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The Town That Never Retired

Deborah Colman

Robert Thirkall

Daisy Goodwin

Nick Hewer

Margaret Mountford

The Town That Never Retired: Episode 2

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Episode 2

BBC One - The Town That Never Retired, Episode 2

The remaining pensioners face competition from genuine young job seekers.

An experiment to send pensioners back into full-time work. The remaining pensioners face competition from genuine young job seekers. Will the bosses decide that youth is best?

Nick Hewer and Margaret Mountford continue their experiment to send 70-something pensioners back into full-time work in the city of Preston to reflect the Government's planned rise in the state pension age.

During the first week there were trays of chocolates on the floor of the factory, arguments between pensioners and younger builders on the construction site and a nurse who couldn't bring herself to give advice against drinking red wine. But some  pensioners who did manage to prove themselves to their bosses during week one have been kept on in their jobs. Now they face a real life challenge. They'll have competition from genuine young job-seekers aged between 18 and 25 who are brought in to work alongside them.

All the youngsters claim to be desperate for jobs and they're around 50 years younger than their pensioner rivals so the older workers will have their work cut out. But once things get started the generation clash brings up more than just a contrast in physical strength. Timekeeping, dress codes, staying power and people skills all go to emphasise the divide and in some cases what one generation can share with the other.

Nick and Margaret keep an eye on the five workplaces as they try to predict whether eager pensioners will have the stamina to last the course and whether the obvious advantage of youth, energy and knowledge of up-to-date technology will be enough to convince bosses that youth is best.

By the end it's hard not to root for some of  the pensioners even though the youngsters are clearly in more need of the jobs. But it's all down to the bosses to decide whether in their eyes workers in their seventies could ever cut it back in the workplace.

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BBC One is a TV channel that started broadcasting on the 20th April 1964. It replaced BBC Television.

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Nick Hewer and Margaret Mountford launch a bold experiment sending retirees back to work.

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