Page "Reality television" Paragraph 6

First broadcast in the United Kingdom in 1964, the Granada Television series Seven Up !, broadcast interviews with a dozen ordinary seven-year-olds from a broad cross section of society and inquired about their reactions to everyday life.

Every seven years, a film documented the life of the same individuals during the intervening period, titled 7 Plus Seven, 21 Up, etc.

The series was structured as a series of interviews with no element of plot.

However, it did have the then-new effect of turning ordinary people into celebrities.