Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.

My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.

As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.

What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,

poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.

If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds.

This is the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service with me Bethanhead.

And today we're traveling back in time to 1974 and an early experiment in reality TV in the UK.

Simply called The Family, this fly-on-the-wall documentary series

first aired in April 1974 on the BBC.

The series followed the

The series followed the Wilkins family

who lived in the English town of Reading.

It gives us a chance to portray ordinary people.

The world be people will object to your behaviour.

People don't have to listen to us.

Marion Wilkins, now Archer, was the eldest daughter in the family.

At the time, Marion was engaged to Tom Burns who later became her husband

in their televised wedding. Marion Wilkins age 19 is Tom's fiance, a fully trained

manager-ress of a lady's hair salon, she has lived with Tom on and off for three years.

From the offset, it dealt with controversial topics such as Marion living with her boyfriend before marriage. I'd already

left home, moved in with Tom which was you know absolutely terrible in that day.

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