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Semi-detached Suburban

Interesting short documentary exploring the suburban town of Eltham and asking how suburbs develop and why people chose to live there.

Sponsored film 1977 25 mins

From the collection of:

Logo for London's Screen Archives

Overview

Part of a 1986 ILEA series called House And Home, this episode looks at the suburban town of Eltham, examining residents with sympathy but almost anthropological fascination while also looking at traffic, transport and domestic architecture. Talking us through Eltham life are the White family, including Mr White, who works as a policeman in Westminster: “It’s not uncommon to be asked the time when standing under Big Ben. As a kindness we try not to look up at it.”