"Seven Up scene-stealer Neil Hughes becomes the series' tragic figure in 21 Up." - Ed Gonzalez

The more footage they have from the previous age cohorts, the better the documentaries get. 21 Up is the first one where we can really start to get some perspective. Plus, the subjects are so much more articulate.

Amazing.

An important instalment for me, because now these "kids" are older than me. They've now become adults; independent, cynical, chain-smoking, depressed adults, most of whom are in relationships that we will not see flourish (whether they were married or not).

Intriguing to no end. Some real opinions are presented now. "The Up Series" concept is a thought provoking look at the social structure.

I'm rating all of these a 90 because I see the experiment as valuable. These are normal people, for the most part, and some are interesting, some are not. Some of them have very bad problems, some don't. The prejudice of the film-maker is obvious, but what captivated me was whether or not we come to know these children, and later adults? I think we do, better than we ever will know Tom Cruise or Lindsay Lohan, no matter how many films they make. For that, for the depth of information, it's a 90.

My favourite 'Up'. Love the (I'd imagine) unintentional villain subplot: Aspiring jockey: "[the movies show that] I'm bad and you're good." Aspiring comic book villain: "Vice versa, I think--" Jockey: "--don't be silly--" Aspiring comic book villain: "--especially in [7 Up]," later followed up by the aspiring comic book villain talking about his moral outrage at people emigrating from England, and the jockey saying "ya gotta kill the guy next t'ya ta get in front of him."

This and 28 Up are the strongest episodes in my opinion, as the twenties seem to be the most formative and turbulent years. John turned out to be a literal version of Tory Boy, what a surprise.

All the privileged kids seem to think this is a tremendous waste of time. And I tend to agree with them. I like Nick though, he's a chill dude.

I remain rather ambivalent. Certain characters are emerging as people whose futures I'm curious about: John the douchebag, Suzy the spoiled little rich girl, Tony the cabbie, Neil the squatter. Others I'm less curious about, although Apted often spends unreasonably long stretches of time with them. This installment does get a leg up in that a larger picture is being drawn, we can see more of a development through these peoples' lives. But there still isn't a ton of compelling material.

Fascinating stuff.

Cf., my review of "49 Up."

Interesting to see the "kids" entering adulthood. Some don't turn out quite like you'd expect, which is interesting.

I find this to be the most satisfying of the Up series as it contains the biggest transformations in the characters from their early teens to their adulthood.

Uses a bit too much archive footage, but otherwise it's fantastic and probably the point where the series really comes into its own. Even the non-answers provide a glimpse into their thoughts and feelings, and while the goal of the series was to compare class influences, which obviously exist, it also shows how differing personalities can affect life outcomes.

It was good but i feel it was a let down considering the potential shown in the last version.

Finally, the participants are now responsible for their own lives. The backgrounds they had and the education they recieved, in some cases, do reflect what they life became, but in others different factors influenced their lives dramatically. This is the point where Apted takes the socio-economic study, which is obviously too difficult to handle in a TV film as one participant mentions, to a whole new existencialist level. Very interesting stuff.

Public schoolboy: "We've been taught to expect more. It's not that we're better qualified." Since the Up series shows its previous footage to its subjects, I've wondered what effect self-observation would have on their lives. I think the answer is: it doesn't qualify them to live bigger than they would've; a doc once every 7 years isn't going to veer them off course. Fascinating to see their adult personas resiliently emerge to deal with classic issues like "How do I make something of myself?"