I watched this entire series in December. It's a recently released 5 DVD set tracking the life progress of a group of English people from the age of 7, through every 7th year thereafter. The first film was done in 1963 (I believe), so this year the filmmaker should be working on "49 Up" with the same people.
This is a fascinating series. In the DVD commentary for 42 Up, the director, Michael Apted, talks at some length about the series, its origins, and the people involved. It was originally a one-off TV episode of a left-leaning current affairs show, giving examples of children from the upper, middle, and working classes, letting them talk about their (quite divergent) life expectations. It frequently used the quote "show me the child at seven and I'll show you the man" and questioned if this would be true.
Somehow Apted decided to soldier on and check in with the same people throughout their lives. It is fascinating to see them age, choose spouses and careers, move, have children ...
Two of the upper class boys knew at seven exactly what they wanted to do with their lives, and executed on that plan. Surely this was actually following in their fathers' footsteps / living up to their fathers' expectations. Still, interesting to see it all happen according to plan. Two others seem like social recluses, living in the countryside, not facing the camera, at 14 and you wonder what their life prospects will bring. Not what you might think. The working class children definitely have fewer opportunities in subsequent life, so to some extent the proposition of the original show bears out.
I highly recommend this series.
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