BBC Documentaries

Milton Keynes & Me (2017x211)

Air date: Aug 16, 2017

Is Milton Keynes a soulless place or a utopian dream? It might be famous as the home of roundabouts and concrete cows, but it's also one of the most ambitious experiments in social engineering. The famous new town is about to turn 50 and so is documentary maker Richard Macer, who grew up there. This film brings the two of them back together as Macer returns to the place he left at 18 and seeks to revaluate a town he always felt a bit embarrassed by. These days MK has one of the fastest-growing economies in the country and huge approval ratings from the people who live there. But for many years it's been the butt of the nation's jokes and seen only as a concrete jungle. What's the reality of MK? Is there a chance that Macer might discover a different Milton Keynes to the one he left behind?