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Documentary, The Victorian Slum — S01E05
The Victorian Slum
The Victorian Slum is a historical reenactment reality television series produced by Wall to Wall Media for the BBC, first broadcast in 2016.
The series, narrated by Michael Mosley, recreates the harsh living and working conditions of the Victorian poor in London's East End.
A group of 21st-century volunteers move into a meticulously reconstructed Victorian tenement in Bethnal Green, experiencing life from the 1860s through to the 1900s.
The participants live in a setting with sparse rooms, a single outdoor water pump, and outhouses, replicating the squalid conditions of the Old Nichol slum.
They engage in traditional trades such as tailoring, candle-making, wood-turning, and selling goods like flowers, food, and soap to modern Londoners.
The series is structured chronologically, following the slum dwellers through different decades, including the economic boom of the 1860s, the depression of the 1870s, the turbulent 1880s, the recovery of the 1890s, and the social changes of the early 1900s, including the rise of the co-operative movement.
The show aims to provide an immersive experience into the lives of the poor during the Victorian era, highlighting the challenges of poverty, overcrowding, and disease, while also exploring the resilience and community spirit of the time.
It has been aired on BBC Two in the UK, PBS in America, and SBS in Australia
#Documentary #TheVictorianSlum #VictorianSlum
The Victorian Slum
The Victorian Slum is a historical reenactment reality television series produced by Wall to Wall Media for the BBC, first broadcast in 2016.
The series, narrated by Michael Mosley, recreates the harsh living and working conditions of the Victorian poor in London's East End.
A group of 21st-century volunteers move into a meticulously reconstructed Victorian tenement in Bethnal Green, experiencing life from the 1860s through to the 1900s.
The participants live in a setting with sparse rooms, a single outdoor water pump, and outhouses, replicating the squalid conditions of the Old Nichol slum.
They engage in traditional trades such as tailoring, candle-making, wood-turning, and selling goods like flowers, food, and soap to modern Londoners.
The series is structured chronologically, following the slum dwellers through different decades, including the economic boom of the 1860s, the depression of the 1870s, the turbulent 1880s, the recovery of the 1890s, and the social changes of the early 1900s, including the rise of the co-operative movement.
The show aims to provide an immersive experience into the lives of the poor during the Victorian era, highlighting the challenges of poverty, overcrowding, and disease, while also exploring the resilience and community spirit of the time.
It has been aired on BBC Two in the UK, PBS in America, and SBS in Australia
#Documentary #TheVictorianSlum #VictorianSlum
Category
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LearningTranscript
00:00...industrial superpower, and as the country thrived, London, the beating heart of empire, became the world's richest city.
00:09But this was a city divided.
00:11For the first time, geographical lines were drawn between those enjoying the nation's wealth in the west,
00:18and those who weren't in the east.
00:23This is the story of one poor community living in London's East End.
00:30In the heart of modern Stratford, a Victorian slum has been recreated,
00:36and a group of 21st century people are moving in.
00:41Oh, absolutely awful.
00:45I'm just a bit dumbstruck.
00:47To survive, they'll have to work to keep a roof over their heads.
00:52It's absolutely shattering.
00:56And put food on the table.
00:58I'm starving.
00:58This was making me a bit emotional, to be honest.
01:01And they'll learn first-hand what life was like.
01:04You will call me mum.
01:06For those at the bottom of the economic pile.
01:08They were disabled. They couldn't do it. They didn't eat. They didn't eat. They died.
01:12They'll live through five decades of turbulent history.
01:15Look at the newspaper!
01:17And seismic social change.
01:20I am proud to be an East End suffragette.
01:24Proud to the people.
01:24This is the story of how a quarter of a million slum dwellers in the East End changed our attitude to poverty forever.
01:34This is the slum.
01:36Last time, the house went up in the world.
01:46Wow!
01:48Fantastic.
01:49Really good.
01:51This is more my environment.
01:52But not everyone was so lucky.
01:55Our fears would be to lose the room.
01:58It's not the most fantastic place, but it's home.
02:01Poverty became a national issue.
02:04One of the fundamental problems was low wages.
02:06That even if people were working 70 hours a week, they were working for a pittance.
02:11And steps were taken.
02:13How many beds are in here?
02:14Oh, this is awful.
02:17Ha ha.
02:18You shut me down.
02:20But for the residents, this progress is threatening their way of life.
02:23And some improvements had a downside.
02:26So, basically, you've been painting all day to give the landlord an extra 10%.
02:31Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch.
02:37That's burnt me, that does.
02:39It's 1900, and the residents are waking up to their last decade in the slum, at the dawn of the 20th century.
02:46We started off in the 1860s, working in the rag trade.
02:49Then we become a sweater, actually getting immigrants to work for us.
02:53We start our own little shop, and we're doing bespoke work.
02:56The start of the 1900s is a very exciting time.
02:59But not all have seen such progress.
03:02Our position in the slum now has not changed one iota.
03:05We still live on the top floor.
03:07We're still the poorest.
03:10They have lived through four turbulent decades, including the longest oppression in modern times.
03:17Things, however, are about to change.
03:21The Queen's death, though always a contingency, comes as a shock.
03:25The monarchy goes on, yet all the same, we appear to have lost in Victoria,
03:29not only a personage, but almost an institution.
03:32The centuries seem to belong to her.
03:35The loss of Queen Victoria must have felt like the loss of all that she had built up, in a sense.
03:41And it must have been very difficult to imagine Britain being Britain without her.
03:46The British Empire had lost its empress.
03:48It was the end of one era and the beginning of another.
03:50Our residents are no longer Victorian.
03:53They are now Edwardian.
03:56It's a very different portrait, isn't it?
03:58It is.
03:59Queen Victoria's portrait was very austere and simple, and this is very regal.
04:04It looks like he's sort of showing off to the other nations of Europe.
04:06Well, he was a playboy prince, wasn't he?
04:08With the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, Edward VII inherited a nation amazed by scientific advances
04:16that promised dramatic improvements.
04:19But Edwardian Britain was a nation divided.
04:22A super-rich 10% owned 90% of the nation's wealth.
04:26In London alone, around 30% were living in poverty.
04:31Across the nation, millions were going hungry.
04:32But a growth in trade union membership meant radical reform was in the air.
04:38And this belief in people power even affected how people shopped, meaning big changes for the birds.
04:44Oh, look!
04:45It's a cooperative store.
04:47That's neat.
04:47Good.
04:48It looks like it's well-stocked, doesn't it?
