If only we'd known.

Date:
1979
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Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

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Credit

If only we'd known. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). Source: Wellcome Collection.

About this work

Description

An educational film aimed at schoolgirls about teenage pregnancy. Features four dramatised sequences: in the first, Debbie, a 16-year-old teenager confides in her friend Linda that she is pregnant; they discuss what she should do. In the second, another pregnant teenage girl sees a doctor about her pregnancy. In the third, Debbie chats to a fellow pregnant woman at the clinic about having children. In the fourth, the pregnant woman from the clinic is seen at home with her husband, who is unsympathetic to her pregnancy. 4 segments.

Publication/Creation

UK : Health Education Council, 1979.

Physical description

1 encoded moving image (22.49 min.) : sound, color

Duration

00:22:49

Copyright note

Crown copyright, managed by BFI.

Terms of use

Unrestricted
CC-BY-NC
Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 2.0 UK: England & Wales

Language note

In English

Creator/production credits

Made by Worldwide, written and directed by Michael Bakewell and produced by Peter Bradford. Made for the Spastics Society and the Health Education Council.

Notes

This video was made from material preserved by the BFI National Archive

Contents

Segment 1 Part One of the film is called 'Debbie and Linda'. Debbie is seen walking to Linda's house for advice about her suspected pregnancy. Linda is also pregnant. They talk in the kitchen; they discuss telling the father, having an abortion, having an illegal 'backstreet' abortion, and telling Debbie's parents. They mostly discuss going to the doctor's; Linda has not been to the doctor about her own pregnancy as she does not trust them. She advises Debbie not to see a doctor. The scene ends and the actors are heard in voiceover discussing whether Linda really gave Debbie good advice. Time start: 00:00:00:00 Time end: 00:06:17:04 Length: 00:06:17:04
Segment 2 Another scene begins at a doctor's surgery. Another teenage girl suspects she is pregnant and goes to the doctor for an examination. He examines her; she is pregnant. They discuss what she should do, and he advises her to tell her parents, but says that everything between them is confidential. Time start: 00:06:17:04 Time end: 00:11:25:01 Length: 00:05:07:22
Segment 3 Part Two of the film is called 'Clinic Talk'. Debbie is at the clinic waiting for her boyfriend to pick her up. She chats to another pregnant woman about various aspects of pregnancy. They discuss Debbie's parents' and boyfriend's reactions to the news, how difficult it is to be a working mother, vaccinations and how hard it is to give up smoking and fatty foods. Debbie's boyfriend arrives and they talk in the car about telling his parents about the pregnancy. Time start: 00:11:25:01 Time end: 00:17:27:07 Length: 00:06:02:06
Segment 4 The pregnant woman from the clinic arrives home and talks to her husband. The doctors have told her to rest and to quit smoking and drinking alcohol. She tells her husband these things and he is not very sympathetic. He tells her she must work until the very last minute as they need the money, and that he wants to go out to the pub that night with her. He also tells her to stop going to the clinic as they tend to worry her. The scene ends and the husband is heard in voiceover asking the viewer to think about what happened, and whether the husband was really helping his wife out. Time start: 00:17:27:07 Time end: 00:22:49:08 Length: 00:05:22:01

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Languages

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