大象传媒

Marking the centenary of the 大象传媒, Past Forward uses a random date generator to alight somewhere in the 大象传媒's vast archive over the past 100 years. Presenter Greg Jenner hears an archive clip for the first time at the top of the programme, and explores the changes between then and now.

In this omnibus edition, Greg is presented with five fragments of archive. The first is from 1939 about a dance craze - The Lambeth Walk. Greg turns to Stephen Fry for help in finding out what it was and how it brought happiness to a world in crisis, and talks to choreographer Dannielle 'Rhimes' Lecointe about the freedom of collective dance. A fragment of a 大象传媒 sitcom from 1984, Comrade Dad, sparks a discussion with historian Taylor Downing and author Naomi Alderman about Cold War panic, Thatcher鈥檚 Britain and what fictional dystopias reveal about the concerns of our time. Then Greg hears an interview from 24th December 1945 with people in East London about their plans for Christmas after years of war, and talks to historian Martin Johnes, and Bethnal Green residents Vi Davis, Gloria Lacey and Juliet Middleton at the Sundial Centre about celebrations past and present. A clip of the veteran campaigner Mary Whitehouse from 1982 leads Greg to delve into the history of privacy with historian David Vincent, and ask to what extent private space and intimate relationships can be preserved in the digital age with writer and digital journalist Sophia Smith Galer. Finally, he questions whether a 1962 clip of the government laboratory Porton Down tells the whole story, talking to Guardian journalist Rob Evans and Agnes Arnold-Forster about the medical ethics of the cold war era.