04:50Yes.
04:50Cabbage and watercress, milk.
04:53Excellent.
04:54Oh, we've even got opening hours.
04:55Tuesday 9 to 1.
04:57That's our short day, huh?
04:58Closed all day Sunday.
05:00Right, let's see what we've got here.
05:01Oh, my Lord.
05:03Oh, well, we're organised.
05:04Look at this.
05:06It doesn't look much like a slum shop anymore, does it?
05:09No, not at all, actually.
05:10The Cooperative Society was the brainchild of Robert Owen, a successful cotton trader
05:15who believed that business should give back to the community.
05:19His ideas were picked up by a group of Brochdale weavers.
05:23They started the first successful cooperative store by pooling their capital to sell high-quality
05:28cheap produce to fellow workers, who were no longer customers but became cooperative members.
05:35Sweets.
05:36Ah, sweets.
05:39Kids are going to love that.
05:40The co-op was a huge success in the north, but in London, with its transient population
05:45and greater competition, it was harder to gain a foothold.
05:49In the East End, though, the co-op did thrive, with branches offering low joining fees and food
05:55sold in smaller quantities for the very poorest.
05:57Good morning.
06:00The biggest change is probably that the people themselves will have to pay a pound.
06:06They're not allowed to just kind of march in.
06:07They have to join.
06:08They have to join.
06:08They have to join.
06:09Join the co-op.
06:09And they will get a share of the profits.
06:12You're going to be selling things cheaper.
06:14No more cooking.
06:15No more enterprise like that.
06:16You're not going to be offering any tick.
06:18Nothing on the slate.
06:19No.
06:20So everybody actually has to pay up front now.
06:22I felt a lot of pressure in the 1860s and 1870s to provide that credit and be the financial
06:27base of the community.
06:29And the power to make these life and death decisions of who gets credit and who doesn't
06:33is very difficult, particularly as you're getting to know everyone.
06:37I'm glad that we don't have to do that any longer.
06:39The co-operative movement is really taking off across the country, and indeed, you're joining
06:43that merry throng of people.
06:45And this scheme did make a difference.
06:47It was estimated that the combination of dividends and lower prices that membership
06:52of the co-op provided was equivalent to a 10% to 15% wage rise.
06:57While the birds familiarise themselves with their co-op store, next door, Russell has received
07:03a new order.
07:04The 20th century brought in a tighter, more tailored cut that is hard to pull off for Russell
07:08when he has to rely on Edwardian tools.
07:12Well, I think it looks great.
07:15You've had limited time to do it.
07:17Always do better.
07:19Always pushing to make stuff better.
07:20Better than it was done last time.
07:23In the 21st century, Mandy is a working woman.
07:26But the definition of success in 1901 is for women not to work.
07:31She must stand by while it is not her, but her husband, who earns the money.
07:35The wife would have been extremely grateful for what her husband would have done for her
07:41and her family.
07:42I can only imagine how wonderful that must have felt.
07:45She never liked relying on me, do you ever?
07:47Not relying on me, ever.
07:50It kills me that I haven't got my own money.
07:53I can't go out and earn my own money.
07:55Just really, really frustrating.
07:57And you know it, Russell.
07:58You know me sitting here playing a dutiful wife is not my thing.
08:05How are you doing, Mr. H?
08:06You all right?
08:06To make sure his order is good enough to send out, Russell calls in Andy, the slum's rent collector,
08:11so he can check over the new suit on a real human being.
08:17I feel very dapper, to be honest.
08:19Yeah, let's square the back naked a little bit on it.
08:21Working men in the 1800s would have been more hunched over
08:25because they were always manual working and stuff,
08:29and it would have been more round-backed.
08:30Okay.
08:31Whereas the modern-day men are more upright.
08:34I mean, to have a jacket put on that, you know, is fitted like this,
08:37it actually makes you want to stand rather than slouch.
08:39Yeah, it's better now, it's actually someone's in it,
08:42but it always does look better when someone's in it.
08:43Dummies never do stuff justice.
08:46Yeah, it's all right.
08:48Thanks, Mandy.
08:49That's cracking.
08:50Cheerios.
08:50See you later.
08:51Bye.
08:51Cheers, bye.
08:53She can't make her own money,
08:55but Mandy still has plenty to spend in the bird shop.
08:59Marvellous.
08:59So, we need quite a bit, actually,
09:01because we don't really have very much.
09:03Well, if you join the co-operative,
09:04every pound you spend in here...
09:06Yep.
09:06...you get a token for a percentage of that,
09:08and every quarter, you get interest on it.
09:11And all the other things that the co-operative society's offered,
09:14banks, funerals,
09:16days out in the countryside for the kids.
09:18OK.
09:19Oh, yeah, definitely.
09:19Do that, definitely.
09:20Marvellous.
09:22I'll have to put it in his name.
09:23OK, why?
09:24Because, you know, women aren't that equal yet.
09:26It's not Mr and Mrs, it'll have to be Mr Harris.
09:28Right.
09:28What can I get you, Mandy?
09:29Could you just not put my name somewhere,
09:31even if it's on the inside?
09:32No.
09:32On the back?
09:33Yeah, it's not.
09:33On a bit of paper?
09:34No, he's the master of the house.
09:35I'll get over it.
09:38OK.
09:40The house, like many artisans,
09:42would certainly have had enough for food and rent by the 1900s.
09:46See you.
09:47Enjoy your dinner tonight.
09:47Later.
09:48Bye-bye.
09:48Take care.
09:49And don't forget to tell all your friends and colleagues
09:51about the co-operative movement.
09:52We will do.
09:53Their rise to relative wealth in the slum
09:55mirrors that of Mandy's ancestors,
09:57who also thrived as East End tailors.
10:00But the house' prosperity does not extend to everyone.
10:07The potters, like many in the 1900s,
10:10are living hand-to-mouth in a world without pensions,
10:12unemployment or sickness cover.
10:15Come and get your jelly deal.
10:16Despite turning their hand to a variety of jobs,
10:19both on the streets and in the slum,
10:20Victoria Potions.
10:23it's still a struggle to put food on the table.
10:25The worst thing for me over the last few weeks
10:30has been the fact that the children have been hungry.
10:33As a parent, it's my responsibility
10:34for them to be well-fed and well-nourished.
10:37And I was failing in my role as a mother
10:40by not being able to give them the nourishment that they need.
10:44The work of pioneering social reformers
10:46had begun to quantify the sheer scale of poverty and malnutrition.
