On the Scrap Heap (1985)
World in Action documentary looks at Birkenhead: no work, no prospects, drugs, and life on the dole. [26:26]
Liverpool’s Chinatown (1981)
David Yip looks at the past and present of Liverpool’s Chinese community in this ATV documentary, made in 1981. [24:13]
‘Not a penny on the rents’ (1972)
Several thousand council tenants in Kirkby took part in a rent strike and protest against increases under the Housing Finance Act. [59:47]
Under New Management (1974)
Short clip from a BBC drama documentary about the workers’ takeover of the Fisher Bendix factory. The film version was adapted from a stage production by the Everyman Theatre. [1:00]
Infamous Kirkby ski slope is condemned (1975)
Kirkby’s ski slope was built by the council without planning permission and on land the council didn’t own. BBC Archive [7.22]
Super Swan community festival (1976)
Residents of Old Swan decided to have a community festival – and it was one of the first events to be filmed by the recently-formed Merseyside Visual Communications Unit. North West Film Archive, Manchester Metropolitan University. [25:28]
Merseyside videos
This is a collection of links to videos about Merseyside life in the 1970s and 1980s. Please let us know of any that we have missed.
Runcorn New Town ‘The Leaving of Liverpool’ 1974
Runcorn New Town was intended to provide better living conditions for people moving from Liverpool. This Canadian documentary discusses how it worked out. © Michel Régnier, National Film Board of Canada 1974. [38:04]
Granby Festival: a community celebration (1974)
Festival in the Granby Street area of Toxteth, filmed by David Clapham for Merseyside Visual Communications Unit. Narrator: Pete Dodd. Note: the video switches to the Old Swan festival after nine minutes. [16:08]
Race and Liverpool’s nightlife (1983)
TV report: How racist door policies in city centre nightclubs led to the creation of black-owned clubs in Liverpool 8 (which were then threatened by slum clearance). [6:33]
Voices From The Ghetto (1985)
BBC Panorama report on police-community relations in Toxteth. Includes interviews with Micheal Showers, Delroy Burris and Rashid Mufti and local poet Leroy Cooper, plus Councillor Margaret Simey and Chief Constable Kenneth Oxford. [39:40]
Granby Street, five years on (1986)
Five years after the 1981 riots, has life improved in Toxteth? [20:28]
Toxteth Revisited (1981)
World in Action documentary: Two American experts on community relations visit Toxteth following the riots that they had predicted eight years earlier. [26:18]
Smashing Kids (1975)
John Pilger meets a five-member Liverpool family struggling to live on £30.53 per week. An ATV documentary. [25:29]
Speaking Scouse (1976)
Alan Bleasdale and Melvyn Bragg explore Liverpool accents and expressions. BBC archive. [7:12]
Tomorrow’s Merseysiders (1974)
Film about the Liverpool Daily Post & Echo following their move to a new office and print works in 1973. [23:49]
The history of sound systems
BBC report about two Liverpool brothers, Errol and Patrick Graham, researching the history of sound systems in the black community. [3:47]
Liverpool Community Transport (1973)
A community project acquired and repaired several old coaches, buses and vans – and used them to help older residents and young families go on holiday or move house. BBC Archive. [11:33]
“Together let’s turn the tide / In this great county Merseyside”
A musical TV advert for Merseyside County Council in 1984. The tide did turn, and the County Council was abolished two years later.