Liverpool's Peter Davies, one of the most outspoken faces of the iconic 7 Up! documentary series, has admitted he would “do it all again” despite years of unwanted attention and criticism.
Davies was just seven when he was chosen to appear in the groundbreaking television project, which began in 1964 and set out to explore how children from different social backgrounds might develop as they grew older. What started as a one-off film became one of television's most remarkable long-running experiments, with participants returning every seven years.
Now, as the final instalment reaches the participants at the age of 70, Davies has reflected on his journey from a schoolboy in Liverpool to a familiar face in one of the most closely watched documentary series ever made.
Unwanted attention and criticism
Davies was working as a teacher at a comprehensive school when viewers saw him in 28 Up in 1984. His outspoken political views made him a target for sections of the press after he criticised Margaret Thatcher's government in particularly strong terms. The reaction came as a shock to Davies, who had never experienced that level of public hostility before.
Looking back, he said he became increasingly uncomfortable with the way his story was being presented and eventually stepped away from the series for a number of years. Davies did not return until 56 Up, when he saw an opportunity to use the programme to help promote music he was releasing.
He said he had become cynical about the way the films were edited and how individual participants could be reduced to a particular character or storyline.
Reflecting on 28 Up
Reflecting on his appearance in 28 Up, Davies said: “I think for a long time I felt cynical about the programme and the way in which individual stories were shaped. I'm thinking particularly back to when I did 28 Up - I think one of the headlines was, 'Would you let this man teach your children?'
“At the time I was quite shocked because I'd never experienced anything like that - the sheer level of vitriol involved in some of the comments. I was quite taken aback.”
Davies also felt the programme's director Michael Apted had reduced him to a stereotype. He recalled telling Apted: “You know, you've really condensed me there almost to a caricature - the angry young man from the North of England.”
Positives outweigh negatives
Despite those frustrations, Davies now believes the positives ultimately outweigh the negatives. He has acknowledged that appearing in the series brought a level of fame and intrusion that could sometimes be difficult, but he still feels the experience was worthwhile.
He believes the story told by 7 Up! became bigger than its original idea of examining Britain's class system. For Davies, one important part of the story was the emergence of people from working-class families who were able to change their circumstances through education and the welfare state. He believes the series did not fully capture that transformation.
“I think something they missed was the emergence of a new lower middle class perhaps - people like myself whose parents were working class, but who were able, by virtue of a properly resourced welfare state and state education system, to move out of that background, go to university, change our lives,” he said.
The final chapter
The original group of 14 children were deliberately selected to represent different areas of British society, from privileged children attending prestigious schools to youngsters growing up in care or working-class communities. Over the decades, the cameras captured marriages, careers, children, illness, bereavement and major changes in the lives of the participants.
Two members of the original group have since died. Nick Hitchon, the Yorkshire farm boy who became a nuclear scientist and moved to America, died in 2023. Lynn Johnson, who had appeared alongside Davies and others throughout the series, died in 2013. The series' long-term director Apted also died in 2021 after a hugely successful career which eventually saw him move into Hollywood filmmaking.
Davies has now returned for the final films, directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Asif Kapadia. He welcomed the change in approach, saying the series had perhaps become too familiar over the years.
“I think it had become a little formulaic,” Davies said. “So having someone new on board was going to shake things up a bit. And I think he did. Some of the questions he asked were difficult to answer, but they were interesting and made me work a bit harder.”
70 Up: The Final Chapter airs on 15 and 22 September at 9pm on ITV and ITVX.