10:51Groundbreaking studies had revealed
10:53that a shocking one in three of the population lived in poverty.
10:57In the face of this damning data,
10:58it was very hard to argue that the system was working.
11:01And the champions of the poor had, as well as statistics,
11:04another powerful weapon, photography.
11:08It was 20 years earlier
11:10that one of the first examples of social documentary photography
11:13brought images of the poor
11:14to an influential and well-off audience.
11:16By the 1900s, cameras had become more widely available,
11:23opening up photography to a new generation of enthusiastic amateurs.
11:28Put the hood over it for you.
11:30All right, I'm just going to focus the camera.
11:32I'm going to take the lens cap off.
11:33OK.
11:34That's going to let you and the light through the camera
11:36onto the photographic material at the back.
11:38OK.
11:39And that takes four seconds.
11:40OK, I'll count it down.
11:41Three, two, one, nice and still.
11:53If you can lean on something, it might help.
11:55With the growing interest people had in slum life,
11:58amateur photography reached the East End.
12:01Three, two, one.
12:05Nice and still.
12:07And there we go.
12:08Thank you very much.
12:09Thank you very much.
12:10That it?
12:11Yeah.
12:11It's covering it.
12:14One local amateur photographer
12:15who knew the area and its people well
12:17documented the children of the East End slums
12:20with an intimacy and candour rarely seen before.
12:25I'm introducing our slum children,
12:28the descendants of slum dwellers,
12:29to images of how their real ancestors may well have looked.
12:33So these are genuine East End kids.
12:37They're photographs taken around 1901
12:39by an amateur photographer called Horace Warner,
12:42and he called them the Spitalfield nippers.
12:46Horace Warner worked in Spitalfields
12:47as a Sunday school superintendent,
12:50and he managed to photograph the East End children
12:52he had come to know with a familiarity
12:54that was well ahead of its time.
12:56They're all wearing rags.
12:58Yeah.
12:59Look how skinny her arms are.
13:00I know.
13:01Yeah.
13:02Obviously they're much skinnier than we are, aren't they?
13:04Yeah.
13:05I've got no shoes.
13:07Yeah.
13:07A lot of the kids have no shoes.
13:09I'd be a lot more miserable than this lot
13:11if I had to carry on living like this.
13:12Yeah.
13:13But it's explainable why they have the faces that they do.
13:17Horace Warner's images galvanise campaigners
13:20for social reform in the East End.
13:22Local organisations use them to highlight
13:24not only the terrible conditions these children had to live in,
13:27but also their poor state of health.
13:29These two are the ones who are best documented.
13:31What age do you think they are?
13:33Eight, seven.
13:34So there is Lizzie, who's nine years old,
13:37and Dolly, who is 12 years old.
13:39They're so diddy.
13:40She's tiny.
13:40They are.
13:41Compared to you, they would have been...
13:42She's the same age as me.
13:43I thought she was six.
13:44Look how small she is.
13:45That's the thing is,
13:46these kids would have been severely malnourished.
13:48She doesn't look like she's alive, though, that 12-year-old.
13:51In Spitalfields at the time when these photos were taken,
13:54one in five children did not survive into adulthood.
13:58And amongst the poorest families Warner photographed,
14:00the child mortality rate was as high as a third.
14:10Childhood back then wasn't what we understand childhood to be.
14:13They saw the kids as little workers
14:15rather than people that need to be nurtured and taught
14:17and loved and cherished.
14:20And just making a set of skittles
14:21so the kids can, you know, have something a little bit more
14:25than just their imaginations to play with while they're here.
14:28And obviously it sits a lot better with me
14:30that kids in Edwardian times were actually given the chance
14:33to be children and, you know, get some education
14:36and learn that they can go out and have fun and play.
14:40I mean, that's how you do learn, is through imitation and play.
14:44They learn everything that way.
14:48Come on out.
14:49Hello.
14:50Hello.
14:50What do you think this is?
14:52Skittles.
14:53Skittles.
14:54Do you want to set them up?
14:55Yeah.
14:55Yeah.
14:57Okey-dokey, but they're all numbered.
14:58And you can have these.
14:59This is for you.
15:00Despite terrible poverty and malnutrition,
15:03with more of them at school and less working full-time,
15:06many Edwardian slum children did have more opportunity to play
15:10than their Victorian predecessors.
15:14Yay!
15:18That was a better one.
15:19Five.
15:21Boom!
15:23Yay!
15:24Oh, that was unlucky, that one.
15:32The widows live.
15:34Eighteen.
15:36No, seventeen.
15:37Sorry.
15:40Heather and Graham are off to explore another local initiative
15:43that aimed to bring the plight of the East End's poor
15:46to national attention.
15:48They had a radical way of tackling the problem
15:50by changing how the well-off thought about the poor.
15:54Our slum dwellers are going to the original building
15:56to meet social historian Dr Lucinda Matthews-Jones.
15:59Hi.
16:00Graham.
16:01I'm Lucy.
16:01Hi, Lucy.
16:02Welcome to Toynbee Hall,
16:03the first settlement house from the late 19th century,
16:07established by Samuel and Henrietta Barnett in 1883-1884.
16:12Two of the central ideas that Barnett advocated
16:14was the idea of knowledge and understanding.
16:17You need to know the poor and understand the poor
16:20to be able to actually remedy poverty.
16:21The Barnett's plan was that university graduates
16:25from Oxford and Cambridge, potential leaders of the future,
16:28would live amongst the poorest communities
16:30to see first-hand the problems they faced.
16:33If you look on the second floor,
16:35these would have been settlement bedrooms.
16:37So the idea was that you'd go off to work during the day,
16:40but the difference was that your responsibility towards the poor
16:43was then matched by you then spending your afternoons
16:46and maybe even significantly your weekends
16:49in working with the poor in some way.
16:51So did places like this make any difference at all?
16:54I think they did.
16:55On a national and local level,
16:57they brought a group of individuals into contact
16:59with the working classes who might not otherwise have had that opportunity.
17:02Two men who spent time at Toynbee Hall,
17:07Liberal MP William Beveridge and Prime Minister Clement Attlee,
17:11went on to become the architects of modern welfare reform.
17:15While there, Attlee worked with local boys' clubs
17:17and debating societies,
17:19an experience, he said, that changed his life.
17:22These men played a huge role in the creation of the welfare state
17:25and really transformed ideas
17:27about how the state involves itself in people's lives
17:30from cradle to grave.
