1982: BOB HOSKINS: London is being "Sterilised by greed" | Omnibus | Classic TV report | BBC Archive

[@fatwalletboy2]

That line from Bob hits hard...."keep treating people like crap theyre gunna turn into crap".....Bob could understand what was going on......fair play too for a man who despite his own success still cared about community.

[@trainrover]

cleptoparasitism now celebrates its emergence

[@v.o.r]

@@trainrover How?

[@trainrover]

WTF must it be about either their germ- or warfare thatcher missing, pray tell, hmmm...?

[@v.o.r]

@@trainrover Flaptulated germintine!

[@trainrover]

something about V.o.R's kniption might've displeased even the cuckoos, coz it's been scrubbed

[@SirAmicVarze]

How depressing that it's been 40 years and this problem has only gotten worse and worse.

[@bittasweetsymphony726]

what problem are you refering to?

[@famalam943]

LTNs, ULEZ, the total cutting off of areas of London for people rich enough to live there. Khan has ruined London.

[@mojonojo3]

@@famalam943 would have said Livingstone & Johnson were worse.

[@famalam943]

@@mojonojo3 they didn’t literally block off entire areas of London for yuppies and the ulez is much worse than CC. So for me, though there’s a lot of criticism, I’d take either over Khan and the Labour councils any day.

[@mojonojo3]

@@famalam943 ROFL. Congestion charging was introduced by Livingston and expanded twice under Johnson. ULEZ is an expansion of that tax scheme. It's revenue raising for the London assembly.

[@zsht]

As a 90s baby Londoner, it's crazy to know that Waterloo once housed families. Development can kill communities overnight.

[@mojonojo3]

I lived in waterloo for over a decade, it was a wonderful place to live.

[@Lee_303]

My blind uncle lived in Islington, when I came to help him move out he somehow left his keys in the flat & locked us out.... practically everyone nearby from the block all rallied round to help & managed to locate the caretaker, on a Sunday. Londoners are great people, they look out for each other, even in the tower blocks. London needs to give back to the Londoners.

[@ondolite3789]

@@mojonojo3 I have lived in Waterloo for 30 years. Not great!

[@mojonojo3]

​@@ondolite3789 I lived on Nelson Sq, Loved it, and Lower Marsh & The Cut during the early 2000s, the area really changed as soon as the Tate, and the new southwark tube station opened.

[@ondolite3789]

@@mojonojo3 Just brought a delicious Ethiopian (not literally) on Lower Marsh before a gentle workout in Archbishop Park so, not all doom and gloom!

[@kramnam4716]

Loved him. I passed him on the street one day. Our eyes met, he gave me a huge smile and a nod, nothing said. Beautiful fella.

[@dennisvanoord3278]

@@turbotrout8216Doesn’t mean he couldn’t have met him one day

[@davidh503]

I literally would have died. He was the cutest bear ever to walk the face of the earth.

[@Thenameonthegraveisarchstanton]

@@turbotrout8216 and…..

[@willrueb9573]

I had no idea Bob Hoskins was so involved with his London community. You can tell he's lived and breathed his country's heritage.

[@AntaresBottia]

Was a regular guy. I worked with his cousin, very grounded family

[@CARLIN4737]

No just London. He didnt know anything or anywhere else. so many idiots posting comments without thought.including you.

[@suedenim6590]

He was a legend. So outspoken and critical although it would cost him work

[@DelosFive]

He was a normal cockney way before he was an actor.

[@pedazodetorpedo]

​@@DelosFivenot Cockney, he grew up in North London.

[@DenkyManner]

"Sterilised by greed" is precisely what has happened to London. It's too expensive for anything interesting to survive here now. There's no point going into central London because there's nothing there if you want to do anything other than look at buildings from the outside. Pubs are obscenely expensive, independent shops are all but gone. Soho is almost dead. It's just a business machine, not a place for people to live. Working class or just poor artists have been stamped out by greed.

[@AColonelPanic]

NYC, particularly Manhattan has experienced this as well. I moved out of NYC because i couldn't afford it anymore 😞

[@Eralen00]

This is pretty much happening everywhere, just that London seems to be among the first and the worst places for it. Almost all media also is being "sterilized by greed" - movies, music, video games etc. Everything now is about making the biggest profit possible with the least investment in time, resources and effort

[@Emulous79]

@@Eralen00 It's sickening. I've become a literal hermit and refuse to engage anymore.

