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This programme contains some
strong language.

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Today, Britain stands
at a fork in its crossroads.

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And its people are asking
questions.

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Now we've got our country back -
what actually is it?

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Who are we? And why?

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<font color="
where Britain's heading

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is to look behind us into something
called history -

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a sort of rear view mirror
for time.

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So that's where I'm going.

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Back there.

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It's a journey that'll take me
<font color="

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On my odyssey, I'll be starting
sentences in one location,

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and finishing them in another.

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And looking at some of the biggest
faces in British history,

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and asking other people's
faces about them.

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<font color="
punk rock and just being angry

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but without a guitar?

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All of it taking place in this
skepterred isle we call home.

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So join me, Philomena Cunk,

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as I take you right up the history

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of the United Britain
<font color="

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This...is Cunk On Britain.

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Throughout this series

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I've been on a journey
up through Britain's history.

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Now I'm almost at the end
of that road,

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at the point where olden times end
and now times begin.

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<font color="
goes colour at long fucking last,

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and some things you might have
actually heard of happened.

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It's the story of how Britain
went from the 1960s

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to this very moment now.

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And this moment.

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And this one.

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<font color="

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And found itself here and now,
at the arse end of history.

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Britain had been uptight ever since
Victorian times,

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and having two world wars on top of
that had really knocked the fun

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out of everyone.

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<font color="
issued by the government,

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and their only form of entertainment
was reading boring newspapers.

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They weren't even allowed
to get erections

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and had to make do with
a stiff upper lip instead.

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<font color="
washing clothes,

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raising hundreds of children
by hand,

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and agreeing with their husbands.
The only form of personal expression

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they were allowed was wearing
pointy glasses.

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<font color="
thanks to four boys from Liverpool -

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George, Ringo and their guitarists.

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A pop band called The Beatles.

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Some brave volunteers among the
British police elect to act

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with heroism above and beyond
the call of duty

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<font color="
to their car...

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These Beatles didn't have six legs.
They had eight legs. Like a spider.

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Everywhere they went, girls
screamed. Like with a spider.

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But unlike spiders, The Beatles
never crawled into anyone's mouth

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<font color="

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Instead they sang, which scientists
claim spiders don't.

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The Beatles started from humble
beginnings.

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In the early days they couldn't
afford individual haircuts,

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and had to copy and paste the same
<font color="

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And they had to share
a microphone to save money.

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But their catchy jingles
were so infectious

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they soon lead to an epidemic called
Beatlemania.

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And The Beatles wanted to
hold your hand,

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<font color="
spread faster.

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Soon it spread across the Atlantic
to America,

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a country which was still there.

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There are rumours around
that this is Britain's revenge

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for the Boston Tea Party.

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<font color="
they started to become influenced

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by the hippies - which were
sort of American Wombles.

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They experimented with a drug called
LUZZD which made the user

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see and hear things that weren't
really happening -

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<font color="

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Their music turned psychopathic.

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Rather than churning out more
simple love songs,

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thanks to psychopathic drugs,

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The Beatles began to sing about
deeper, more meaningful things.

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<font color="
yellow submarine....

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The Beatles created some incredible
music whilst they were on drugs.

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Did they not have dope
testing back then?

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How come they weren't
disqualified from the charts?

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Well, erm, as a matter of fact
<font color="

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that the BBC, who in those days
were most of the radio stations,

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thought were references
to drug taking

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so they did ban them
from the charts.

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It's weird that The Beatles
LSD songs are so happy, isn't it,

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<font color="
a happy experience.

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Like, my mate Paul met this Italian
couple whilst he was backpacking

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and they invited him back
to their room for a threesome.

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And they gave him some LSD and
when they got there the bloke one

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<font color="
and made him shit in his own shoe

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and eat it,
whilst the woman one filmed it.

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And that's a side of drug use

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that Paul McCartney doesn't
sing about, isn't it?

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No, I think, luckily, that...

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<font color="
never came his way. Hmm.

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During one LUZZD expedition,
or "trip",

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The Beatles became the first Britons
to discover the existence of colour.

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And like Sir Walter Raleigh and his
potatoes, they took their discovery

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<font color="
on like hot cakes of wildfire.

