Making Sense of the Sixties - Breaking Boundaries, Testing Limits (PBS 1991)

This PBS series on the 1960s was broadcast in 1991 and provides a thorough overview of the decade on six one-hour episodes. The use of over a hundred interviews with a wide range of people is an especially effective device in bringing this decade to life for younger viewers. Among those interviewed are former hippies, social activists, musicians, students, commune members, authors, and parents. Through their reminiscences these now middle-aged men and women reveal a great deal of uniformity - not in politics or philosophy, but in their deeply felt emotions about the period.

Breaking Boundaries, Testing Limits looks at the immense changes in America's youth culture between 1964 and 1968. The Beatles; happiness as a goal in itself, the counterculture of Haight-Ashbury, communes, the alternative press, Eastern religions, and mind-altering drugs are all discussed. Freedom without responsibility, however, could not be sustained - and Woodstock marked the death of the counterculture.

The societal changes begun in the 1960s persist: divorce is more common, couples living together before marriage is a widely accepted phenomenon, curricular reforms continue on college campuses, and earning a lot of money is still seen as the only important career goal.

A large portion of the series can be seen here.

Yidaki: The Sound of the Didgeridoo (2007)

WARNING: THIS FILM CONTAINS THE IMAGES AND WORDS OF DECEASED PEOPLE

Yidaki' or didgeridoo is one of the oldest wind instruments in the world. Djalu Gurruwiwi is an Aboriginal Elder from Gove in the North East Arnhem Land and is the spiritual guardian of this ancient musical instrument. The yidaki is used for sacred Aboriginal Corroboree's and is only played by men. Djalu passes his knowledge down to his son and grandsons, explaining the fundamentals of the required techniques used in finding, making and playing the yidaki. Over half a million yidakis or didgeridoos are sold each year with no information of their historical importance. It is Djalu's responsibility as the custodian of the yidaki that he ensures that the education is passed onto the wider community and is maintained for the next generations. Jack Thompson eloquently narrates this engaging and beautifully filmed documentary.

Music For Misfits - The Story Of Indie, The DIY movement

A look at the development of British indie music, born in the 1970s when the music industry was controlled by the major record labels and releasing a record independently seemed an impossible dream.

BBC Imagine David Bowie Cracked Actor [ 2013]

To mark David Bowie's comeback album and a new exhibition, Alan Yentob looks back at his legendary 1975 documentary, Cracked Actor. The film follows Bowie during the Diamond Dogs tour of 1974. The film has become one of the classic rock documentaries of all time, remaining an enduring influence on generations of Bowie fans.