Daniel Farson’s Guide to Britain Volume 2 on Blu-ray/DVD from the BFI in September

The latest BFI home entertainment release from the Associated Rediffusion television archive, Daniel Farson’s Guide to Britain Volume 2, a 3-disc Blu-ray/DVD Dual Format Edition available from 14 September, features more from the brash, bohemian and boozy, bon vivant ITV reporter and presenter Daniel Farson. 

Farson became a larger-than-life fixture of Soho in the 1950s, socialising with the likes of artist Francis Bacon and photographer John Deakin. But he was also a groundbreaking investigative journalist, reshaping approaches to screen reportage with the many dynamic television films he presented for Associated-Rediffusion in the late 1950s and early 1960s, finding widespread fame and acclaim along the way. In this second volume of his work, Farson – who paved the way for programme-makers of the Louis Theroux school – turns his attention to nudist camps, faith healing, children’s parties and the beatniks and Teddy boys of Brighton’s Whisky a Go Go, and meets TV chef Fanny Cradock, actress Shirley Anne Field and songstress supreme Shirley Bassey. Special features include newly recorded audio commentaries on selected programmes by a variety of contributors.

Read Gary Couzens’ review of Daniel Farson’s Guide to Britain Volume 1 here.

THE PROGRAMMES:

• Out of Step: Nudism (1957) 
• Out of Step: Tune In to Nature’s Radio (1957) 
• Out of Step: One Man Against the World (1958) 
• Out of Step: The Seventh Day (1958) 
• Keeping in Step: Children’s Parties (1958) 
• Keeping in Step: This England (1958) 
• People in Trouble: Sex Education (1958) 
• People in Trouble: Unmarried Mothers (1958)
• This Week: Teenage Girls (Fragment) (1958) 
• Success Story: The Cradocks (1959) 
• Success Story: Harry Edwards (1959) 
• Success Story: Lady Lewisham (1959) 
• Pursuit of Happiness: Rags to Glamour (1960) 
• Something to Say: Shirley Bassey (1964) 
• Living for Kicks (1960)