17:32For me, I think their attitudes,
17:35their approach to notions of poverty
17:36would not have happened without institutions like Toynbee Hall.
17:39It was that close contact and connection
17:41that really enabled them to understand and see poverty firsthand.
17:46So with education and with somebody fighting your corner,
17:50that reform would come.
17:54This innovative local initiative
17:57ultimately delivered real change for the entire nation.
18:07Back in the slum, there has been a delivery.
18:10Oh, look, this is it.
18:11Let's have a look. Oh, you open it here.
18:13Open it up.
18:14What is that?
18:15Fish. Sturgeon.
18:17I'm scared.
18:18It's like a party, that is.
18:20Whoa, what's that?
18:22Fish.
18:22That looks like cake.
18:23Yeah, it does.
18:24What's in that?
18:25Cream, is it?
18:26For the pears?
18:27For the rolls?
18:27Or maybe the cake?
18:28In 1901, Edward ascended the throne on the death of his mother.
18:32But just two days before his coronation,
18:35he developed appendicitis and needed an operation.
18:38Andy, come out here, mate.
18:39The cooks in Buckingham Palace
18:41had spent weeks preparing a lavish banquet
18:43for his hundreds of guests.
18:45So what were they going to do?
18:46Well, rather than throw it away,
18:48they decided to give most of it to the poor.
18:50Quail pigeons.
18:52Is this for us to eat?
18:53Yes, mate.
18:56That's one basket.
18:57There's another basket here, look.
18:58And then in this is cream.
18:59Is that profiteroles?
19:01Oh, my Lord, no.
19:02Poached, pears, cream.
19:03Poached, pears, cream.
19:03What else have you got?
19:04Fish.
19:04Fish, chicken.
19:06I'm actually dribbling.
19:08I'm not big on monarchy, but God save the king.
19:10Mummy and Nan.
19:11Yes?
19:12We got some food from King Edward VII
19:15because he's poorly at his coronation.
19:18Lamb, fish, chicken, poached pears.
19:21Put it down, please.
19:22It's starting to rain.
19:23You need to get it in.
19:24Come and look at this.
19:25Come and look.
19:26The new king insisted that the food for his banquet
19:29should go to the underprivileged.
19:30He also contributed £30,000 to the wider celebrations
19:33throughout London, where half a million poor were fed.
19:37And so it was that it was the people of Whitechapel
19:40who sat down and ate Edward VII's banquet.
19:44And not the royalty or diplomats
19:46it had been originally intended for.
19:49Oh, jelly!
19:51Oh, no!
19:55Let's get it inside.
19:56Let's get it out of the rain.
19:57Mouth wateringly fabulous.
20:00That looks lovely.
20:07Yeah.
20:08Heavy pigeons.
20:10Are pigeons heavy, Heather?
20:12Go there.
20:13Me and Lily will sit on this.
20:14OK, that's five.
20:16This is amazing.
20:17I've never seen anything like this.
20:19Even in my 21st century life,
20:20you don't see a feast laid out before you like this.
20:23Let me escort you to the king's party, my dear.
20:26Anybody want beer?
20:28This is fabulous, this feast we've got.
20:29It's beyond brilliant.
20:31So excited.
20:32Really, really excited.
20:32There's a really, really good spirits here tonight.
20:35I didn't know what I was going to eat today.
20:36So it's great.
20:37It's fantastic.
20:39Ladies and gentlemen, attention for one minute.
20:41I'd like to propose a toast.
20:43His Majesty the King.
20:44Only the King.
20:45OK.
20:45It'll be food that the Victorian poor had never seen in their lives.
20:57They probably looked at it and thought, this is a dream.
21:01Wake up.
21:01The chefs actually complained that the food was going to the poor.
21:07The chefs complained?
21:08They actually moaned because they prepared it for the king.
21:11It's decadence personified, isn't it?
21:13It's just absolute decadence.
21:16To give it to people in the slums is actually a beautiful thing to do.
21:20The king himself spoke publicly of the need to take vigorous action in clearing the slums
21:28which disgrace our civilisation.
21:30Long live the king.
21:31Long live the king.
21:33The coronation marked the dawning of a new era.
21:36It reinforced the idea that this century would be one of real progress.
21:40This belief created a new political mood.
21:50The Conservatives had been in power for ten years,
21:52but their government was now being threatened by a previously divided Liberal Party,
21:57who by 1906 had united, and with a more sympathetic view of poverty,
22:02aimed to harness the poor and working class vote to unseat the government.
22:06Professor Robert Saunders is an expert on the politics of the period.
22:10So the year is 1906, and it is election day.
22:15More people vote in this election than at any election in the past.
22:19More working class people voted than ever before.
22:23The late 19th and early 20th century was a period of increased trade union activism,
22:29strikes and collective bargaining creating an increasingly powerful and politicised working class.
22:35These two great Victorian political parties,
22:38the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party,
22:40are having to fight for your votes.
22:42So this election really is about you.
22:45Whichever of these two largest parties managed to capture this working class vote would win.
22:50The election was fought mainly on a single issue, trade.
22:53In the 1880s, about 43% of all exports anywhere in the world come from Britain.
23:00To put that in perspective, in 2016, the biggest trading power in the world is China,
23:05which exports about 12% of the world's exports.
23:08So Britain is a trading superpower of a kind that the world has never seen.
23:12In the 19th century, Great Britain was the biggest exporter in the world.
23:17But by the 20th century, Germany and America's growing economies had overtaken Britain's,
23:23triggering a rise in unemployment.
23:27Britain has been a free trading country since the 1840s.
23:31The Conservative Party want that to stop.
23:33We're going to put taxes on foreign imports.
23:36We're going to shut out German steel and American manufacturing to protect your jobs.
23:41The two most important props in this election are these.
23:46The big loaf and the little loaf.
23:48What the Liberals are saying is this is the loaf of free trade.
23:52Under free trade, bread is cheap.
23:54So this is what you can buy for your family with your wages.
23:57If you put taxes on foreign imports, this is what you'll be able to afford.
24:01The little loaf of tariffs.
24:03You've got to have a job to buy that.
24:04Right, exactly.
24:05So that's the question.
24:07Which do you want?
24:08Do you want a job?
24:08Small but perfectly fine.
24:10Or take your chances, maybe if you've got a job or not, to buy the big one.
24:12Exactly.
24:14To get their arguments across, the parties employed innovative ways to reach voters.
24:19Bright colours and hard-hitting slogans were used to address the concerns of the working man,
24:24making this the first election fought in a modern way.