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Britain went overnight
from grey to groovy.

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Suddenly it was cool
to ignore society

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and just be
whoever you wanted to be,

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as long as you had fashionable hair
<font color="

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like everybody else.

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A pearl mink miniskirt.

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Must be tailor-made for the freeze.

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Were miniskirts actually shorter
or did they just appear that way

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cos people's legs
were getting longer?

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They were actually
<font color="

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And they got shorter
as the '60s went on.

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Was there a miniskirt for men?

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You know like trousers that just
stopped under the balls?

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No, there wasn't. There wasn't
a miniskirt for...for men.

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That seems like a shame.
<font color="

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So they didn't feel left out,
you know.

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And it must be nice to have that
sort of...air circulating.

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But it wasn't just clothes
that were changing.

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The sexual revolution was coming,
<font color="

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Much of the change was due to this -
the pill - a condom you could eat.

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A sort of "Get Out of Child Free"
card, that meant at last

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women could have sex for fun,
with any man of their choosing,

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for two or three minutes,

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<font color="
and went to sleep.

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Some women were having so much sex
they decided to burn their bras

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cos it was quicker than putting them
on and taking them off all the time.

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Free love was all the rage.

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Thanks to the pill,
<font color="

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And its back.

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And over the table.

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People let it all hang out,

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like your dad doing the gardening
in loose shorts.

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And the law was catching up
with the times.

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For years, homosexuality was illegal

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<font color="
where, as punishment, they'd have to

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share a tiny room with a man,
for years.

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But in the '60s, same-sex sex
was decriminalized.

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It was a time of liberation.

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Soon everyone in Britain
was swinging.

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<font color="
hanging had just been abolished.

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For the first time ever, Britain
was cool, not just the weather.

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Britain even decided
to be cool at sport.

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England, the posh bit of Britain,

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brought back memories of the war
<font color="

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This time they bounced a ball into a
net, rather than a bomb into a dam,

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killing far fewer civilians and
coining the infamous phrase

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"They think it's all over,
presented by Nick Hancock."

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Things were really looking up.

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<font color="
couldn't last forever,

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and almost as quickly as the '60s
had arrived, they were over,

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give or take ten years. And now
it was the 1970s turn to happen.

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The 1970s was a time of great change

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and the first change
<font color="

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Britain had a new Prime Minister,
Edward Heath.

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With his love of yachts,
classical music and church organs,

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Edward Heath seemed to be
a real man of the people.

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But Heath soon found himself
facing a financial crisis,

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<font color="
sees about every ten years or so.

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Thanks to inflation,
prices were getting bigger,

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while wages were getting smaller.

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The country was in chaos.

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Britain was said to have
"the British disease".

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<font color="

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Apart from not to be Britain
any more.

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Which is why Ted Heath insisted
we should became part of Europe.

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Soon Britain entered
the European Common Market,

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in what should have been
called Brentrance, but wasn't.

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<font color="
we held a referendum to check

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whether Britain should
stay in Europe...

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Yes is now at 67%
and the no vote at 33%.

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..and it turned out everybody
was happy with the idea,

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as a majority secretly are today
<font color="

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But things were still rubbish.

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There was rising unemployment,
widespread industrial action

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and an energy crisis,
which meant for the first time

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people had to justify how much
electricity they were using.

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<font color="
one bar of an electric fire

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was heating a defiant
old-age pensioner.

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If we don't need two bars on,
well, we don't have two bars on.

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If we need two bars on
we put two bars on!

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It's like... It's not...
<font color="

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So if the weather suddenly turns
very cold again you're probably

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going to have to put the other bar
on, are you?

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I'll put the other bar on and a
reflector. I'll have the lot on.

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Soon power cuts became all the rage.

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<font color="
out at a moment's notice,

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plunging everyone into darkness,
there was no point dressing nicely.

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And as a result the world of fashion
decided to simply give up.

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Every item of clothing
in the world went off overnight.

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<font color="
which caught Dutch elm disease

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and became horribly disfigured.

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Even the air and the sky started to
look dingy and awful,

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and like it was all filmed
underwater.

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To cap it all, in Northern Ireland,
<font color="

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but so as not to scare anyone,
they didn't call it a civil war,

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they just called it The Troubles,
like it was a tummy bug
or something.