[@lohphat]

As with San Francisco, as with New York. The money has poisoned the cities by killing economic diversity. Now it's just for rich people pushing out the working classes which staff the stores and restaurants the rich want to frequent. SF is a ghost town compared to what it was in the early 1990s. New buildings of expensive condos no one is buying.

[@Emulous79]

@@lohphat Unregulated capitalism has put the western world out of balance.

[@andrewmurray5542]

"People are secondary to property" Nothing has changed

[@daveruda]

@@124Outdoor property is owned by oligarchs instead of Londoners

[@TristanBanks]

@@124Outdoor how to say a lot without saying anything at all

[@124Outdoor]

@@TristanBanks Yeah, must have been baked when I wrote that. Hope your comment made you feel good though. Enjoy your moment.

[@gettinoveritgettinoverit1062]

@andrewmurray5542/// 😮 Property & W-Y Xenomorphs

[@EmptyGlass99]

When he says 'Mars Bar' that's cockney rhyming slang for 'scar' - and he's not wrong.

[@jamesjameson4566]

@@Mickyway I think in this case he did Michael

[@nickyfield137]

Ah, traditional rhyming slang !

[@MrAlistar99]

@@jamesjameson4566 nah he used it twice

[@jamesjameson4566]

@@MrAlistar99 yeah I know

[@krob2327]

I don’t like cities for this reason. Too many high rise buildings. Londoners get very sensitive if you question their city aha

[@virtualstatman]

I just wish this clip were longer. Listening to Bob Hoskins’ passionate and informed defence of London is such a delight, especially in our modern age of bland soundbites and press releases that have to be vetted by the comms department. Bob keeps it real and I’m having this all day.

[@YuuNeek]

It was long enough 😆

[@Pulsonar]

I think Bob Hoskins would’ve made a great Mayor of London had his movie career not been so successful. This doc was a few years before his famous Oscar winning movie Mona Lisa took him off to Hollywood in the mid 80s. I’m flabbergasted by his London knowledge, about the backstreets, every drainpipe and sewer to gleaming skyscraper city office window panels, from dockside labourer to multi billion corporate magnates and cartels, from estate management to city finance and investment, etc… and his take on the shady politics behind it all. The man was a genuine diamond geezer in every respectful sense of the word.

[@glowing571]

Well said. He appeared to be someone who truly knew the city and the communities inside out and actually cared about what happened to them. I think he would have made an outstanding London mayor.

[@Paul-md8de]

The great Bob Hoskins should have been an MP , the working class needs people like him to speak truth to power .

[@madMARTYNmarsh1981]

@Jack Warner it's all about money mate. They get in office with good intentions and then the brown padded envelopes start to appear on their desks and they lose their way. I'm sure many of them go into office expecting and hoping for those envelopes too, especially now days.

[@royalbloodedledgend]

Yuck, the “working class”

[@athelstan927]

All too late.. the fight went with it..

[@Deleted11100]

We had Corbyn in the palm of our hands, but the thick, uneducated muppets of this country voted for boris over him, because they thought he was a terrorist 🤣 this country is beyond embarrassing

[@PeachesandCream225]

@@royalbloodedledgend yuck the “owning class”

[@TRIPPLEJAY00]

Shame Bob isn't about to say "I told you so."

[@maratonlegendelenemirei3352]

Why didn't you piss and moan about your own freedom when it was taken away 2 years ago hmmm??? Give your head a wobble winkle!

[@twcmaker]

True.. Sad state

[@heresjohnny602]

Oh please London has been plagued by greed for centuries now, there's always been a disproportionately rich and powerful community there that has put other less fortunate members of the population to work for them to build their playground.

[@haeuptlingaberja4927]

@@heresjohnny602 Yeah, and? That's a bit like saying there's always been wealth inequality, so what difference does it make that this inequality is now on steroids and that the wealth gap is now accelerating like never before in human history?

[@heresjohnny602]

@@haeuptlingaberja4927 Yeah and ? 😂😂 it means Bob didn't "tell us" anything new, the "gap" as you put it has always been there (steroid imagery not withstanding)....it's not growing it's just stupid people like you are now opening their eyes to the fact that the medieval system that allows a few to fatten themselves off the backs of the many has been going on forever....."yeah and. ?" The childs equivalent of "yeah but"....🤭

[@jamesgravil9162]

I lived in London for twelve years. Left last year after suffering a mental breakdown. It's not a healthy place to live if you're on your own and not making bags of money.