24:28So this is a Conservative poster about tariffs.
24:31The whole point of this, it's not complicated.
24:33It's colourful, it's bright, and it punches home a message.
24:37You can see we've got the working man shivering in the cold as other countries come in and take his trade.
24:43The idea is the foreigner is driving you out of your job.
24:46Same what we're going through now.
24:47Right, it's a very modern issue.
24:49Even if you're illiterate, you can kind of see what's going on.
24:51You've got the guy in the Uncle Sam suit, haven't you?
24:54Yeah, and the German-looking character there.
24:58With the election looming, political debate gripped the country at all levels of society.
25:03Well, it must have been a hugely exciting time for the working class to actually have a say in what happens to the country,
25:08but if you've got a party coming up to you and saying, vote for us, you can have this big loaf of bread.
25:14Then vote for it.
25:15Vote for them, you have this little loaf of bread.
25:17I mean, that's a no-brainer.
25:18That is, you know...
25:19It's a no-brainer.
25:20Well, it's so easy, isn't it?
25:21The big loaf, you look at that, that's what you want for your family, isn't it?
25:23The little big loaf, the Tory small loaf.
25:25That's right.
25:25Hello.
25:26Hello, you all right?
25:27Yes, you're right.
25:31What's going on?
25:32We're discussing politics.
25:33Yeah, man's talk, really.
25:35Probably a little bit too high-brow, to be honest, for the lady.
25:38You reckon?
25:38Yeah, I think so.
25:39In whose opinion?
25:40Everyone's opinion.
25:41In your opinion?
25:42I haven't got the vote yet.
25:43In your opinion?
25:44Yeah, definitely.
25:45Are you sure?
25:48Fight, fight, fight, fight, fight.
25:51Leave it to it, because it absolutely disgusts me.
25:53Do that, man.
25:54Go think about some sewing or stitching, all the like.
25:57I'm going to get it later.
26:00Ladies, I've just heard the men.
26:02They're talking about politics down there.
26:03All right.
26:05That's very silly.
26:07Dangerous.
26:07Fools.
26:09I don't know.
26:11Well, the election, I think, is the vote thing, isn't it?
26:13Yes, by all accounts.
26:15Shame we can't vote.
26:16I know.
26:17They're talking about who they're going to vote for, what's going to happen.
26:19And, of course, we don't have that right.
26:22I may not care what they're discussing.
26:24It's probably so boring that I'd rather be doing the washing up anyway, to be honest.
26:29But it's about the choice.
26:30I choose to join in or not.
26:34For me, that's...
26:35As an equal.
26:36As an equal.
26:36That's the thing.
26:37It's whereas, at the moment, it's a not, as opposed to, I can if I want to.
26:42That's the difficulty that I have.
26:44Absolutely.
26:45It was a self-fulfilling prophecy again, wasn't it?
26:47It was a self-fulfilling assumption again, just like keeping the poor dirty because they
26:51like to be dirty, keeping women stupid because they are stupid.
26:54But the other thing is, women couldn't choose their own occupation either.
26:58And it was only very strong, forward-thinking, you know, really passionate women that actually
27:06started to do something about that.
27:09Women were good enough to look after the home, and yet they weren't seen as clever enough to
27:17think about who they would like to have rule the country.
27:21On election day in 1906, women couldn't vote, but men could, and they did so in their droves.
27:33I think the fact that there was 83% turnout means one thing, and that's that the poor were
27:38desperate to voice their opinion.
27:40And by voting, that's exactly what they did.
27:42While the men vote, the women of the slum and James go to nearby Victoria Park to meet historian
27:57Dr Louise Roar.
27:59It was actually the first park in Britain, perhaps even in the world, that was actually
28:03created for working people.
28:06It also became incredibly important around the turn of the century for suffrage, the campaign
28:11for votes for women.
28:13Three years earlier, Emmeline Pankhurst founded the Women's Social and Political Union as
28:18a radical reaction to previous campaigns.
28:21Emmeline led the organisation with her daughters, Christabel and Sylvia.
28:25They believed this new movement needed to be militant if it was going to succeed.
28:29They became known as suffragettes.
28:33During the same period, women in the East End had become increasingly politicised.
28:38Sylvia Pankhurst saw an opportunity.
28:40She came to the East End and galvanised the activism of local women, forming the East London
28:45Federation of Suffragettes.
28:47The campaign, the fight for suffrage, becomes increasingly violent and bloody as time goes on.
28:55This is all-out war between women and the establishment.
28:59The East London suffragettes hold a women's mayday here in Victoria Park.
29:05And as they got to the gates of Victoria Park with a huge procession of women, 50 detectives who'd
29:11been undercover disguised as market stallholders suddenly leap up from the stalls and attack
29:17them.
29:17They drag this chained group of 20 women inside the gates of the park and assault them.
29:22They're punched.
29:23They're kicked.
29:24They're hit with truncheons.
29:25And Sylvia was dragged off by four detectives.
29:28It took four big, strong men to arrest one small woman.
29:32She was thrown face down on the floor of a taxi cab.
29:36And one of the policemen said to her, I don't know why you just don't give up.
29:38You're never going to get the vote.
29:40But one of his colleagues said, they will, you know.
29:44So she took a lot of comfort from that, that even the police could see that the times were
29:50changing.
29:52While the men are out voting, the women of the slum and James commandeer the Howis tailor's
29:57shop to start their own East End suffragette group.
30:01Let me know when we win the vote and I might have fettled my needle by then.
30:03Not even being recognised as human beings must have been so terrible that to even get the
30:12moral substance to rise up against it just shows how amazing these women were.
30:18I am proud to be an East End suffragette.
30:22What do you think, James?
30:23Great.
30:24Cool.
30:26Matchy, matchy.
30:26I think I would have been a suffragette because if I had a daughter, for instance, in that
30:33time, I would have fought for everything.
30:37If there weren't suffragettes, then most of the women nowadays would be slaving, still
30:41slaving in the kitchen and they still wouldn't have the right to vote.
30:45I think it's lovely that my son was so fired up about the suffragettes.
30:48I mean, I'm glad it shows that as a 21st century family, we have, you know, equality in our
30:54home.
30:56But it would take several more years for the battle to be won.
31:01The 1918 Representation of the People Act finally gave women over 30 the vote.
31:07And in 1928, this was extended to all women over the age of 21.
31:14Back at the slum, the men have returned from voting.
31:17So you've all voted.
