Starting Out

📺ITV Schools

companyATV & Central

started19th Sep 1973

ended13th Feb 1992

last rpt25th Mar 1994(as part of Off Limits)

21 school years

episodes56

duration20 mins, 15 mins, 30 mins & 25 mins

subject ⚖️CitizenshipCitizenship, Careers & PSHE

age rangeAge 13-16

languageenIn English

15 images from Starting Out

Starting Out is an ITV schools TV series from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, covering citizenship, careers and PSHE for secondary school pupils.

Serialised dramas about the decisions and relationships of adolescents, designed for pupils who are coming to the end of their school life and starting out in the adult world.

A completely new drama, unrelated to the ones which had come before, was produced every 3 years, so that the series always remained relevant to the latest set of school leavers.

The series addressed serious issues and contained some strong content, increasingly so as the series went on. Some of the serials were previewed for adults late at night, sometimes months before the schools transmission. However in keeping with this site's convention it is the first broadcasts for schools that are listed below.

Titles

• 

  Series 2 (1976)

• 

  Series 4 (1982)

• 

  Series 5 (1986)

• 

  Series 6 (1989)

• 

  Series 7 (1992)

Series 1 (1973)

10 episodes about three girls, their boyfriends, and their families.

#	Title	Broadcast
1.	You're Really Leaving?	19 Sep 1973
2.	Blind Date	26 Sep 1973
3.	I Married Her	3 Oct 1973
4.	You All Right, Man?	10 Oct 1973
5.	I Know To Knock Before I Go In	17 Oct 1973
6.	Dad, It's Mum!	24 Oct 1973
7.	Just Making a Few Enquiries	7 Nov 1973
8.	Suppose Your Mum Finds Out	16 Nov 1973
9.	There Was This Letter	23 Nov 1973
10.	When Someone's Died	30 Nov 1973

Written by	Catherine Storr
Advisers	Peter McPhail Jasper Ungoed-Thomas
Producer	Philip Grosset
Director	Jonathan Wright-Miller

Series 2 (1976)

10 episodes about a group of teenagers who meet a young man who is on probation.

#	Title	Broadcast
1.	I'm New Here, You See	22 Sep 1976
2.	Anyone'd Think You Owned the House...	29 Sep 1976
3.	Not Just a Smack, You Know	6 Oct 1976
4.	What's the Good of Being Clever	13 Oct 1976
5.	Proper Sort of Mother You Are	20 Oct 1976
6.	I'm Not Forty Yet	3 Nov 1976
7.	You Look Different	10 Nov 1976
8.	I Wouldn't Have Thought She Was Your Style	17 Nov 1976
9.	We Trusted You	24 Nov 1976
10.	Who's Bill?	1 Dec 1976

Written by	Catherine Storr
Adviser	Graham Sellors
Produced & directed by	David Dunn

Series 3 (1980)

10 episodes about a teenage couple and their families, and the consequences of their actions.

This series was originally scheduled to be broadcast for schools in autumn 1979, but the long ITV strike that term caused it to be postponed. This was the first time Starting Out had been broadcast in the spring term.

#	Title	Broadcast
1.	Brotherly Love Part 1	14 Jan 1980
2.	Brotherly Love Part 2	21 Jan 1980
3.	Love Story Part 1	28 Jan 1980
4.	Love Story Part 2	4 Feb 1980
5.	Football Crazy Part 1	11 Feb 1980
6.	Football Crazy Part 2	25 Feb 1980
7.	Them and Us Part 1	3 Mar 1980
8.	Them and Us Part 2	10 Mar 1980
9.	Happy Ending Part 1	17 Mar 1980
10.	Happy Ending Part 2	24 Mar 1980

Written by	Ben Steed Dave Simpson Sheila Yeger
Adviser	Pat Woodfine
Produced & directed by	David Dunn

Series 4 (1982)

5 episodes about a step family starting a new life in a new area.

#	Title	Broadcast
1.	Family Affairs	21 Sep 1982
2.	Differing Attitudes	28 Sep 1982
3.	Living It Up	5 Oct 1982
4.	Crime and Punishment	12 Oct 1982
5.	Them and Us	19 Oct 1982

Written by	Grazyna Monvid
Adviser	Pat Woodfine
Produced & directed by	Geoff Husson

Series 5 (1986)

8 episodes about an inner-city youth club and the young people who go there.

#	Title	Broadcast
1.	Escapes	9 Jan 1986
2.	To Be or Not To Be	16 Jan 1986
3.	Prejudice	23 Jan 1986
4.	Taken on Trust	30 Jan 1986
5.	Arrangements	6 Feb 1986
6.	All Right for Some	13 Feb 1986
7.	As Good as You Get	27 Feb 1986
8.	Life and Death	6 Mar 1986

Written by	Grazyna Monvid
Adviser	Pat Woodfine
Produced & directed by	Geoff Husson

Series 6 (1989)

8 episodes about a family and the trouble that their son has got into.

#	Title	Broadcast
1.	A Piece of the Cake	11 Jan 1989
2.	It's Never Black and White	18 Jan 1989
3.	Sanjay	25 Jan 1989
4.	Commercial Breaks	1 Feb 1989
5.	Mr Christie	8 Feb 1989
6.	Killers	15 Feb 1989
7.	As Seen on TV	22 Feb 1989
8.	Judgements	1 Mar 1989

Written by	Anthony Horowitz
Adviser	Pat Woodfine
Produced & directed by	Geoff Husson

Series 7 (1992)

5 episodes about a boy and a girl who both run away from home for different reasons.

#	Title	Broadcast
1.	Tom and Gerry	16 Jan 1992
2.	Sara's Story	23 Jan 1992
3.	On the Road	30 Jan 1992
4.	Showdown	6 Feb 1992
5.	Home to Roost	13 Feb 1992

Written by	Grazyna Monvid
Adviser	Pat Woodfine
Produced & directed by	Geoff Husson

Related programmes

• The Time of Your LifeATV's previous serial drama for school leavers, from 1971
• Scene: Sweet SeventeenA drama written by Grazyna Monvid for the BBC's Scene series, similar in style & content to Starting Out
• Off LimitsChannel 4's replacement series for age 14+ occasionally included dramas

Links

• Starting Out (British TV Series) on Wikipedia
• British Film Institute Collections for Starting Out
• Starting Out on the Internet Movie Database

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