42 Up - The Up Series (TV) (1998)

The Up Series is a series of seven documentary films that has followed the lives of fourteen British children since 1964, when they were seven years old. The children were selected primarily to represent the full range of socio-economic backgrounds in Britain at that time, with the explicit assumption that each child's "class" predetermines their future. Every seven years, the director, Michael Apted, films new material from as many of the fourteen he can get to participate. The latest film, 49 up, was released in the UK in September 2005 and in the US in October 2006. Filming for the next instalment in the series, 56 Up, is expected in late 2011 or early 2012.

The first film in the series, Seven Up!, was directed by Paul Almond, and commissioned by Granada Television as a programme in the World in Action series broadcast in 1964. At the time there was no plan for them to return in seven years time; the second film was made almost as an afterthought, but the pattern of the series was established. From Seven plus 7 onwards the films have been directed by Michael Apted, who had been a researcher on Seven Up! and chose the original children with Gordon McDougall. The premise of the film was taken from the Jesuit motto "Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man," which is based on a quote by Francis Xavier. The 1998 programme was commissioned by BBC One, although still produced for them by Granada. (from wikipedia.org)