Series Histories - Detail
The Pacemakers
- Dates:
- 1969 - 1971
History
The Pacemakers was a series of twenty-six colour magazine programmes produced by the Central Office of Information for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Each programme focused on an individual who in some way was challenging the status quo in their chosen profession or area of interest and creating something new. This could be an object itself, in the case of Sam McGredy's roses, or its application, Eric Laithwaite's vision for the linear motor. New ideas in education and play were discussed by those who were implementing them such as Henry Pluckrose, the headmaster of a primary school in London. Each programme was around 13 minutes and often presented by the subject themselves, as with the actress Glenda Jackson and the pioneering conservationist Bob Boote. The series was distributed to Canada and Australia and replaced London Line (Colour series 2). It was also slightly re-edited and packaged as the series No Two The Same with language tracks in Arabic, French and Latin American Spanish for world-wide distribution.
Provenance
The data for this series was compiled from the following sources: the COI catalogue cards and viewing copies of the films held at BFI Footage Sales and production documents (INF 6) held at The National Archives. The COI synopsis have been taken from the press releases issued at the time.
Where to see the film:
- BFI Archive Footage Sales
- BFI National Archive