31:18I'd like to ask each of you how you voted and why.
31:21I voted Liberal because I wanted a bigger slice of the loaf, the bread.
31:25So you're a Liberal voter.
31:26Yeah.
31:27I voted Conservative because I just think they're trying to protect the British jobs and
31:33stop the invasion of the foreign goods.
31:36I voted Conservative purely for the same reasons as Rust.
31:40I voted Liberal because as a shopkeeper, I saw the opportunity to do what we call stack
31:44it high, sell it cheap.
31:45So it's all about free trade for you.
31:47Yeah.
31:48So we've got a 50-50 split here.
31:50Two Liberals, two Tories.
31:52That was very different across the country because the result of this election was a Liberal
31:56landslide.
31:57It was the biggest massacre the Conservative Party has ever experienced in the general
32:02election.
32:03They lost more than half of their MPs.
32:06The leader of the Conservative Party, Arthur Balfour, lost his seat.
32:09So this was a wipeout.
32:11And it was a particularly powerful anti-Tory vote here in London.
32:15Lots of people thought that it was the government's fault that unemployment was so high, that Britain
32:18was losing jobs.
32:19And the time for a change argument worked to the Liberals' advantage.
32:24I mean, now you see that the government had been in for 10 years.
32:27There's a lot of unemployment.
32:29And the slums are still in existence.
32:31And the slums will actually vote now.
32:32So the slums will just vote to get rid of the slums, really.
32:34If you've got people that are hungry, that's what they've got to vote for.
32:36Yeah, they've been hungry for years and years.
32:38They now have a choice that they can stop that hunger.
32:41They'll have that big loaf.
32:42And that's the reason that you vote for that, isn't it?
32:45David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill were part of this new Liberal government.
32:49Once in power, they began to build on ideas social reformers had pioneered in the East
32:54End to deliver a series of progressive policies nationwide that finally tackled the age-old
32:59evils of poverty.
33:01Free school meals, old-age pensions, paternity benefits, and national insurance.
33:06The very things that were to become the pillars of the modern welfare state.
33:19But it wasn't just a new government that was making a difference.
33:26The cooperative movement, amongst others, gave slum dwellers the chance to broaden their horizons,
33:31even if it was only for a day.
33:33This would just be a feast back in the 1860s.
33:37And just to think that you can do this for fun and just for a day out, it's amazing.
33:41The co-op organised subsidised trips for its members.
33:46These events provided the opportunity for many to escape the city for the first time ever.
33:52As well as organisations like the co-op, the Children's Country Holiday Fund arranged farm
33:58trips for East End children.
34:00Hope the weather stays nice.
34:04Steam train! Yay!
34:05The heads of Toynbee Hall and other social reform groups actively promoted the benefits of
34:11sending poor children to the countryside.
34:14It's a little cross.
34:16This one?
34:17Oh my God, look at it, look at it.
34:18Oh!
34:19Oh!
34:20Oh!
34:20Ooh!
34:21Oh, I love it!
34:22Ah!
34:25Can you imagine how excited you would have been if he'd have been a real Victorian girl?
34:29How loud!
34:30Go fast, it's lame!
34:31It's not as dark as the slum, is it?
34:35There's a lovely sunshine.
34:37Don't see any rubbish around here, do you?
34:39Look at the bluebells!
34:40Oh my God, I love them!
34:42Beautiful!
34:44Do you think the Victorian children would have been excited to do this?
34:47Yes.
34:47They would have done it.
34:48They've never been to the countryside before.
34:50They've never been on a train before.
34:51Can you imagine?
34:55Look at the horses!
34:55Look at the horses!
34:56Woo!
34:57Aw!
34:58The train's at us!
34:59Do not tread on the bluebells.
35:02Do not tread on the bluebells!
35:04Breathe that air!
35:06With their new awareness of the appalling state of slum children's health,
35:10the Edwardians put great importance on the healthy properties of fresh air.
35:14This looks like a nice spot.
35:15Right here.
35:16Underneath the oak tree.
35:18Getting poor children into the countryside were seen as more than just recreation.
35:22A day out was regarded as beneficial to their long-term well-being.
35:26Lovely.
35:27So nice.
35:28Nice being out, right?
35:29Lovely.
35:30I can't believe what the cooperative did.
35:32Subsidising food, holidays.
35:34Quite incredible.
35:34Quite innovative, really.
35:36It would have been the first time a lot of children had ever been outside the city.
35:39Oh, on a train, even.
35:40Yeah.
35:40For a child or adult from the East End slums, this was another world.
35:46I can imagine Victorian children would have loved being able to come here.
35:50Not many people would have been able to get out of the slums, and it would just feel amazing.
35:54You'd feel so happy.
35:56It feels that good not being in the slum.
35:58I might not go back.
36:00Don't live in the country.
36:01Best of us stay here.
36:03It'd be lovely.
36:04And by 1916, a million Whitechapel youngsters had had a taste of rural life outside the East London slums.
36:11There were only really three colours in the slums, and that's black, grey, and brown.
36:16And here, there's just every colour you can imagine.
36:19In response to the pioneering work of social reformers, there was now a growing optimism
36:34about what could be done to eradicate the old problems of poverty and poor housing once and for all.
36:40A series of ambitious building and slum clearance programmes spread throughout Britain in the first 30 years of the century.
36:49Back from their picnic, the slum dwellers have letters waiting.
36:56In the room, that is me.
36:59The populations of the area will be decanted over the coming weeks.
37:03Properties will be cleared of the contents, destroyed, and the fabric of the building rendered unto rubble.
37:08This demolition plan means all must leave the slum.
37:13The clearing of the old Nicoll Slum, and the building of Great Britain's first housing estate,
37:17the boundary estate in nearby Spitalfields, was just the start of a nationwide initiative
37:22to replace the slums with something better.
37:25And it continued for most of the 20th century.
37:27Let me read the letter first.
37:36I haven't seen that much money in ages.
37:39I'm a solicitor, so I'm gauze.
37:41What have you done before anything?
37:42I don't know.
37:43Sir, it is with a great pleasure that I write to you with notification of a compulsory purchase of your rooms and shop.
37:50We have decided, with the grace afforded to us by the London County Council,
37:55to offer you compensation to the sum of two guineas.
37:58It has come to our attention that you have risen to become considered as part of the artisan classes,
38:03and so may wish to apply to take an apartment in the newly reconstructed estate.
38:07Wow, that's good.
38:08We trust this is all in order, your humble and obedient servants.
38:13Wow.