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People were angry and all that
pent-up fury had to go somewhere.

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<font color="
explosion known as punk.

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Remember you're a Womble

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00:10:17,680 --> 00:10:21,120

Remember you're a Womble

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Remember you're a Womble

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<font color="
Remember you're a Womble

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a Womble Womble Womble you are...

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As you can see from this
searing performance,

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the punks were antisocial,
cynical, and dangerous.

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<font color="
shockinger than the Sex Pistons.

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They had shocking names
like Johnny Bottom and Sid Knickers,

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they wore shocking
home-made clothes,

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<font color="

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hence their famous call to arms -
Handkerchiefs in the UK.

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00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:05,440
But the most shocking thing
they did was swearing on TV,

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00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:09,680
an incident so outrageous that in
the time since it first happened,

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it's only ever been seen again
<font color="

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in music documentaries.

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It's what? Nothing. A rude word.
Next question.

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No, no, what was the rude word?

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Shit.

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Was it really? Good heavens!

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The Sex Pistols were fired,
<font color="

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00:11:28,280 --> 00:11:30,200
What was all that about?

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Well, I think the thing about the
Sex Pistols were that they were...

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They had a lot of impact cos
they got a lot of, you know,

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shock value and sensation
in the papers and on telly.

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<font color="
the movement of punk

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because everybody knew about what
they were up to.

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But I don't understand why
they got fired on the telly?

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Well, they swore.
Oh, right, yeah. OK.

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That was quite shocking back then,
<font color="

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Not now though, really. No.

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Now you'd have to do something much
bigger, wouldn't you? Yeah.

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You'd have to like do a poo on
The One Show or something. Yes.

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<font color="
you might not get fired.

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00:12:03,720 --> 00:12:09,120
What if you then sort of hoike your
trousers up without even wiping?

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But punk wasn't the only sign
the country had gone to the dogs.

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In 1978, literally everyone
went on strike in

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<font color="

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00:12:17,920 --> 00:12:22,520
Even punks went on strike, refusing
to put on their punk uniforms

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and instead dressing
like normal people.

242
00:12:25,280 --> 00:12:28,880
Something had to be done,
so it was decided to start the 1980s

243
00:12:28,880 --> 00:12:33,880
a year early, with the election
<font color="

244
00:12:33,880 --> 00:12:35,280
Margaret Thatcher.

245
00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:37,760
Street name: Mrs.

246
00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:42,920
Her Majesty the Queen has asked me
to form a new administration.

247
00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:45,000
Thatcher's election was a watershed.

248
00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:48,000
It proved that absolutely anyone
could become Prime Minister,

249
00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:51,200
<font color="
and married a millionaire.

250
00:12:51,200 --> 00:12:54,920
As well as a uterus,
Mrs Thatcher had a vision.

251
00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:56,440
An economic vision.

252
00:12:56,440 --> 00:12:58,160
With all coins up it.

253
00:12:58,160 --> 00:13:00,120
She believed in laissez faire
economics -

254
00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:01,840
which is French for something,

255
00:13:01,840 --> 00:13:04,800
<font color="
the "economics" bit.

256
00:13:04,800 --> 00:13:09,680
OK, let's pretend it's the 1980s
and I'm Margaret Thatcher.

257
00:13:09,680 --> 00:13:11,640
This is a political interview.

258
00:13:11,640 --> 00:13:13,000
What would you ask me?

259
00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:17,440
I think I would start by asking,

260
00:13:17,440 --> 00:13:22,160
if this was, erm, the early part

261
00:13:22,160 --> 00:13:23,960
<font color="

262
00:13:23,960 --> 00:13:28,600
erm, why she was setting
interest rates so high,

263
00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:32,400
why she was allowing
the exchange rate to go so high

264
00:13:32,400 --> 00:13:38,680
in a way that was really damaging
British industry and, is,

265
00:13:38,680 --> 00:13:42,840
causing a huge rise in unemployment,

266
00:13:42,840 --> 00:13:48,800
<font color="
causing huge, unnecessary suffering?

267
00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:53,360
You're not expecting me
to answer that, seriously.

