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70s: That Was The Decade That Was

Normally derided as a lesser decade compared to the swinging sixties, full of kitsch products, naff pop and ugly clothes, the 1970s were, in fact, an incredible point in our history - and were actually one of the most powerful periods of social change the world has ever seen.

A decade that swept in barefoot, full of peace and love and wearing flowers in its hair, it departed, ten years later, wearing Chanel, complete with mobile phone, extreme right wing politics - and a big wallet stuffed with money.
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Now thirty years on, we're far enough away from its heady mix of revolutionary politics, glamour and creativity to re-appraise it properly and to realise some perspective. Only now can we see how deeply it changed our lives, our ambitions, our houses, even our sex lives. Only now is it becoming clear that the 70s was the first decade of the modern age.

And although it was a hotbed of creativity in music, fashion, cinema and design, it was also a dark decade that discovered terrorism, mass murder, political strife, poverty and invented AIDS. It was the decade the Arabs finally realised they could break the power of the West with their oil - and when Islamic fundamentalism was born. But that was just the start..

A landmark documentary series, The 70s: A Decade in Detail examines the real meaning of the times and why they explain, with shocking clarity, where we are - and what we have become - today.

Broadcaster: five
Format: 5 x 60"