Man Alive (BBC TV series)
| Man Alive | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Documentary and current affairs |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | Approx. 500 |
| Production | |
| Editor(s) | Bill Morton Desmond Wilcox |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) | BBC TV |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC2 |
| Audio format | Mono |
| Original release | 4 November 1965 – 1981 |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | 40 Minutes |
| Related shows | Man Alive Debate |
Man Alive was a documentary and current affairs series which ran on BBC2 between 1965 and 1981. During that time there were nearly 500 programmes tackling a range of social and political issues, both in the UK and abroad. It was often accused of trying to sensationalise its subjects or interviewees.
The series was commissioned by Sir David Attenborough, while he was Controller of BBC2 between 1965 and 1969. British television journalist and presenter Esther Rantzen worked on Man Alive in the mid-1960s. She went on to marry one of the programme's most prominent reporters and series editor, Desmond Wilcox. Wilcox contributed directly to about 50 Man Alive programmes. The Man Alive theme music was composed and played by Tony Hatch and his orchestra.
The first Man Alive programme, "The Heart Man", was broadcast on 4 November 1965. It focused on heart surgeon Michael Ellis DeBakey at The Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas. There were a further eight programmes that year - Wilcox was also the programme's executive producer. Man Alive became a strand. Each edition of the programme had a sub-title which reflected its content.
Man Alive returned in 1966 with 48 programmes followed by 51 in 1967. They were expanded in length from thirty to fifty minutes and started to be broadcast in colour.They were shot on 16mm film, sometimes combined with studio discussions or outside broadcasts. The documentary strand covered several stories on sex, the sex industry and exploitation, and in 1967 it broke new ground by showing the first ever bare female breast on British television (Daily Express). For its time, Man Alive tackled many thought-provoking subjects. The programme also faced accusations of sensationalism, however. Writing in The Times in 2005, Paul Hoggart said "I had not realised that BBC Two's landmark 1960s documentary strand Man Alive was accused at the time of cynical sensationalism, with producers rejoicing when they got some poor sod to weep on camera..."
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