the widespread use of LSD and the rise of psychedelia. Meanwhile, The Rolling Stones were convicted of drug possession, as the campaign to ‘legalise pot’ raged on throughout the summer. This really was a summer which changed Britain forever.
SUMMER OF…
HEAT, 1976 TX: 9pm, Saturday 3rd June
‘76 was the hottest, driest summer on record. The country basked in glorious sunshine, continual blue skies and long, balmy evenings. But it was a summer when the world would be turned upside down. It started with the FA Cup final when second division giant killers Southampton beat first division Man United. Then, in an astonishing Test series the West Indies fast bowlers humiliated England’s over confident cricketers. As the summer wore on, the country sweltered in the glaring heat. The drought worsened and social tensions rose. While mums and dads were dancing to Kiki Dee and The Wurzels, disenchanted youth sought something new. The first band that echoed their frustration and shook the music world to its core was The Sex Pistols… By the end of the summer Punk was rearing its rebellious head, forest fires swept the land and tension in the West Indian community exploded with riots at the Notting Hill Carnival. The stew that had been bubbling away in the heat all summer had reached boiling point and Britain was poised for a change.
SUMMER OF…..POP &
POLITICS, 1997 TX: 9pm, Saturday 17th June
’97 was the summer of Cool Britannia and a new dawn in Britain. Change was in the air with the Labour landslide in May. Britain was suddenly the cool place to be - teaming with new and youthful icons of politics, art, pop music and industry. Even Tony Blair the youngest PM in over a hundred years was hip. The sun shone fiercely and many people truly felt they were contemplating a brighter future. But the feel good factor of that amazing summer of 97 ended on the 31st August when Britain seemed to go into seismic collective shock and mourning. The unthinkable had happened: Diana, the biggest star of the modern world had been killed.