268
00:13:53,360 --> 00:13:55,920
Mrs Thatcher had saved the nation
from chaos

269
00:13:55,920 --> 00:13:58,200
with her tough economic policies,

270
00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:02,680
and a grateful nation erupted
<font color="

271
00:14:02,680 --> 00:14:05,680
The sense of jubilation continued
during the royal wedding

272
00:14:05,680 --> 00:14:07,080
of the century.

273
00:14:07,080 --> 00:14:09,000
It was a dream come true,

274
00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:11,840
as the then future and still future
King of England,

275
00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:13,440
the Prince of Charles,

276
00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:15,640
married one of the three people
<font color="

277
00:14:15,640 --> 00:14:19,160
the future Queen of Hearts,
Lady Diana Frank Spencer,

278
00:14:19,160 --> 00:14:22,320
in a wedding just like something
from a fairy tale,

279
00:14:22,320 --> 00:14:26,280
except without a wolf or dwarves
or a beanstalk, or a happy ending.

280
00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:30,000
But while people waved
<font color="

281
00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:33,760
trouble was brewing overseas, at a
faraway corner of foreign Britain

282
00:14:33,760 --> 00:14:36,440
known as the
Isle of Falklands Island.

283
00:14:36,440 --> 00:14:40,120
This island was
invaded by Argentinas,

284
00:14:40,120 --> 00:14:42,880
who'd mistaken it for an identical
<font color="

285
00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:45,880
in exactly the same place
a few centuries ago.

286
00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:49,640
Mrs Thatcher immediately fought
back by bravely ordering troops

287
00:14:49,640 --> 00:14:51,800
to fight and die on her behalf.

288
00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:53,440
And soon that famous flag,

289
00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:58,760
the Onion Jack, was flying over the
<font color="

290
00:14:58,760 --> 00:15:02,640
Beating the Argentines at war
sealed Mrs Thatcher's reputation

291
00:15:02,640 --> 00:15:06,680
as a tough guy so much that people
started to call her the Iron Lady.

292
00:15:06,680 --> 00:15:09,720
And she soon got another chance
to prove just how hard she was,

293
00:15:09,720 --> 00:15:12,880
not in a major war
<font color="

294
00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:16,440
During Mrs Thatcher's reign there
was the Minor's Strike,

295
00:15:16,440 --> 00:15:17,680
wasn't there? Yeah, yeah.

296
00:15:17,680 --> 00:15:20,160
Why was it considered minor?

297
00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:22,560
It wasn't considered minor.

298
00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:25,400
It was a strike by miners.

299
00:15:25,400 --> 00:15:28,920
People who go, you know,
<font color="

300
00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:30,920
Right. What's a mine?

301
00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:34,080
So a mine is the
underground construction

302
00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:36,000
where you dig out the coal.

303
00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:38,360
Right. What's coal?

304
00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:43,600
So, coal is this black, er,
rock that you burn.

305
00:15:43,600 --> 00:15:45,040
Right.

306
00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:47,720
<font color="
And that's underground.

307
00:15:47,720 --> 00:15:51,080
So the min-ers go in the mine...
They do.

308
00:15:51,080 --> 00:15:53,120
..and they get the coal.
And they get the coal.

309
00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:55,440
And then they went on strike.
Yeah.

310
00:15:55,440 --> 00:15:58,640
The miners' struck their strike
<font color="

311
00:15:58,640 --> 00:16:00,280
Arthur Scarface.

312
00:16:00,280 --> 00:16:02,400
If we've got to suffer,

313
00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:05,280
through November and December
we'll beat this...

314
00:16:05,280 --> 00:16:07,760
CHEERING

315
00:16:07,760 --> 00:16:12,640
Thatcher refused to back down
and soon the two sides were at war.

316
00:16:12,640 --> 00:16:13,720
A class war.

317
00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:17,160
<font color="
in their smart uniforms,

318
00:16:17,160 --> 00:16:20,040
and the poor dirty miners
fighting with bits of coal.

319
00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:22,880
It was like something
out of the Russian Revolution.

320
00:16:22,880 --> 00:16:24,520
Except it was happening here.

321
00:16:24,520 --> 00:16:25,680
In Britain.