38:14We're not the lowest of the low anymore.
38:16To count it, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 100, 110, 126 pounds.
38:26It is a knowledge that we've done well.
38:31Compulsory purchase was part of the slum clearance programme.
38:33Even though they did not own their rooms, slum dwellers were compensated for their loss of accommodation and loss of earnings.
38:41For tailors like the house, this would have provided a golden opportunity to get out of the slum and build a better life.
38:48From my ancestors' point of view, this is what they would have wanted.
38:50They would have wanted to have moved out.
38:52There would have been an element of sadness to leave people,
38:54but actually, the life of your family and what you want to do for them must have had to have trumped everything, really.
39:01For many skilled tailors, like Mandy's ancestors, this was a major step on the road to prosperity.
39:08Of those evicted from the old Nicol slum, 86% moved less than half a mile away,
39:14setting up new shops and continuing the vibrant East End rag trade.
39:18But while slum clearance was a positive move for society as a whole,
39:23it didn't always help the individual.
39:25I don't usually get letters with money in.
39:32It's either going to be very nice or very bad, isn't it?
39:39We have decided to offer you the sum of a guinea in compensation.
39:42This will help you find new accommodations.
39:44It is unlikely that you would be successful with your application to move into the newly constructed apartments,
39:49so you should assume your move away from this area is permanent.
39:53We will not enter into negotiations with respect to this matter.
39:56That's disgusting.
39:58I mean, they're literally just destroying their life now, aren't they?
40:02What's that going to get you?
40:02Two nights in the cheapest, dankest, darkest, horriblest guesthouse that the city's got to offer,
40:11or a tent, sleeping bag, and that's what you've left to live on.
40:25They really did just knife them in the back, didn't they?
40:28The slum's being knocked down.
40:32Someone like myself would have been told that, you know,
40:34you're not welcome in the area anymore, go find a life somewhere else.
40:37But one guinea is not enough to start a new life, is it? Let's be honest.
40:42For someone with Andy's disability,
40:44losing their place in the slum would most likely force them into another slum nearby.
40:49Unable to get a job doing manual labour,
40:52begging or street trading would be their most likely source of income.
40:55It has come to our attention that a bird has been taken over
41:01by the East London Cooperative Society,
41:04and so you are no longer considered eligible for compensation for this.
41:09Oh, great.
41:10We have, however, decided to offer you
41:13the sum of a guinea in compensation for your room.
41:17But this was not the end of shopkeeping for those in the bird situation.
41:20The cooperative did help members set up a new branch when a store closed.
41:25In the 20th century, the movement was expanding
41:27and so could accommodate more branches,
41:30giving the chance of a fresh start outside the slum.
41:33We will talk to the cooperative
41:36and we want to set another store up somewhere
41:39in this relatively, not too far away,
41:41because if they're going to redevelop this area,
41:43they're going to have a lot of workers come in.
41:45Maybe we would have been really thankful
41:47that we had actually started working for the cooperative storeys.
41:50But for families like the Potters,
41:52the future would have been less certain.
41:54We have decided to offer you the sum of a guinea in compensation.
41:57This will help you find new accommodations.
42:00The demolition of the slum, in my view,
42:03wasn't to help the poorest of the poor.
42:07It was just to almost make the country look
42:12as if it was doing something for the poor.
42:15It is unlikely that you would be successful
42:18with your application to move
42:20into the newly constructed apartments
42:22and so you should assume
42:24your move away from this area is permanent.
42:27Basically, they're making you homeless, aren't they?
42:29They were just really thrown out,
42:32given a measly compensation
42:34and expected to find their own homes.
42:37So, to me, that wasn't helping the poor at all.
42:41In the slum, the Potters would have been street sellers.
42:43After eviction, their predecessors
42:45would have had to sell what they could on the street
42:48and hopefully make enough for rent in a nearby slum.
42:52As the century progressed
42:53and their trade union strengthened,
42:55costamongers fought for their collective rights
42:57and some thrived.
43:02Slum clearance and the building of new housing estates
43:05continued well into the 20th century.
43:07So, these changes affected generation
43:10after generation of East End families.
43:13Before they leave, Andy, Graham and Heather
43:15are visited by former slum residents
43:17who moved out in the 1950s and 60s
43:20and still remember their old way of life.
43:23Betty, were you considered where you lived as a slum area?
43:25No, not really, because, remember, you're born and bred to it.
43:30When I was a child, I knew I lived in a slum.
43:32My family were costamongers in Chapel Market, Eslington,
43:36at the back of our garden wall
43:38and we were running along with rats.
43:40My young brother, one day, had a fishing hook
43:43and fishing line, put some bread down a rat hole
43:45and he caught a rat.
43:48Oh, I mean, I've seen them run about.
43:51When we took the wallpaper down,
43:52there was millions of bugs behind it.
43:54Do you remember the bed?
43:55Lice in the back, oh, yeah.
43:57I had three children there,
43:58living up there with no water and stuff like that.
44:01Yeah, three children were born there.
44:03And you used to bring a tin bath in to have a bath.
44:06Yeah.
44:06And your slums and stuff, you had to put in a bucket
44:09and take right the way down downstairs to the outside.
44:13In fact, the old man who used to live in one room on the front
44:16used to use his bucket for everything.
44:20He came out one day and opened the door
44:21and the bottom of his bucket fell out.
44:23Fill it out.
44:25Do you think it was worth the destruction
44:28of the slum and the community
44:30to allow people to get a new property
44:32or do you think that maybe part of London
44:34was actually killed off when that happened?
44:36I think if they'd have refurbished them...
44:39Yes.
44:40..that would have been the better idea.
44:40There's a big mistake not refurbishing the old houses
44:42because they were wonderful old houses,
44:45they created an atmosphere
44:46and when they got rid of them
44:48and moved us into new flats,
44:49the life was completely different now.
44:51But for many, leaving the slum
44:54was the escape they'd always dreamed of.
44:56I took it from my tower block.
44:59These tower blocks were marvellous.
45:02I was on the top storey on the 23rd floor.
45:05Oh, no.
45:06The view was beautiful.
45:08There was a playground for the children.
45:10Yeah.
45:11No problems whatsoever.
45:13In the 1950s and 60s alone,
45:16two and a half million people
45:18were rehoused to begin a new life.
45:20It's the resident's last day in the slum.
45:45You're taking down the minutes to the shower.
45:56Scrunchy to clean yourself with.
45:58Chisel, I think you're all right.
