Asif Kapadia to Direct Final ‘70 Up’ Episode
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- Asif Kapadia will direct the final “70 Up” episode of the ITV documentary series, slated to air this year.
- The Up series, which began in 1964, was voted the most influential UK TV show of the past 50 years in 2024.
- Michael Apted died in 2021; his longtime director role is now taken over by Asif Kapadia, noted for documentaries on Amy Winehouse, Ayrton Senna and Diego Maradona.
- Jo Clinton‑Davis, ITV’s controller of factual and commissioner of 70 Up, called the series a landmark piece of filmmaking and said the final installment is a tribute to Apted.
- Tim Hewat created the original concept as a one‑off snapshot of the British class system, based on the Jesuit saying “Give me the child until he is seven and I will show you the man.”
- Neil Hughes, one of the original fourteen seven‑year‑olds, has been followed from his childhood astronaut dream through periods of depression, homelessness and eventually becoming a lay preacher and Liberal Democrat councillor.
- The series has seen two participants die (Lynn Johnson in 2013, Nick Hitchon in 2023) and only one (Charles Furneaux) request to end the experiment early.
Why it matters: ITV secures the closure of its culturally iconic Up series with Asif Kapadia at the helm, delivering a final episode that both honors the late Michael Apted and fulfills the long‑standing promise to the original participants, while preserving a landmark documentary legacy for British television.