322
00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:27,040
Somewhere near you.

323
00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:28,800
<font color="

324
00:16:28,800 --> 00:16:30,280
The miners' strike,

325
00:16:30,280 --> 00:16:33,120
perhaps the most bitter dispute
Britain had seen in years,

326
00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:36,840
tore generations apart,
before ending in 1985 -

327
00:16:36,840 --> 00:16:40,160
one whole year before
the terrestrial broadcast premiere

328
00:16:40,160 --> 00:16:42,960
<font color="

329
00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:56,400


330
00:16:56,400 --> 00:16:58,880


331
00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:04,480


332
00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:08,040


333
00:17:08,040 --> 00:17:10,880


334
00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:15,720
With the miners crushed,
like miners in a bad mine,

335
00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:18,640
Thatcher was free to pursue
<font color="

336
00:17:18,640 --> 00:17:21,800
by privatizing some of Britain's
biggest assets.

337
00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:24,960
Thanks to the big sell off,
anyone could get rich,

338
00:17:24,960 --> 00:17:27,800
providing they had loads of spare
money already -

339
00:17:27,800 --> 00:17:30,320
a system still in use to this day.

340
00:17:30,320 --> 00:17:32,560
Suddenly having money was cool

341
00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:37,240
<font color="
yuppies, or Young Urban Twats.

342
00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:42,040
To be a 1980s yuppie, did you have
to qualify as a wanker first

343
00:17:42,040 --> 00:17:43,800
and then just work your way up?

344
00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:47,880
Eh...I think some people identified
as yuppies but it was also,

345
00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:52,360
I think, used as an insult
<font color="

346
00:17:52,360 --> 00:17:58,600
I've seen footage of yuppies holding
Filofaxes and mobile phones.

347
00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:04,400
Er, are they still in that footage
or where are they now?

348
00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:07,120
Er, where are they now?

349
00:18:07,120 --> 00:18:11,240
Well, they're sort of 30 years
older now so...

350
00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:13,440
So they're not in that
<font color="

351
00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:16,320
Well, that footage is historical
so...

352
00:18:16,320 --> 00:18:20,760
So if you look back at that footage
it'll just be empty? No...

353
00:18:20,760 --> 00:18:22,800
Cos that person has now left.

354
00:18:22,800 --> 00:18:26,360
No, the footage is...is....is
a recording of what happened

355
00:18:26,360 --> 00:18:27,840
<font color="

356
00:18:27,840 --> 00:18:30,360
So the footage stays the same
but those people,

357
00:18:30,360 --> 00:18:32,840
we don't know what's
happened to them.

358
00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:36,560
But what... What of their Filofaxes?
What happened to them?

359
00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:39,560
It seemed like a golden
age of twattery.

360
00:18:39,560 --> 00:18:44,440
<font color="
forever and as the 1990s approached

361
00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:49,040
she got too ambitious, by unveiling
the controversial Paul Tax.

362
00:18:49,040 --> 00:18:51,320
A tax on people called Paul.

363
00:18:51,320 --> 00:18:53,560
And they were furious.

364
00:18:53,560 --> 00:18:56,160
Following a wave of protests,

365
00:18:56,160 --> 00:18:59,240
Thatcher wound up on her Iron Arse,
<font color="

366
00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:03,920
tears down her face, which she'd
never done before in case it rusted.

367
00:19:06,720 --> 00:19:10,600
The next Prime Minister, Major John,
was as fearsome as he looked,

368
00:19:10,600 --> 00:19:14,480
and he presided over yet another
depressing period of recession.

369
00:19:16,440 --> 00:19:19,080
Britain was in a right state,
<font color="

370
00:19:19,080 --> 00:19:22,320
but also economically,
and in money terms, too.

371
00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:26,680
The only hope was that we could
somehow paint and sing our way out.

372
00:19:26,680 --> 00:19:29,200
It was an art
and culture renaissance.

373
00:19:29,200 --> 00:19:33,400
An era defined by Oasis,
The Spice Girls, Swede,

374
00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:38,120
<font color="
Damien Hurts, The Proddy Guy,

375
00:19:38,120 --> 00:19:43,720
Trainspotting, Chris Evans,
Mr Blobby, Jamie Oliver, mopeds,

376
00:19:43,720 --> 00:19:46,240
ironic wanking, The Italian Job,

377
00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:49,520
Chris Evans, Chris Evans,
and Chris Evans.

