Back in Time for Dinner/the Weekend/School

[floragord]

I no longer have a flowerless house - my daughter picked a dandelion from the garden which is now residing in a small vase.

Very nice - lovely colour, health-giving properties, long-lasting!

[floragord]

We enjoyed the follow-up to the above, BACK IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS, on catchup, still starring the Robshaw family; first episode covered the festivities in the 1940s (ox heart xmas lunch, carrot fudge as a present...), 1950s (ham and pineapple, the first Regent Street lights) and finally 1960s, things looking more familyiar, turkeys and shopping at Tesco. I'd forgotten that until 1979 buses ran a regular service on Christmas Day, and there were post and milk deliveries.

[Poppy]

I'm glad you mentioned this Floragord, as I had no idea this was on until I read your post! I watched the episode on catch-up earlier, and I thoroughly enjoyed it - very interesting and festive. Looking forward to the next one - about the 70s, 80s and 90s.

[Daisy]

It was quite interesting as well... it helps one to realize how things have changed..... a good history lesson too!

[Moonraker]

It also portrays how today's modern woman is such a feeble version of the strong housewife and mother of the past.

[floragord]

I'm glad you mentioned this Floragord, as I had no idea this was on until I read your post! I watched the episode on catch-up earlier, and I thoroughly enjoyed it - very interesting and festive. Looking forward to the next one - about the 70s, 80s and 90s.

It was huge fun, wasn't it Poppy, hope you enjoyed Part II! We thought the austerity of the first episode coincided fascinatingly with THE WORLD'S MOST EXPENSIVE CHRISTMAS on Channel 4 last night, the punch line in that was the family who spent quarter of a million £ on lavish decorations in their London home, even had some rooms redecorated to blend tastefully with the tree, decided to stay in New York for the festivities, quite a study in contrasts

[Poppy]

Yes, it was excellent. I'll be watching Part 2 tonight on catch-up. Really looking forward to it!

[floragord]

Looking forward to BACK IN TIME FOR THE WEEKEND starting this week, as to how our leisure pursuits have changed since the 1950s - a "new" family this time, perhaps the Robshaw's had had enough?

[Poppy]

Yes, I saw this advertised and I am also really looking forward to it!

[pete9012S]

Thanks for the reminders.My wife and I are looking forward to this show.

[Moonraker]

Let's hope this family isn't as irritating as the last one.

[pete9012S]

I know what you mean,but I grew fond of them all in what Dame Edna would describe as a 'spooky' sort of way!

[Julie2owlsdene]

The last couple were really irritating!!!

Let's hope the next show isn't so.

[Moonraker]

Swatisaid! They were a bit like a "Stepford" family - the wife couldn't even open a can!

[pete9012S]

Like many modern families, the Ashby Hawkins home is stuffed full of tablets, computers, phones, and gadgets to distract them in their spare time. But for one summer they agreed to give up all their 21st century technology and travel back in time, to experience the radical transformation of our leisure time since 1950.

The family’s own home becomes their time machine as they are transported back to a different decade each week. Guided by presenters Giles Coren and social historian Polly Russell, the family’s entire experience is underpinned by The Family Expenditure Survey, a government study which ran from the 50s right through to 1999. The survey’s detailed spending records give us the best possible clue as to what families were doing with their leisure time across the five decades.

In episode one the family enter the 1950s, so it's goodbye to their flat screen TV and hello to a piano, darning and a pipe to keep them amused. It’s the era of formality and austerity, as many families bought little more than fags and a spool of thread from week to week.

Dad Rob finds out that he’s expected to be handy with a tool kit, while mum Steph, who normally works full time, discovers that it’s not her tablet or phone that she’s misses, but the family’s white goods. Without them, she’s stuck at home for hours with all the washing, cooking and cleaning expected of a 1950s housewife.

But there are upsides: 16 year-old Daisy gets a chance to learn ballroom dancing, courtesy of Angela Rippon who was a teenager in the 50s, while 12 year-old Seth discovers the joy of the great outdoors, spam fritters included…

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Yes, I hope you take to the Ashby Hawkins family Julie.I will miss the other family - but changing the family may well prove to be an inspired idea by the BBC.