1978: Winter of Discontent, review: strikes, a cost-of-living crisis and Angel Delight
msn.com1978: The Winter of Discontent. It was one of those social history programmes thrown together by Channel 5.
You know the type: archive footage, celebrity talking heads, and a desire to pad out the serious stuff – strikes, inflation – with nostalgia.
So as well as a vintage Angel Delight advert, mention of the Space Invaders arcade games and ABBA appearing on Mike Yarwood’s Christmas special, we had clips from Saturday Night Fever accompanied by journalist Carole Malone recalling her teenage trips to Tuxedo Junction nightclub in Newcastle, and Esther Rantzen telling us that John Travolta was “the sexiest thing you’ve ever seen”.
The strikes covered here included Ford workers – one of them was interviewed – and BBC staff, with BBC One and BBC Two going off-air for two days in December while radio stations were merged into one.
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