378
00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:54,440
But one name sums up the nineties
<font color="

379
00:19:54,440 --> 00:19:56,280
In the 1997 election,

380
00:19:56,280 --> 00:20:00,720
why do you think more people
voted for Tony Blur than Oasis?

381
00:20:02,040 --> 00:20:06,040
You're making, erm, a mistake which
was quite common at the time

382
00:20:06,040 --> 00:20:08,480
because the Prime Minister,
or Labour Party leader

383
00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:11,280
<font color="

384
00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:13,120
Blur.
Blair.

385
00:20:13,120 --> 00:20:15,120
Blur. Blair. Blur.

386
00:20:16,680 --> 00:20:18,080
Blair. Blur.

387
00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:20,320
Tony Blair was....
Blur. Blair. Blur.

388
00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:25,360
<font color="
the Labour Party and there was one

389
00:20:25,360 --> 00:20:29,200
of the biggest, erm, rock or pop
bands of the time was Blur.

390
00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:31,080
Blur. Blur.

391
00:20:31,080 --> 00:20:32,160
Yeah.

392
00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:33,680
It's hard to remember today,

393
00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:36,760
but Blur and Blair were actually
<font color="

394
00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:41,400
Blur were a rock band locked
into a notorious rivalry with Oasis.

395
00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:44,160
Oasis were rough-and-tumble
lads from Manchester,

396
00:20:44,160 --> 00:20:47,720
whereas Blur were from art school,
which is the opposite of Manchester.

397
00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:50,160
And that's why
<font color="

398
00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:53,640
Tony Blur, meanwhile,
was a guitarist and D:ream fan,

399
00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:57,600
who reinvented the Labour Party and
rode it to victory at the election.

400
00:20:57,600 --> 00:20:59,720
Blur hosted a party at Number Ten,

401
00:20:59,720 --> 00:21:02,480
inviting lots of the Cool Britannia
crowd

402
00:21:02,480 --> 00:21:05,360
<font color="
much less cool.

403
00:21:05,360 --> 00:21:08,040
Anyone who was anyone who was
a massive prick was there.

404
00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:11,800
But the party atmosphere
was interrupted by tragedy.

405
00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:15,560
Diana's death couldn't have come at
a worse time for a nation

406
00:21:15,560 --> 00:21:18,920
<font color="
judgmental about her sex life.

407
00:21:18,920 --> 00:21:21,760
The sense of loss was shocking.

408
00:21:21,760 --> 00:21:24,720
It's hard to convey the atmosphere
to younger viewers,

409
00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:27,720
although it's fair to say
the general mood was...

410
00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:29,760
And also...

411
00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:32,520
<font color="
yet been invented,

412
00:21:32,520 --> 00:21:34,080
people had to cry with their faces.

413
00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:38,560
Millions looked to the Queen to pull
a ceremonial sad face in solidarity.

414
00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:40,880
But with the monarch
constitutionally forbidden

415
00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:44,520
to express emotion, their pleas
<font color="

416
00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:47,800
Tony Blur stepped in to say
what needed to be said.

417
00:21:47,800 --> 00:21:50,000
He called Diana
"the Peebles Princes."

418
00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:51,880
"She was the People's Princess."

419
00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:54,720
Even though she wasn't from Peebles,
she was from Norfolk,

420
00:21:54,720 --> 00:21:58,560
<font color="
important as how something sounds.

421
00:21:58,560 --> 00:22:02,040
It was the first step on a post-pop
career that turned the

422
00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:07,400
Prime Minister into a living saint,
like Bono, or Holly Willoughby.

423
00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:10,720
Through the '90s, Blur solved
all the nation's problems -

424
00:22:10,720 --> 00:22:14,280
<font color="
education, education,

425
00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:17,320
even the Irish Troubles -
there was nothing he couldn't do.

426
00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:20,120
But no sooner had the 21st century
started happening,

427
00:22:20,120 --> 00:22:23,080
than Blur dragged
Britain into the war on terror.

