In the final episode, experimental engineer Brendan Walker steps outside the house to discover how the inventions and innovations of the 50s improved our leisure time. He reveals how pesticides and lethal chemicals created in wartime transformed the garden from a muddy 'Dig for Victory' vegetable patch into a multicoloured vision of floral perfection.
Brendan also takes to the road to uncover the simple but brilliant secret that made a British motorcycle the world's first superbike and gave Marlon Brando his defining rebel image.
Celebrities, including Tony Robinson, Maureen Lipman and Tim Rice, recall the impact the car had on family holidays, whilst Brendan tests out the bizarre and dangerous lengths people went to in order to obtain the most coveted of status symbols - a sun tan. And this obsession for sunnier climes eventually led to holidaying Brits making for foreign shores, a goal made easier by the introduction of the de Havilland Comet - the world's first passenger jet and another British invention.
Back at 21 Coronation Close, Brendan holds a garden party for his neighbours to celebrate the scientific leaps that gave Britons their first truly modern decade, and the defining qualities of British ingenuity and lateral thinking. He also finds out how Britain coped with the arrival from America of the tea bag on a string for dunking...
On TV
First Shown
| Date | Time | Channel |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday 28 June 2012 | 9PM | Channel 4 |
Last Shown
| Date | Time | Channel |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday 28 June 2012 | 9PM | Channel 4 |
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