Introduction
"A most unusual friendship between an ex-football hooligan and
a latin teacher." Tony Grounds, writer, When I'm 64
The generation of baby boomers who danced to rock 'n' roll and gave
the world the 'teenager' have now reached maturity, and in much the
same way as they redefined youth culture in their teens, so they are
changing the goalposts on what it means to be 55+.
Physically and mentally they are healthier than any previous generation,
not to mention richer - they own 80 per cent of the UK's wealth, worth
more than £280bn - than any who came before or who are likely to come
after them, and constitute the fastest growing market for power bikes.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it, granddad. But the picture isn't
all rosy.
Torn between the increased financial burden of caring for elderly parents,
who themselves are living longer, and financially assisting children
or grandchildren who are becoming ever-more dependent, this group have
earned themselves the moniker 'Sandwich Generation' by Mintel.
Into this world come the characters of Tony Grounds' drama for Ö÷²¥´óÐã
TWO, When I'm 64 (Wednesday 4 August at 9.00pm),
which asks whether it is ever too late to make changes in your life
and follow the dreams of youth, and whether being 64 marks not the end
of our lives, but just the beginning.
"When I'm 64 is about this third age," says Grounds, "where, for many,
suddenly you don't have those responsibilities, you don't have a mortgage,
you don't have the kids at home and you don't need to work.
"It's like a gap year later on in life to do whatever you want
to. You get a chance to be more selfish and have time for you."
When widowed cabbie Ray (Paul Freeman) picks up a
fare from the local public school, little does he realise just how much
it will change his world.
His passenger is Jim (Alun Armstrong), a public school
teacher of Latin, who has just retired having been a pupil at the school
he taught at.
As the boys at the school where he works have come and gone, he has
watched the world change and made all sorts of plans from behind the
school gates.
Now the future has arrived he desperately wants to sample life, but
does not know how, or if, he can.
He is determined to do two things with his life: travel and fall in
love.
A former football hooligan, Ray has now settled down to look after
his two grown-up children: his son, Little Ray (Jason Flemyng),
is doing extremely well indeed with a wife who believes he should strive
to do even better; and his daughter, Caz (Tamzin Outhwaite),
who is not as affluent but has created a secure and loving family with
her husband, with a fourth child on its way.
But as the anniversary of his wife's death approaches, Ray too is left
wondering if there's anything more for him other than being the unpaid
baby-sitter.
Despite coming from two very different worlds, Ray and Jim have an
instant rapport - both realise that they're not as old as society would
have them believe and that there's still some life in the old dogs yet,
nose jobs included.
Yet the growing friendship between Ray and Jim threatens Ray's children.
They have their own plans for what Ray should be doing in his retirement,
and spending their birthright isn't one of them.
Little Ray and Caz uncover some uncomfortable truths, and Ray and
Jim have to come to terms with the prejudices of ageism, family loyalty
and love.
"It's Jim's desire to create a 'whole new me' that attracts Ray and
acts as the catalyst," says producer, Pier Wilkie.
"Tony's idea coincided with a story that executive producer, Jessica
Pope, related about a family friend who had made a surprising and life
changing revelation - that he had been having an affair with a man for
ten years, despite being married with children for 30.
"It was important for us in addressing what it means to be in your
sixties in this day and age that we avoided clichés and references to
aching old bones but told a very particular story," she continues.
"The underlying theme that you're never too old to make changes in
your life is universal.
"Jim and Ray take a course they couldn't contemplate in their
youth, but they grasp the opposite now. They don't bow to others' expectations
about how old men should behave."
When I'm 64 is part of Ö÷²¥´óÐã TWO's The Time of Your Life
season, which looks at the shifting perceptions of what it means to
be over 50 and celebrates the wealth of experiences and opportunities
open to this generation.
It includes documentaries, Would Like to Meet… Esther; What I Wish
I'd Known When I Was 20; and Trading Ages.
More details of the season are available at bbc.co.uk/lifestyle.
A Ö÷²¥´óÐã production, When I'm 64 is produced by Pier Wilkie (Residents,
The Debt) and directed by Jon Jones (The Debt, The Alan Clark Diaries).
The executive producers are Ö÷²¥´óÐã Head of Drama Serials, Laura Mackie
and Jessica Pope.
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When I'm 64, Ö÷²¥´óÐã TWO, Wednesday 4 August, 9.00pm
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