1971: The PEOPLE Versus The CAR | Tuesday Documentary | Retro Transport | BBC Archive
It’s the great 20th-Century love affair: the people and the car. It’s already lasted for more than 80 years – but this particular love affair still seems pretty passionate. Mind you, the loved one has been behaving rather badly – killing 100,000 people last year, pumping thousands of tons of poisons into the air, wasting millions of pounds through congestion and the cost of accidents. Despite it all, the love affair shows little sign of breaking up. It’s a complex relationship and this unconventional programme explores some of the many subtleties of our magnificent obsession. In the studio with host Julian Pettifer are groups with opposing views of the car – representatives of the Pedestrians’ Association, the Council for the Protection of Rural England, and other groups who think the car has become a menace to society, and members of the motor trade and various motoring organisations, who feel that society needs to adapt around the car, and build the infrastructure necessary to accommodate more cars in future. Alongside these two groups are members representing a cross section of the British public. Contributors include Sir Alec Durie, Derrick Beecham, Reverend Dr Schuller, Robert Phillipson, George Clark, Isabel Menzies, Roy Haeusler, Diane Hart, Brian Milton and Murray Mackay. Light relief from what is sure to be a heated debate is provided by Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Jonathan Routh and Bill Tidy. Clip taken from Tuesday Documentary, originally broadcast on BBC Two, 8 June, 1971. Credit to : BBC Archive