Series synopsis
40 Minutes is a British documentary television series that premiered on BBC Two on October 1, 1981. It ended on April 19, 1994. It stars Jessie Matthews, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Ian Holm and Ernie Wise.
40 Minutes was a BBC TV documentary strand broadcast on BBC Two between 1981 and 1994. The documentaries could be on any possible subject, the only connection being that they last forty minutes.
Some documentaries in the original series were revisited and updated in a 2006 version, Forty Minutes On.
Premise
40 Minutes was a BBC TV documentary strand broadcast on BBC Two between 1981 and 1994. The documentaries could be on any possible subject, the only connection being that they last forty minutes.
Some documentaries in the original series were revisited and updated in a 2006 version, Forty Minutes On.
Cast and characters
Leading cast
- Jessie Matthews
- Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
- Ian Holm as Narrator
- Ernie Wise
- George Formby
- Benjamin Zephaniah
- Gary Glitter
- Brendan Ingle
Supporting cast
- Michel Odent
- Frankie Vaughan
- Bertrand Russell
- Geoffrey Boycott
- Doris Stokes
- Samantha Fox as Self
- Linda Lusardi
- Ian Botham
- Gerald Scarfe
- Max Miller
- Klondyke Kate
- Tim Pigott-Smith
Guest cast
Episodes
This series spans 20 seasons with 322 episodes.
| Season | Episodes | First aired | Last aired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 29 | October 1, 1981 | May 6, 1982 |
| Season 2 | 25 | October 7, 1982 | April 21, 1983 |
| Season 3 | 26 | October 30, 1983 | May 3, 1984 |
| Season 4 | 25 | November 1, 1984 | May 9, 1985 |
| Season 5 | 26 | October 10, 1985 | April 17, 1986 |
| Season 6 | 27 | October 9, 1986 | April 30, 1987 |
| Season 7 | 27 | November 5, 1987 | May 19, 1988 |
| Season 8 | 27 | October 20, 1988 | May 18, 1989 |
| Season 9 | 26 | October 19, 1989 | May 3, 1990 |
| Season 10 | 24 | October 25, 1990 | April 25, 1991 |
| Season 11 | 24 | October 17, 1991 | May 9, 1992 |
| Season 12 | 15 | February 16, 1993 | May 25, 1993 |
| Season 13 | 21 | November 16, 1993 | April 19, 1994 |
| Season 14 | 0 | ||
| Season 1981 | 0 | October 1, 1981 | December 17, 1981 |
| Season 1982 | 0 | January 14, 1982 | December 16, 1982 |
| Season 1983 | 0 | January 13, 1983 | December 18, 1983 |
| Season 1984 | 0 | January 5, 1984 | December 20, 1984 |
| Season 1985 | 0 | January 10, 1985 | December 19, 1985 |
| Season 1986 | 0 | January 16, 1986 | December 11, 1986 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Rough Justice Portrait of a fractious Welsh village near Merthyr Tydfil. |
October 1, 1981 |
| 2 |
Sister Genevieve Portrait of a Comprehensive School in the heart of the Falls Road, Belfast. |
October 8, 1981 |
| 3 |
Hijack Story of a Hijack on Independence Day 1977 in New York. |
October 15, 1981 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Roedean The leading girls' public school. |
October 7, 1982 |
| 2 |
Skinheads Four 'skins' in 1982 London; their lifestyle and the skinhead culture. |
October 14, 1982 |
| 3 |
Rabbits Don't Cry Looks at the increasing militancy of activists protesting at experiments on animals. |
October 21, 1982 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Mistress Interviews with three mistresses. |
October 30, 1983 |
| 2 |
Bodyline The M.C.C. Cricket tour of Australia in 1931 and the controversial tactics of the M.C.C. Captain Douglas Jardine. |
November 8, 1983 |
| 3 |
Something for the Ladies Mr Universe, Bachelor of the Year and others competitions for men. |
November 13, 1983 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Gigolo Gigolos and the different types. |
November 1, 1984 |
| 2 |
The Happy Medium About the medium Doris Stokes. |
November 8, 1984 |
| 3 |
The Grendon Experiment Grendon prison in Buckinghamshire, Britain's only voluntary psychiatric prison. |
November 15, 1984 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
In Between Days A film about being 16. A group of four friends in between being children and adults, emotionally, sexually and physically. |
October 10, 1985 |
| 2 |
50 Years On A Golden Wedding holiday. Four couples married in 1935 celebrate 50 years of life together, and talk of the happiness and sadness of their golden years. |
October 17, 1985 |
| 3 |
Schoolgirl Mum Girls who become pregnant under 16. The girls, their boy-friends and their parents talk about the consequences. |
October 24, 1985 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Ten Days in Holloway An inside view of Holloway Prison, reflecting the immense problems and tensions of Britain's largest and toughest women's jail. |
October 9, 1986 |
| 2 |
