ITVX HAS added a warning to the original 1964 instalment of the landmark documentary series 7 Up, telling viewers the programme “contains outdated attitudes”.

The first film followed 14 seven-year-olds as they talked about class, money, schools and what they thought their futures might look like. The project famously revisited the same group every seven years — and it’s due to reach 70 Up this year.

On the ITVX platform, 7 Up sits under Documentaries & Lifestyle and includes a parental controls link that can be used to block child viewers.

Director Michael Apted, who died in 2021, previously defended the point of the series as a clear-eyed record of the country at the time. He said it was “an attempt to do a long view of English society” and argued “the class system needed a kick up the backside”. Apted also called it “the most important thing” he’d ever done.

The Free Speech Union’s Lord Toby Young weighed in on the warning, saying it “can’t be a surprise to anyone that a 1964 documentary contains outdated attitudes”.

A TV insider also criticised the move, arguing the entire purpose was to capture how Britain thought in 1964 and then watch it change, adding: “These are seven-year-olds talking about girlfriends and boarding school.”