World in Action was Granada Television’s flagship ITV current affairs series, running from 7 Jan 1963 to 7 Dec 1998, and built a reputation for film-led investigative reporting and a forceful editorial stance. Its journalism produced major public and political repercussions—including investigations associated with miscarriages of justice such as the Birmingham Six—and it also served as a platform for landmark documentary projects, including the first broadcast of “Seven Up!” as part of the strand in 1964.
World in Action (Season 5)
Give Us the Works (Episode 1)
Air date: 1968-09-10
Overview: An idea to give workers more say in the running of their company is put to the board of British Steel.
Spies for Hire (Episode 2)
Air date: 1968-09-16
February's Children (Episode 3)
Air date: 1968-09-23
Overview: An investigation into 7 children (expelled from Kenya) who have to live on their own in the UK as their parents cannot join them due to new laws.
Episode 4 (Episode 4)
Air date: 1968-09-30
New Drugs, Same Needle (Episode 5)
Air date: 1968-10-07
Overview: The banning of Methedrine and its implications for the drug taking community.
A Score to Settle (Episode 6)
Air date: 1968-10-14
Overview: Manchester United's allegations of foul play by Argentinian side Estudiantes.
Backs to the Wall (Episode 7)
Air date: 1968-10-21
Overview: A look behind the reasons for the Londonderry Civil Rights demonstrations in the previous weeks.
Special: Vietnam (Episode 8)
Air date: 1968-10-27
A City Stumbles (Episode 9)
Air date: 1968-11-04
Overview: A look at the crisis facing New York City with the decay of the administrative structure.
Nasser's Fortified Ditch (Episode 10)
Air date: 1968-11-11
An Outbreak of Peace? (Episode 11)
Air date: 1968-11-18
Overview: With peace in sight Vietnamese and Americans predict the future for Vietnam.
A Buyer's Market (Episode 12)
Air date: 1968-11-25
Overview: The recent Act of Parliament has increased dramatically the number of abortions but also a two tier system for rich and poor.
The Trail of the Vanishing Voters (Episode 13)
Air date: 1968-12-09
Overview: World in Action tries to trace the overseas voters in Britain who have supposedly voted for The People's National Congress Party in Guyana's election.
The Twenty Four Carat Kingdom (Episode 14)
Air date: 1968-12-16
Overview: A profile of Laos, considered the most unproductive country in the world but rich and financially stable through its passing of opium products and dodgy gold.
First Class Delivery (Episode 15)
Air date: 1968-12-23
Overview: The medical practice of epidural injections to relieve the pain of childbirth and the religious groups who oppose them.
Sorry, Nothing Doing (Episode 16)
Air date: 1968-12-30
Overview: Update on the subjects of three notable previous films in the series, the gypsies of An Outlaw's Life (1968), the large family of The Born Losers (1967), and the elderly ladies of Ward F.13 (1968).
The Making of a Prime Minister (Episode 17)
Air date: 1969-01-06
Next Year in Peking (Episode 18)
Air date: 1969-01-13
All Change at Newry! (Episode 19)
Air date: 1969-01-20
A New School of Thought (Episode 20)
Air date: 1969-01-27
Death of a Student (Episode 21)
Air date: 1969-02-03
Overview: The events in Prague following the suicide and funeral of Jan Palach.
Like Other Men (Episode 22)
Air date: 1969-02-10
Overview: Looking at the priests rebelling in the Dutch Catholic Church over celibacy vows.
Living in the Red (Episode 23)
Air date: 1969-02-17
A War on Ice (Episode 24)
Air date: 1969-02-24
Home for a Revolution (Episode 25)
Air date: 1969-03-03
Where People Don't Matter (Episode 26)
Air date: 1969-03-10
Overview: The fallout from the earthquake in Sicily and the implications that corruption is preventing the decent rehousing of victims.
A Case to Answer (Episode 27)
Air date: 1969-03-17
Overview: Locals complain of police corruption and extortion in Hong Kong.
The Men Left Behind (Episode 28)
Air date: 1969-03-24
The Six Day War - Day 666 (Episode 29)
Air date: 1969-03-31
The Owners and the Owned (Episode 30)
Air date: 1969-04-14
Overview: Investigates slum properties in Notting Hill turning over vast profits for a company based in the Bahamas.
Inside Out (Episode 31)
Air date: 1969-04-21
Overview: A revolutionary new look at how mental patients should be treated, allowing them out into the wider world, and distancing as much as possible from Victorian lunatic asylums.
A modest proposal (Episode 32)
Air date: 1969-05-05
Two Men in Two Tin Huts (Episode 33)
Air date: 1969-05-12
Overview: Shows attempts being made to break up gangs on Glasgow's Easterhouse Estate.
The Leftovers (Episode 34)
Air date: 1969-05-19
Overview: Looks at the treatment of Negroes in Sudan.
