The final instalment of the Seven Up! documentary series, 70 Up, is currently airing on ITV in two parts, and it is being described as extraordinarily moving. The series, which began in 1963 by documenting the lives of 14 children, has followed its subjects every seven years, capturing the realities of growing up in public. As the series draws to a close, it raises difficult ethical questions about the practice of following people from childhood, questions that are more pertinent than ever in an age of social media and AI-generated content.
The Genesis and Evolution of Seven Up!
Originally conceived by Michael Apted, then a young researcher, Seven Up! was intended to expose the British class system. The initial film juxtaposed public schoolboys with counterparts from children's homes and council estates. Seven years later, Apted returned to direct an update, and then continued to do so every seven years. For the most part, his subjects followed the socioeconomic paths one might have predicted, but what emerged over the decades was much more piercing and poignant than initially envisaged. As its participants have noted, the programme turned out to be as much about life itself as it was about class.
The Emotional Impact of 70 Up
The final episodes, directed by Asif Kapadia, capture deep joys such as parenthood and the satisfaction of self-knowledge earned over a lifetime. However, they also show the struggles with divorce, bereavement, depression, homelessness, redundancy, and ill-health. Two of the original participants and Apted himself have died. Nick Hitchon, the boy from a Yorkshire farm who became an expert in nuclear fusion, gave a final interview days before his death. The series presents no simple arcs of redemption or tragedy, but something more muddled and nuanced.
Ethical Concerns in the Age of Social Media
To watch these lives unspool is a remarkable privilege, yet it is not always a comfortable one, nor one which could easily be repeated. The loss of innocence that 70 Up captures is not only that of its youthful subjects but also of the society around them. Apted's questions could be blunt, verging on cruel. However, the seven-year intervals meant that while the series captured lives, it did not expose them as brutally as the relentlessness of today's reality television and social media schedules would. The endless replay of clips and memes means that no subject now could expect anonymity between instalments. Most would want to shape their own narrative, and at least one would surely establish their own supplements line or become a streamer.
More children than ever are served up for the public gaze, directly by their families as well as by the TV and film industries. At the same time, the viewer is increasingly aware of the toll that such attention has previously taken on children in the spotlight, from youthful Hollywood stars to those monetised from babyhood by their parents. Horrifying family influencer scandals underline the questions about who is benefiting and who is watching. In an age where the UK's National Crime Agency has warned parents against putting their children's images on public display online because of concerns over AI-generated images of sexual abuse, these questions are more pressing than ever.
Participants' Pushback and the Future
Even in the best-case scenario, it is hard to know whether parents, as well as children, can truly understand what exposure to the public eye will mean not only in the moment but later in life. Fictional versions are not immune to the challenges. Richard Linklater filmed scenes every year to construct his moving film Boyhood, which captures a childhood from five to 18, but the director's daughter Lorelei, who played the protagonist's sister, wanted to opt out as a teenager. Apted's subjects pushed back at the director's biases as they grew and in some cases quit the programme, though all but one returned, and several speak fondly about what it has meant to them. Viewers will be grateful, but it is harder to justify the greater toll of growing up in public these days.