Dancing in the Rain The glittery world of ballroom dancing - behind the scenes at the World Ballroom Dancing Championships, held this year in Blackpool. |
October 16, 1986 |
| 3 |
Rescue The lives of the men who make up the Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team - a voluntary body of men who help those in difficulty on Ben Nevis and the surrounding mountains. |
October 23, 1986 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Terror How three people's lives were permanently affected by the TWA plane hi-jack. |
November 5, 1987 |
| 2 |
Girls Apart Two South African school-girls, one black, one white - their contrasting attitudes and lives. |
November 12, 1987 |
| 3 |
Love at First Sight Five couples describe what happened when they first met - and the long-term consequences. |
November 19, 1987 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Dolebusters The East Kent Dole Fraud team cracking down on "fiddlers and scroungers". |
October 20, 1988 |
| 2 |
I Want to Live Kate Matthews extraordinary fight against cancer to survive, after learning that she has just 12 weeks to live. |
October 27, 1988 |
| 3 |
The Gypsies Are Coming The impact of 2,500 gypsies and travellers on the sleepy market town of Appleby in Cumbria, which each June the travellers invade for the annual horse fair. |
November 3, 1988 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Danger Men Ten of the most dangerous and disruptive men in the prison system have been brought together in an experimental unit at Hull Jail. A new softly-softly regime is being tested on inmates like Fred Low, who is serving three life sentences - one for killing a fellow prisoner - and Patrick Mackay, serving five life sentences for manslaughter and robbery. 40 Minutes gained access to the unit as the prisoners started to reveal themselves to the hand-picked staff, and as conflicts began. The most serious clash was over the only woman working full time in the unit, and it involved David McAllister, serving 19 years for armed robbery and assault, who later escaped from the unit and was on the run for five days. This film tells the story of the most controversial unit in our prisons. |
October 19, 1989 |
| 2 |
Me and My Bike A eulogy to the joy of cycling. |
October 26, 1989 |
| 3 | Crack Doctors | November 2, 1989 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Thawing of a Cold War Warrior | October 25, 1990 |
| 2 | Fit to Drop | November 1, 1990 |
| 3 | It's Eileen | November 8, 1990 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Alec the Pole For 47 years Alec Krawczynski has lived in Scotland. He is known as Alec the Pole. But his real name is not Krawczynski and he has never been to Poland. He came from the Ukraine and for nearly 50 years has kept a deadly secret. Now, as the Ukraine reaches out for independence, he discovers members of his family are still alive. He returns to the Ukraine to discover if his country and family are ready to forgive him for being, in his own words, a traitor. |
October 17, 1991 |
| 2 | Short, Sharp and Shocking | October 24, 1991 |
| 3 | Autogeddon | October 31, 1991 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sanctuary | February 16, 1993 |
| 2 | I Won't... I Can't | February 23, 1993 |
| 3 | Away the Lads | March 2, 1993 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shattered Dreams | November 16, 1993 |
| 2 | War Artist | November 23, 1993 |
| 3 | Girl Friends | November 30, 1993 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rough Justice | October 1, 1981 |
| 2 | Sister Genevieve | October 8, 1981 |
| 3 | The Hijack | October 15, 1981 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Great Cover-Up | January 14, 1982 |
| 2 | Brighton Or Bust | January 21, 1982 |
| 3 | The Last Resort | January 28, 1982 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mister Perks | January 13, 1983 |
| 2 | Package Tour | January 20, 1983 |
| 3 | Something to Do with Video | January 27, 1983 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nineteen Eighty-Four Voices in the City | January 5, 1984 |
| 2 | Health Farm | January 12, 1984 |
| 3 | Swiss Finishing School | January 19, 1984 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Promised Land | January 10, 1985 |
| 2 | Talking Proper | January 17, 1985 |
| 3 | Sweet FA | January 24, 1985 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Flight from Vatersay | January 16, 1986 |
| 2 | Student Nurse | January 30, 1986 |
| 3 | Emergency - Bloomsbury 3 | February 6, 1986 |
Production
Release
| Original network/platform | BBC Two |
|---|---|
| First aired | October 1, 1981 |
| Last aired | April 19, 1994 |
| Status | ended |
| Schedule | Tuesday |