The long-running 7 Up documentary series is to come to an end this month, bringing the cameras back to the group of Britons whose lives have been followed since they were seven years old.
The final instalment, 70 Up, will air on ITV in two 90-minute episodes from Tuesday, September 15. It will mark the conclusion of a social experiment which began in 1964 with 14 children selected to represent different backgrounds and social classes.
They never set out to become television personalities. Some have admitted that they came to regret allowing their private lives to be chronicled so closely, but their experiences have become an extraordinary record of changing British society.
Filming has continued at seven-year intervals, charting education, work, marriage, parenthood, illness, bereavement and old age. The participants have been repeatedly asked to reflect on the lives they imagined as children and the realities that followed.
Asif Kapadia, the Oscar-winning director behind documentaries including Amy and Senna, has taken over from Michael Apted for the final chapter. Apted directed the series from 7 Plus 7 onwards and died in 2021.
Kapadia has described taking charge of the project as an “incredible honour and privilege”, calling the series “the ultimate portrait of human life”.
ITV said the original programme, initially intended as a one-off film, had become part of Britain’s cultural fabric. The series was voted the most influential British television programme of the past 50 years in a 2024 poll conducted by the Broadcasting Press Guild.
Twelve of the original participants are expected to appear in 70 Up, including several who have featured throughout the project. Charles Furneaux, who left after 21 Up, is also understood to have taken part again.
Two members of the original group have died. Lynn Johnson died in 2013, while Nick Hitchon, who became a respected scientist, died in 2023.
The concluding films will be accompanied by two documentaries examining the making of the series and its place in television history. Previous episodes, including 63 Up, are available on ITVX.
