Paradise Lost

Andrew Marr examines the age of Harold Wilson's classless society; a country excited by new technology, modern architecture and the scary futurism of Doctor Who. Wilson attempted to connect with the 60s spirit of progress by conjuring up the image of a future driven by science and the white heat of technology. But while the swinging sixties unleashed dreams of a fairer, liberated future, the Wilson governments presided over years of industrial conflict, stagnation and decline.

By the 1970s, as the sixties dream turned sour, industrial malaise, class and generational conflict, Vietnam, racial unrest, government paranoia and the shadow of the Soviet threat all added up to a sense of national crisis, and there were serious fears for the future of democracy in Britain. Under Edward Heath, British industry was reduced to working a three-day week, and homes were lit by candlelight during an enforced rationing of electricity. As Heath raised the question 'Who governs Britain?', the people's response came: 'Not you, mate!'.