428
00:22:23,080 --> 00:22:25,360
<font color="
about as popular

429
00:22:25,360 --> 00:22:27,480
as infanticide-flavoured crisps.

430
00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:31,080
And Blair's legacy was well
and truly shat through a bin bag.

431
00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:34,040
Blur slinked off to
live inside a haunted mirror,

432
00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:36,360
leaving Number 10 under
the stewardship of a man

433
00:22:36,360 --> 00:22:40,000
<font color="
of a haunted cave in Poland -

434
00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:41,240
Gorgon Brown.

435
00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:44,440
Gorgon Brown knew mainly about
coins, but that wouldn't help him

436
00:22:44,440 --> 00:22:47,280
cos all the coins were about
to implode

437
00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:50,600
in a financial crisis
which would become known as

438
00:22:50,600 --> 00:22:53,080
<font color="

439
00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:57,040
People queued outside banks
in scenes of boring desperation.

440
00:22:57,040 --> 00:23:00,880
The world of money was broken
and no-one knew how to fix it.

441
00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:04,200
Today stock markets across the world
tumbled, imploded,

442
00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:07,200
continued to collapse like deflated
<font color="

443
00:23:07,200 --> 00:23:09,800
People say the financial
crisis happened

444
00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:14,960
because it just got too complicated
and it's all because of the maths.

445
00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:18,680
If we took maths out of the equation
it'd be much easier.

446
00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:22,600
Couldn't we use something else
instead of numbers?

447
00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:27,600
<font color="
you're right, in a way.

448
00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:31,840
That there is too much
maths in the way that people

449
00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:33,680
think about the economy.

450
00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:38,560
One of the things that occasionally
goes wrong is that economists

451
00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:43,400
think that they can build...

452
00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:45,880
<font color="
A Woman by Shania Twain

453
00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:48,360


454
00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:52,320
Sorry about that.

455
00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:55,360
After Gorgon Brown stuck
a plaster on the economy and left,

456
00:23:55,360 --> 00:23:57,640
the country needed a strong leader,

457
00:23:57,640 --> 00:24:01,800
and luckily one man stepped up
<font color="

458
00:24:01,800 --> 00:24:04,200
The finest Prime Minister
Britain has ever had.

459
00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:06,760
A man whose name will never
be forgotten.

460
00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:08,720
Davis Cameron.

461
00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:12,120
Davis Cameron skilfully almost won
the 2010 election,

462
00:24:12,120 --> 00:24:15,160
and formed a Brokeback Mountain
<font color="

463
00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:18,000
with the equally visionary
and beloved Nick Clegg.

464
00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:20,520
Almost immediately,
Britain's problems,

465
00:24:20,520 --> 00:24:23,640
apart from the economy and social
injustice and all the other ones,

466
00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:27,760
were solved, and by 2011
everything was going swimmingly.

467
00:24:27,760 --> 00:24:30,960
<font color="
form of Kate Middleton,

468
00:24:30,960 --> 00:24:32,560
who married King William

469
00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:35,040
in a high definition reboot
of the Royal Wedding.

470
00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:37,560
By the time the Olympics
came to Britain

471
00:24:37,560 --> 00:24:40,400
the country was riding the crest
of a wave.

472
00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:43,640
<font color="
anything if we put our mind to it,

473
00:24:43,640 --> 00:24:47,560
even stop moaning.
It was a great time to be British.

474
00:24:47,560 --> 00:24:49,520
Unless you were Scottish.

475
00:24:49,520 --> 00:24:52,880
Scotland wasn't sure it wanted
to be British any more

476
00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:54,960
and thought being Scottish
<font color="

477
00:24:54,960 --> 00:24:59,520
Delegates, it's game on
for Scotland.

478
00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:03,240
It's funny - why do Scottish
people hate the English

479
00:25:03,240 --> 00:25:09,600
when the English have absolutely no
feelings at all about the Scots?

480
00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:14,920
I suppose it's a bit like a...
a marriage...

481
00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:16,920
<font color="

482
00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:20,240
Er, it's, you know,
it's as though Scotland

483
00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:22,320
and England got married
when they were young

484
00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:26,280
and it's constantly under debate
whether they're better off

485
00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:30,040
staying together for the sake
of the pension and the house

486
00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:33,560
<font color="

487
00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:35,600
Do you think England snores?

