Electric Dreams: A Family Taken Back In Time - BBC Four

[Tommywommy71]

i loved the program..brought back so many memories

[jkk45]

GARY NUMAN!

[derekthesec]

I used to ride a Chopper Bike as a child and adult.

[Kell1295]

I LOVE IT!!! I want that wall paper! Just let me keep my laptop, cell phone and flat screen tv.

<3

[thaichubby101]

one of the great education reality show

[lvpdesign]

What song is playing?

[andrewbarrett42]

His freinds electric,Gary Numan.

[andrewbarrett42]

and there isn,t nothing wrong with it,better than todays crap.

[Thetechguy2000]

@lvpdesign Gary Numan - Are friends Electric

[Greenstead]

A factual programme has to be factual not farcical. It did not meet many others expectations either. The prop companies are able to supply fully funtional and working props. My uncle as an electrician

working on tv programmes and programmes has to set up and test electrical apparatus being used!

[Greenstead]

My parents were not well off but we had central heating in 1965 (coal fired). We had our first automatic washing machine in 1965. We had a freezer in 1968. We had our first colour television in 1969. The 1970s house would have already had a colour television in 1970 has by that year they were standard. We also had one of the first microwave ovens in the 1970s. The 1970s house should of aleady had these things too. The 1980s house had things that we had already got years before!

[safiagirl]

wow thx goodness i was born in 1996 not the 60s

[tiadaid]

you may laugh now, but soon your kids are gonna take a look at this decade and laugh...:D

[safiagirl]

ok...... old person ha ha no way it alway going to be like this nothing is going to change belive me .

[Windows98User1]

@tiadaid new stuff sucks

[divinedsteel2008]

@Windows98User1 You're the one who suck here. Let us use the ''CRAPY'' stuff and play with your old toys ..

[Windows98User1]

@divinedsteel2008 GO DIE!! new stuff is for scrap!!

[Windows98User1]

@safiagirl 2000's sucks

80's and 90's forever

[Greenstead]

A lot of errors in the programme. A lot of the technoloogy they attributed to the 1980were in fact from earlier ie the 1970s and some of the things in the 1970s house were from the 1960s and earlier.

[UncleFeedle]

Although some gadgets had been around for a while, many of them didn't actually start to appear in UK homes until some years afterwards, largely because of cost. Although the Walkman was introduced in 1979, I didn't see a real one until 1983. Similarly, most hi-fi's in the early 80's tended to be holdovers from the late 70's, as state of the art gear was out of reach of most people. In this regard, I think the programme was quite realistic in showing what a typical home of each era looked like.

[Greenstead]

The programme was not all realistic as there were several errors. It was not just some of the technology that was not in the right period. The cars and some of the household applances were also incorrect. The hi fi we had in the 1970s was a 1970s music centre very much like the one that was shown in the 1980s house. Our 1980s music centre was more modern. I was born in 1959 so lived through thoise periods. I contacted the BBC and they admited there had been mistakes made!

[UncleFeedle]

If the aim was to show new inventions in the home the same year they were introduced, I agree they made some errors there. However, I think showing gadgets that had actually been introduced several years previously makes it more plausible. Since hardly anyone could afford the latest gear as soon as it came out, adoption of new technology lagged behind. I remember shiny silver 1970's music centres being used well into the 80's. What is shown in the programme is very close indeed to what I recall.

[Greenstead]

It was not plausible at all as they had items in the 1970s house that were from a much earlier time or later eg the 1957 Hoovermatic twin tub washing machine.

The 1978 Hoover Ranger Senior cleaner when the year was suppoosed to be 1970. T

[UncleFeedle]

I agree that showing appliances which had not yet been invented would be an error, however, I see nothing unusual in a home having items that had been introduced years before (I have a 1995 model washing machine). In any case, I don't see a need for total accuracy eg in the 70's era, show a 70's vacuum cleaner. Otherwise, they'd have been dropping new gadgets off at the house dozens of times a day, all of which they'd have to source and make functional. It wouldn't be practical to do all that.

[Greenstead]

The programme was designed to show the family living with technology from the three decades they were portraying not from years before. Each day represented one year from that decade. so they would have been getting new technology all the time. Both the man and the woman were working so they could of afforded to buy new tehnology when it came out. The programme was not portraying eras but specific years.

[UncleFeedle]

As I said, to show every single year with items that were introduced that year with 100% accuracy is probably not possible. As you say, it would mean them "getting new technology all the time". The technical support team would have been run off their feet every day, constantly trying to locate specific models of obsolete appliances, get them working, and deliver them to the house. It would be prohibitively difficult and expensive to do that, and just not practical from a production standpoint.

[Greenstead]

Yes it is possible. My father was in the electrical trade for several years, I got to see and use a lot of different items and of course we owned several ourselves through thsoe threee decades. With my knowledge

[Greenstead]

With my knowldege I could of easily sorced the correct products. It would not expensive fro the BBC to buy the necessary products. My uncle works in television and flms and said that they spend thousands of pounds on props. The programme did not do what it set out to do.

[UncleFeedle]

Unfortunately the budget limits what can be done.I doubt very much anyone could locate thirty years worth of obsolete household appliances appropriate for every individual year. get them all working correctly (and safely) and deliver them daily without great difficulty, time and expense. Then there are production costs - each home makeover alone would have cost tens of thousands of pounds. They obviously did the best with what they had. I think the programme delivered brilliantly.

[Greenstead]

Well you are in very small minority. The programme was very cheaply produced hence the errors. Virtually every item the production company needed can be found on  ebay, that is where they got most of the items from! Alternatively all the items needed could have been hired from one of the several prop companies in the UK. The programme was a complete failure as they did not achieve what they had intended to do.

[UncleFeedle]

Those are not props - they are working household appliances. There are major health & safety issues to consider, with all their dodgy wiring and overheating problems, all being handed over to a family with young children, intended for daily use. I think it pedantic to condemn the programme as a complete failure because you feel it does not meet your standards of perfection.

[IntellectualAmy]

Hey, the Chopper bike - I had one...yay!

[Sipie007]

I saw the 80s one lastnight and even though it was good I felt that it missed out on alot of the technological advances of the late 80s. They seemed to spend alot of time on 80 - 85 but seemed to rush through the last 5 years. For example they didnt show how home computers advanced in the latter part of the 80s.

[SuperMario6412]

I 'm really enjoying this

[Andrewshadowy]

Loved to have taken part in this. Enjoyable programme and technology has changed so much over the years since the 70s!

[pharmicuticalcompany]

whats the music in the background?

[powderfinger71]

Are Friends Electric by Gary Numan

[madcapoperator]

This looks so cool!