56 Up

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They are now 56.

Lynn, Sue and Jackie grew up

in London's East End

and were friends

at school.

In this school,

we do metalwork

and woodwork

and the boys

do cookery.

All you girls want to do

is walk out, get married,

have babies and push

a pram down the street

with a fag hanging out

the side of your mouth.

I think that we all

could have gone

any way that we wanted to

at the time

within our

capabilities.

But we only had

a limited choice anyway.

Truth be told...

we didn't have the choice

or private education

because they couldn't have

afforded it anyway.

Our lives are changing

far too much.

All of us.

To be honest, when you look

at the 7-year-old us,

it's difficult to believe

it is us.

I've got to say, girls,

I wanted to work

in Woolworth's.

I'm glad you said that, 'cause

everyone thinks it was me.

Sometimes we go out and play

nasty with the boys

and sometimes we go out

and argue with the boys.

I don't think I'll get married

too early.

I'd like to have

a full life first.

Marriage means a different thing

to me.

I've still got my ideals

about marriage.

I don't know

what it's all about.

Sue was 24

when she married Billy

and they had two children,

William and Katherine.

I think that

to get married young,

there must be things

that you miss.

You must miss that crucial stage

of being yourself,

because the minute you

get married,

you're no longer a single being,

you're a partnership,

and that should be

the idea behind it.

By the time Sue was 35,

she was divorced.

I've never sat down

and thought,

"What was it?

Was it this, was it that?"

I just knew

it wasn't working.

There have been relationships

when I could have settled,

but they didn't feel

quite right.

So I've always come away

and pulled away

and just waited until

the right one come along.

If they ever do.

Said you'd be comin' back...

At 42, when we filmed Sue

in the karaoke bar,

she brought Glen along

to watch her sing.

Oh, baby

We just met and things are going well,

but now, obviously,

things are going very well.

Well, we've been engaged now

for about...

14 years.

I'm not beating any records,

but it's quite a long time, isn't it, yeah.

Come on!

Jessie, come on!

We're completely different

people.

He's very energetic

and tidy-minded,

and I'm lazy

and completely un...

You're lazy?

I am completely,

absolutely lazy.

Anything you want me

to do?

What about the romance

of getting married?

Yeah, I mean,

I do admit it would be a nice party

and I quite relish the idea

of having everyone round

and having a good old drink

and a celebration.

But I can have

a party anytime.

Who are you on the phone to?

Never you mind.

When I got married,

the primary reason was because

I wanted to have a child.

The two to me went together.

Have you and Glen thought

of having your own child?

Glen would have

made a great dad.

When we first got together,

he sort of asked me

if we could have a family

and all that,

but I felt that I was past it,

to be honest.

I mean, I had two teenagers and didn't want

to do that again.

But he's loved

bringing them up.

Last time we talked about

a bit of tension in that area.

No, I think that was

probably just the age they were

and every family goes

through that.

There was nothing in particular,

I don't think.

It's just the whole part

of growing up, really.

Wasn't easy being

a single mother, was it?

No, it wasn't.

I look back on it now

and I'm just amazed

at how I got through it,

you know.

What was

the toughest part of it?

Probably a combination of not having

enough money to do what you want

and being alone and scared

when things happen

and things go wrong, which they

always do when you've got kids.

You've got no one there

to turn to, you know,

to talk about things

like that.

And you had to work.

Yeah, but I was always

only part-time,

so that I could fit it

around school.

So who was

the biggest help to you

during this whole

single-parent...?

There's no doubt at all,

without my mum and dad,

I would never have survived it.

They were brilliant.

They were really good.

They mean the world to the kids

and they used to look

after them.

Always be there if something happened

and I had to go somewhere.

Yeah, nice, ain't they?

And how

are they doing now?

Yeah, they're fine.

Dad's 80 now.

And mum's 78.

I think I'm so lucky that

they're still reasonably active.

There you go.

That's lovely, that one,

isn't it?

I've still got Katherine

with me

because she hasn't found

anywhere else to go.

I mean, I'm sure she would

love to leave me,

but I love it,

the fact that she's here.

We go shopping

and do girlie things.

Do each other's hair

and things like that,

so I would miss her,

but I know

that she needs to get out

and move on.

Only had to have one filling.

That's about the only thing

that I had done.

What about William?

Well, he went

to Australia for a year.

And he never settled back in,

being independent.

I think it was too much.

Plus his room here

was far too small.

And his computer was bigger

than the room, you know.

So, um...

Yes, he's renting.

It's just so hard for him to

be able to afford something,

so in the future, your kids

are going to be with you

for a long, long time.

But a lot of my work is involved

in making bookings

and dealing with

hotels abroad.

At 21, Sue worked

for a travel agent.

At 35, part-time

for a building society.

Everything's changed for me

because I'm now

supporting myself a lot more

than I was, say, a year ago.

At 42, she went back to work

full-time,

helping to run the courses

in the legal faculty

of Queen Mary College,

University of London.

At 49, she was

the main administrator

for their

post-graduate program.

Do you like

the responsibility?

Yeah, I love

the responsibility.

I think I was born

for the responsibility.

I'm now sort of

the coordinator

of the entire program.

So, sort of "Marge in charge,"

really, of the LLM.

It's like my baby, really.

You know, I've nurtured it from its

small beginnings into what it is now.

Thank you very much.

See you at graduation, yeah?

I really do enjoy it.

I get up of a morning

and I don't ever think, "oh,

I can't face going to work. "

But that happens to a lot of

people, so I'm lucky, really.

Someone's having trouble

downloading this attachment

so I'll take this down

for them.

Sue, you've got

a lot of responsibility.

Is there stress

attached to it?

Sometimes. I mean,

some parts of the year

are busier than others,

and you've got deadlines

to meet.

But then, in a way,

that's good,

because it keeps you

on your toes, you know.

Never get bored.

Where does the life of my

respectable, middle-class mother

overlap with

a working-class slapper

who leaves her illegitimate

child on a church doorstep?

- She was not!

- You don't know!

She was young and frail...

It started not long after

the last program with Tony,

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