488
00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:39,880
England looks to me like the kind of
person that snores. Mm.

489
00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:42,400
The Scots held something called
a referendum

490
00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:45,120
which is a way of asking the public
what they want to happen,

491
00:25:45,120 --> 00:25:49,040
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seriously, unlike in an election.

492
00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:51,920
In the end, Scotland voted to stay
attached to England

493
00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:54,840
using a system of fields and roads,
as before.

494
00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:58,000
But the referendum had been such
a hit that Davis Cameron

495
00:25:58,000 --> 00:25:59,920
<font color="

496
00:25:59,920 --> 00:26:04,240
But this referendum would be
about a different country: Europe.

497
00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:06,000
And I will go to Parliament

498
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:10,440
and propose that the British people
decide our future in Europe.

499
00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:11,880
It was a simple choice -

500
00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:15,280
should Britain leave things as they
<font color="

501
00:26:15,280 --> 00:26:17,960
or, alternatively,
remain on its own,

502
00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:20,600
and become part of England instead?

503
00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:23,440
One thing's for sure,
Davis Cameron's referendum

504
00:26:23,440 --> 00:26:26,800
would stop anyone arguing about
Europe ever again.

505
00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:30,840
When the sun rose on
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506
00:26:30,840 --> 00:26:33,120
with it came the news that
Britain had voted Out.

507
00:26:33,120 --> 00:26:36,840
Brexit was happening,
and everyone was delighted.

508
00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:38,960
That is now statistically,

509
00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:43,120
mathematically there,
that the Leave campaign have won.

510
00:26:43,120 --> 00:26:45,520
The Brexit result
<font color="

511
00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:47,600
Suddenly Davis Cameron was out,

512
00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:51,520
Theresa May was in and Jeremy Corbyn
was sexually attractive.

513
00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:54,920
The future of Britain is now more
uncertain than at any point

514
00:26:54,920 --> 00:26:57,920
in the past, which is the opposite
of its future.

515
00:26:57,920 --> 00:27:03,360
<font color="
important moment in history,

516
00:27:03,360 --> 00:27:06,000
or a significant one?

517
00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:09,040
Erm...I'd say really important.

518
00:27:09,040 --> 00:27:11,360
Not significant?
Both.

519
00:27:11,360 --> 00:27:14,840
What if you had to choose one?
Important. Not significant?

520
00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:17,680
<font color="
mean it's... They can be both.

521
00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:21,240
They can be important
and significant. Not in this.

522
00:27:21,240 --> 00:27:23,640
OK.
You have to choose one.

523
00:27:23,640 --> 00:27:25,840
If I'm going to choose one...
Yeah.

524
00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:29,080
..I'll chose important.
<font color="

525
00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:35,120
Throughout this series
I've charted the story of Britain,

526
00:27:35,120 --> 00:27:37,120
and it's a story that ends here,

527
00:27:37,120 --> 00:27:40,080
with the country once again
at a turning point

528
00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:42,080
between a rock and a harder rock,

529
00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:45,920
closing one door with a foot
<font color="

530
00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:49,040
with an eye to the future, an eye
that's looking at itself in

531
00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:54,480
the mirror and asking the question,
"What sort of massive country am I?"

532
00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:58,120
Can the nation that withstood
Romans, Vikings, plagues,

533
00:27:58,120 --> 00:28:01,280
Great Fires, Rippers
<font color="

534
00:28:01,280 --> 00:28:05,680
Will it draw upon the spirit of King
Arthur, Lord Nelson, Queen Victoria,

535
00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:07,800
Charles Darwin and Andy Crane?

536
00:28:07,800 --> 00:28:11,080
Who will the Britain of tomorrow
look like? And why?

537
00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:14,080
Britain didn't get to have a long
history by ceasing to exist

538
00:28:14,080 --> 00:28:16,320
<font color="

539
00:28:16,320 --> 00:28:19,760
The one thing we can be sure of is
that Britain is Britain.

540
00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:21,960
And it'll stay that way forever.

541
00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:23,440
Until it's not.