How We Used to Live

For the song by Saint Etienne, see Sound of Water.

How We Used to Live
StarringSue Jenkins
Jane Hazlegrove
Peter Howitt
Diana Davies
Puneet Sira many others
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
Production
Running timec.20 mins
Original release
NetworkYorkshire Television
Release1968 (1968) –
2002 (2002)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

How We Used to Live was a long-running British educational history television series, produced for most of its run by Yorkshire Television. The series, encompassing drama and documentary, remained in sporadic production from 1968 to 2002, airing on ITV and Channel 4.

Written by Freda Kelsall, the series traced the lives and fortunes of various fictional Yorkshire families from the Victorian era until the early 1970s, in and around the fictional town of Bradley, using self-contained short dramas interspersed with archive footage.

How We Used to Live Episodes
Series 1: Late Victorians
Original air date: autumn 1968, spring 1969 & summer 1969 (the final three episodes added to the series in spring & summer 1973)

  1. The Big House
  2. The Small House
  3. House in the Middle
  4. The Parlour
  5. The Bedroom
  6. Kitchen
  7. What's Cooking?
  8. Spick and Span
  9. Lighting the Lamp
  10. Festive Season
  11. Keeping Warm
  12. Keeping in Touch
  13. Evenings at Home
  14. When We Were Ill
  15. Shopping
  16. Growing Up at Home
  17. Going to School
  18. On the Road
  19. Travelling by Train
  20. Sunday - the Day of Rest
  21. In the Country
  22. In the Garden
  23. Sport
  24. Clothes and Occasions
  25. At the Seaside
  26. Summing Up
  27. In the Street
  28. Children and the Law
  29. On the Farm

How We Used to Live Episodes
Series 2: 1908–1945
Original air date: autumn 1975 & spring 1976

  1. 1908: Moving Day
  2. 1908: Hard at Work
  3. 1909: Still at School
  4. 1909: A Home for Grandma
  5. 1910: An Evening Out
  6. 1910: Jane's First Job
  7. 1911: A Day in the Country
  8. 1913: Vote for Mum
  9. 1915: Going for a Soldier
  10. 1917-18: Armistice
  11. 1925: On the Air
  12. 1926: On Strike
  13. 1928: On the Mains
  14. 1931: On the Dole
  15. 1932: All at Sea
  16. 1939: Blackout
  17. 1940: Invasion
  18. 1940: Blitz
  19. 1943: In Short Supply
  20. 1945: Victory

How We Used to Live Episodes
Series 3: 1874–1887
Original air date: autumn 1978 & spring 1979

  1. 1874: New Arrivals
  2. 1874: Too Old for Nanny
  3. 1875: Too Young for the Mill
  4. 1876: Never too late to Learn
  5. 1876: Daily Round
  6. 1877: Evening Hours
  7. 1878: The Pledge
  8. 1879: Mud Lane
  9. 1880: Polling Day
  10. 1880: Christmas
  11. 1881: Remember the Sabbath
  12. 1882: On the Parish
  13. 1882: The Spa
  14. 1883: Fit for a Lady
  15. 1884: Ideas Unlimited
  16. 1885: Let the Punishment fit the Crime
  17. 1885: Green and Pleasant Land
  18. 1886: God Bless the Squire
  19. 1887: Proposals
  20. 1887: Wedding Bells

How We Used to Live Episodes
Series 4: 1936–1953
Original air date: autumn 1981 & spring 1982

  1. 1936: Head of the Family
  2. 1937: Counting the Cost
  3. 1938: Holiday With Pay
  4. 1939: Hospital Case
  5. 1939: Goodnight Children Everywhere
  6. 1940: Home from Home
  7. 1942: Stars and Stripes
  8. 1943: Make Do and Mend
  9. 1943: Take a Man's Place
  10. 1944: Peace on Earth
  11. 1945: Let us Face the Future
  12. 1946: Full Supporting Programme
  13. 1947: Cold Comfort
  14. 1947: A New Look
  15. 1948: Full Steam Ahead
  16. 1948: On the National Health
  17. 1949: On the Move
  18. 1951: A Tonic for the Nation
  19. 1952: We Have Travelled a Hard Road
  20. 1953: Your Undoubted Queen

How We Used to Live Episodes
Series 5: 1902–1926
Original air date: autumn 1984 & spring 1985

  1. 1902: Home from the War
  2. 1903: Chapel on Sunday
  3. 1905: Bank Holiday
  4. 1906: Vote for Change
  5. 1909: The People's Budget
  6. 1910: Out of Work
  7. 1911: In the Country
  8. 1912: The Children's Charter
  9. 1913: The Right to Vote
  10. 1914: Over by Christmas
  11. 1916: Called Up
  12. 1917: The Right to Serve
  13. 1918: The Need to Share
  14. 1919: Epidemic
  15. 1920: Hill Climb
  16. 1921: Roof Fall
  17. 1922: The Electric Light
  18. 1924: The Cat's Whisker
  19. 1925: The Roaring Twenties
  20. 1926: The General Strike

How We Used to Live Episodes
Series 6: 1954–1970
Original air date: autumn 1987 & spring 1988

  1. 1954: Land of Plenty
  2. 1955: Home Before Nine
  3. 1956: Keeping Britain Great
  4. 1957: Commercial Breaks
  5. 1958: Easter Holiday
  6. 1959: Separate Schools
  7. 1960: Women's Wrongs
  8. 1961: Rising High
  9. 1962: Strangers on the Shore
  10. 1963: Our Kind of Music
  11. 1964: Mini on the Motorway
  12. 1965: Last Train from Mill Road
  13. 1966: Amazing Reductions
  14. 1966: Eyes Down at the Roxy
  15. 1967: Flower Power
  16. 1967: The Big Clean Up
  17. 1968: No Fun Being Old
  18. 1969: On the Moon
  19. 1969: Twin Towns
  20. 1970: Coming of Age

How We Used to Live Episodes
Series 7: Victorians: Early and Late
Original air date: autumn 1990

  1. A Time of Change
  2. Family Cares
  3. Proper Jobs
  4. Fatal Mixture
  5. Rights And Wrongs
  6. Half A Century On
  7. A Model Village
  8. The Hidden Tenth
  9. A Bible and a Rose
  10. Utopia Limited

How We Used to Live Episodes
From Iron Ways to Victorian Days
Original air date: 1996

  1. The Iron Cradle
  2. 1815: Geordie Lads & Cornish Men
  3. 1820–1821: Horses on the Wagon Way
  4. 1823–1825: The Quaker Railway
  5. Great Britons and Local Heroes