BBC Documentaries
When Shoulderpads Ruled The World (2002x32)
: 20, 2002
When Shoulderpads Ruled The World glorifies everything 1980s, the "go for it" decade, when big was best. It was a time of excess, glamour and gloss, when if you had it you absolutely flaunted it and everyone 'walked with shoulderpads'. There was no greater inspiration for everything 80s than the American supersoaps - Dallas and Dynasty. Dallas provided TV's greatest cliff-hanger ever when the nation was obsessed with Who Shot JR? Dynasty gave us the biggest shoulderpads of the 80s, and the ultimate superbitch Alexis Carrington (played by Joan Collins). And here in Blighty there was a home grown supersoap - but rather than oil it was set in the unlikely world of boatbuilding - Howards Way. Greed was celebrated in the movie Wall Street and men were inspired to push up their sleeves by Don Johnson in Miami Vice.
Interviewees include from Dallas "JR" - Larry Hagman; "Cliff Barnes" - Ken Kercheval; "Lucy Ewing" - Charlene Tilton; "Kristen" - Mary Crosby; and from Dynasty - "Sable Colby" - Stephanie Beacham; "Adam Carrington" - Gordon Thomson; "Steven Carrington" - Jack Coleman. Also including supersoap fans Terry Wogan and Dale Winton; from the movie Wall Street, Martin Sheen and from Miami Vice "Tubbs" - Philip Michael Thomas.
