1970: The Office Christmas Party | Man Alive | Classic BBC Documentary | BBC Archive

It can be the greatest pitfall of the social year. And it can be followed by a 12-month hangover. If your boss hasn't spoken to you since, it's a fair bet that you had a good time at your office Christmas party. Traditionally, it's the one night of the year when the firm's hierarchical structure, that normally so rigidly holds sway, totters towards anarchy.

Reporter Gillian Strickland and the Man Alive team took a typical office and filmed the preparations for the annual party, the spree itself, and the aftermath. Here is the answer to every question a stay-at-home partner has ever asked; and here is the party from differing points of view: the young secretary in her first job; the executive who doesn't want to drink with the people he works with; the lady in accounts who once knew a more elegant style of party giving - and the bosses who foot the bill.


Clip taken from Man Alive, originally broadcast on BBC Two, 4 February, 1970.





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