45:59And you, priority number one,
46:02is shave that stuff off your face.
46:04I know, it's going...
46:05Vile things is.
46:06It's like a bear.
46:08I thought keeping the moustache, though.
46:09Oh, you... Yeah.
46:11Not if you want to live with me, you don't.
46:13You can decide.
46:21People leaving the slums
46:23because they've been demolished,
46:26a sense of excitement
46:28for those that have somewhere to go, obviously.
46:32Anxious, there's a lot of anxiety, I should imagine.
46:34A sense of loss of the friends they've made
46:36and that they may never see again.
46:39But, you know, time has to move on.
46:41Things change.
46:42At least I don't have to make these beds anymore.
46:45I'm going to miss it.
46:46Are you?
46:47Hmm.
46:49Tell you what, I'm not.
46:51Bread and butter.
46:52Near enough every day.
46:54I turn into a slice of bread and butter by this.
46:57Mmm, bread and butter.
47:01Mmm.
47:03Some people have a last supper,
47:04we have a last breakfast.
47:06Cheers.
47:06Cheers.
47:09Well, this is the last time,
47:11hopefully in my life,
47:13that I will have to
47:14get water from a bucket
47:16to have a wash
47:18and, er...
47:20Yeah.
47:21I won't miss that.
47:24Are we going to miss this room, do you think?
47:26Er, I don't think we'll miss this room.
47:29I'm not really going to miss it at all.
47:32The Victorians must have been so, so strong
47:34to live the life that we've lived
47:36every single day.
47:37But they did, and they changed things,
47:39and that's why our life is now easier.
47:42So it was through their
47:43endeavour and courage and spirit
47:47that got all that for us.
47:48The most striking thing for me
48:05in going through this experience
48:07was understanding how
48:09people view poverty
48:12and people who live in poverty.
48:13looking at the root causes
48:16is the most important thing.
48:18You know, before you start
48:19pointing a finger at people
48:20or writing things off
48:23as unsolvable,
48:24just look at the facts,
48:26just look at the root cause.
48:27They were strong people,
48:32but I think anybody put under duress
48:34and stress and pressure is hard.
48:36They have to be.
48:37if there was one message
48:42I think the modern world
48:43can learn from the Victorian slum
48:44is don't let it happen again.
48:48You ready?
48:50Yeah.
48:52Because the millions of people
48:54that had to live like this
48:55were better than that,
48:57and they deserved better than that.
48:58I really wanted to know
49:12would I have been mentally strong enough,
49:14physically strong enough
49:15to have survived in
49:16from 1860 to 1910.
49:19But no matter what I do,
49:21I cannot replicate
49:23what these guys and gals went through.
49:26I'm proud of what I've done,
49:27but I'm even more proud
49:29of the guys that came before me.
49:36You hear about kids going to school
49:37on a slice of bread and butter
49:39and that's what happened.
49:40It really did happen
49:41in the East End.
49:43You know those streets
49:44and you think,
49:44my God,
49:45people really struggled.
49:47I think that's what people are missing
49:48is hope that they can have a better life.
49:51If you give people hope,
49:52they'll work for it.
49:53Whereas if they've got no hope,
49:55they just fall into misery.
49:57My slum experience has been
50:03just the time of my life.
50:05Like, one minute I was happy,
50:06one minute I was sad,
50:07one minute I just didn't know
50:08what to do anymore.
50:09So it's just been such an amazing experience.
50:12I've never worked this hard in my life
50:20and I didn't think I had it in me.
50:23There was something that told me
50:25that I needed to show
50:26that I can work
50:27in order to make my parents proud
50:28because they didn't know
50:29I had it in me either.
50:31I'm sure the Victorian kids
50:32had that as well.
50:33They had that feeling
50:34that they wanted to make
50:34their parents proud
50:36and show that they had the work ethic
50:37and they had the resilience
50:38to make it through.
50:44I'm going to be sad
50:45because, you know,
50:46the slum is my home.
50:47It's been my home
50:48for a number of weeks now.
50:49I've made it as homely
50:50as I possibly can
50:51and I feel quietly fond of it.
50:54It stinks
50:54and it's disgustingly dirty
50:55but I'm fond of it.
50:57I miss home
50:58but I know I'm going to miss this place.
51:01Ready?
51:02Yes.
51:02Go.
51:03I wanted to learn
51:04more about my family,
51:06my ancestors.
51:06I wanted to walk in their shoes
51:07and know how it felt.
51:09Russell wants to learn
51:10more about his trade.
51:11Have we achieved that?
51:12We so have.
51:13The residents
51:24are coming together
51:25for a final meal.
51:26You want me?
51:27Hi, Rush.
51:28Ooh, this is nice.
51:30Lovely.
51:31Wow.
51:31A little bit of
51:32something special
51:33for the last day.
51:33You all right?
51:34How are you?
51:35Thank you, Cinderella.
51:36It's all right.
51:36We have game pie,
51:38apple pie,
51:38bagels.
51:39Mandy,
51:40just for you.
51:41Jelly deals.
51:42Jelly deals.
51:42Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
51:44I'd just like to say
51:45thank you
51:46to everybody.
51:49My family and I
51:49came here
51:50to learn more
51:51about our ancestors
51:52and to attempt
51:54to live a little bit
51:55like them,
51:55to understand them better.
51:57And I believe
51:58we've been able
51:59to do that.
52:00But we've had
52:01some dark moments
52:02along the way
52:03and without you guys
52:04around the table,
52:06erm,
52:07I don't think
52:08we'd have been
52:08sitting here today.
52:10Friends in the slum.
52:22Friends in the slum.
52:23Friends in the slum.
52:27I don't know.
52:28It's got a major luck.
52:30Have a good one.
52:31Look after you feel.
52:32The story of the urban poor
52:43doesn't end
52:43with the residents'
52:44departure.
52:46The efforts
52:46of social reformers,
52:48radical campaigners
52:49and even photographers
52:50did succeed
52:51in triggering
52:52real improvements
52:52for slum dwellers.
52:54But it would take
52:55two world wars
52:56and a depression
52:56before we saw
52:57the birth
52:58of the welfare state.
53:02Today,
53:03there are still areas
53:04of the UK
53:04which grapple
53:05with low wages
53:06or a lack
53:06of affordable housing.
53:10And though we have left
53:12Victorian levels
53:13of poverty behind,
53:14we still struggle
53:15to find solutions
53:16to these age-old problems.
53:20Come on.
53:21Ready?
53:21Let's go.
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