Turn Back Time - The Family - Episode 4

 Good morning, our families are back living in the 1960s.  The Goldings have moved on, so it is the Taylors and the Meadows.  Here are some big changes for our families.  The Meadows have moved into the middle-class home while the Taylors have moved into the working-class home.  Each family tours their house.  There is some new technology.  The big house has been carved into apartments.  Many big houses were carved into flats due to high taxation.

The Meadows are thrilled with the new arrangement.  Mr. Meadows’ father was a businessman so he would have been in the middle class.  The Taylors will have to adjust to the working-class lifestyle.  The working-class house has the latest in gadgets.  Mr. Taylor’s father was a mechanic, so would have been considered working class.  Mrs. Taylor will have to work outside the hose as well.

A new family joins up with the Taylors and the Meadows and they are the Hawkes family.  They are going to sample the life of a Caribbean immigrant family.  A brother and sister will move in first, mirroring what immigrant families went through in the early 1960s.  When they arrive at the row of houses they are greeted with a nasty sign.  It would have been the same sign their immigrant ancestors would have encountered. 

The apartment is a mess, so the brother and sister try to work to clean up.  Immigrants were exploited and they were charged high rents.  The brother and sister were shocked at the condition of the apartment.  Caribbean immigrants would have had to accept jobs they were overqualified for.  They wonder how their grandparents survived those first years in England.  England, although they invited them to the country, the people were unwelcoming to the immigrants.

In the meantime, the Meadows receive a visitor.  Teens had a bit more freedom during the 1960s, so the Meadows girls are being outfitted for a new wardrobe.  The girls will also be moving into the second apartment apart from their parents.  This is a shock for Mr. Meadows because they had pulled together in the previous decades to work and support the family.  They will also be working in a boutique.  Teens had their identity during the 1960s.

The Taylor kids are experiencing their sense of freedom.  They also have the run of the house and have the freedom to play.  The newcomers have not spoken to anyone all day and the sister has to do the cooking.  She does not have experience of cooking and was told that she was not a good cook.

The Meadows girls return from work and show off their outfits.  Mr. Meadows is concerned about the lengths of the skirts.  The girls tease their father about wearing shorter skirts.  Mrs. Meadows reflects on how the parents would feel about seeing their girls dressed in such outfits.  It is the last night that the Meadows will be together before the girls move into an apartment.

The Taylors are enjoying a night watching TV.  It is the first time the family has been together in one place in decades.  The Hawkes night is getting worse as the power cuts out.  Dinner is looking unlikely.  They are feeling down in the dumps.  She feels that her grandparents would have felt homesick.  The sign that they had seen earlier affects the brother.

How will the families adjust to the conditions of the 1960s?  Will the Hawkes pull together and relive the experience of their grandparents?  How will the Meadows girls handle being on their own?  Tune into this episode to find out!
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This would be a good episode for research purposes and a filler for a history classroom.