[@simondjangothe4349]

Best wishes to you James, I hope that you are recovering and now in a better place. Good luck for the future👍

[@jamesjameson4566]

And English

[@theSPUDereHD]

Where did you move to, out of interest?

[@jamesgravil9162]

@@theSPUDereHD A quiet country village in Derbyshire.

[@theSPUDereHD]

@@jamesgravil9162 sounds nice - glad you’re doing better

[@TachyonKing]

Bob was 100% on the mark here- he knew what was going on, not by some foresight, but because he read into it- he understood what the big property developers were up to and wasnt afraid to call them out on it.

[@RickP2012]

Back in the days when the BBC could still be critical of government policy.

[@bobrew461]

When did you last watch the BBC? Back in the early '80s? :-0

[@tankthelord1178]

Agreed, say anything bad about them now then you either get a knock on the door, your window smashed or your phone line tapped.

[@fraggsta]

@@tankthelord1178 That just isn't true. The BBC is constantly criticizing the government.

[@WioWio-sf5pc]

today they are pushing feminist/cancel culture/multi ethnic agenda

[@fraggsta]

@@WioWio-sf5pc It's interesting, I talk to other people online who say exactly the opposite, that the BBC is pushing an anti-feminist, transphobic, racist agenda. It obviously can't be doing both, but there seem to be a lot of people who have a rather strange view of what the BBC is doing.

[@jonathangarrison]

So, in addition to having been a brilliant actor, Bob Hoskins was also a premier London tour guide and historian? Absolutely fascinating. The love and enthusiasm he expresses for London is infectious.

[@raylder6339]

I feel what you’re saying. I think this is a campaign piece but his knowledge of history feels like a passionately narrated documentary.

[@williamgeorgelopezjunior8533]

Don’t forget “activist”

[@lg_believe333]

The sad reality is, most of those side streets and turnings, beside the river Thames, which belonged to Londoners at one time, and their communities are now closed off to ordinary folk, turned into plush offices and expensive real estate for wealthy investors, who don’t live in them most of the time. Destroying the character of London, at the price of losing its soul.

[@Tmuk2]

I'm sorry but that's wrong - you can walk all along the river on both sides - Hays Wharf is still there but converted into restaurants and shops, the same with Shad Thames.

[@trainrover]

I'd apologise to yourself instead were I you, coz your wilful blindness at calibrating cleptoparasitic corporateria into ordinariness's gonna fuckingly bitecha...!

[@Tmuk2]

@Bill Haha, he's edited his post to change what he originally said. Pretty pathetic.

[@ummerfarooq5383]

@@Tmuk2 any primary schools there?

[@jimcowan6472]

Wrong. It’s all open up now; a vibrant bustling area. You can walk the whole length of the south bank all along to Woolwich..called the Thames path and it’s great.

[@arsenal10141014]

Bob was on the money. Over developed. London is losing it’s identity to residential blocks that look like they are in Dubai.

[@EdekLay]

Losing? You mean lost?

[@euchrideucrow1970]

@@EdekLay Exactly. It lost all identity many years ago.

[@micheledibenedetto7780]

Bring back snouting in boozers for starters

[@darrelltregear3571]

Not just London this is globalization it doesn't just stop at brick and mortar it's now attacking the British culture it's self.

[@krob2327]

Agreed. London has embraced globalism which means goodbye white working class

[@kreggur2864]

This is filmed so well. Lots of Bob Hoskins just walking and talking about the issues and it feels so natural. None of it feels scripted at all.

[@hopefulpellinore5490]

This hurts to watch. Well spoken Mr. Hoskins. I hope with all my heart that you and all those who passed on since the making of this video, with their hopes and dreams dashed by greed, are getting to enjoy an unspoiled spot of natural beauty by a nice river somewhere. Rest in peace.

[@spookybaba]

And they were the days when people could burn buildings down, unseen.

[@dannyward673]

He was spot on ole Bob. I’m an east ender many generations down the line and my daughter born and raised cannot afford to live in the area and she’s a hard working secondary school teacher on the manor. It’s absolute criminal what’s happening.

[@nazbrit]

Sorry this has happened to your daughter Took the DLR from Canary Wharf to the Excel centre, and the conductor confirmed the exorbitant prices of local flats. They were ugly too and full of traffic!

[@johnwoodhead5950]

Legal thieving, it's extremely subtle and it's not without some benefits to a few, but it is still legal thieving and it's government backed

[@yemalad1.]

I found this fascinating. Bob seemed very intelligent and obviously proud if his city. Thanks for uploading.

[@CARLIN4737]

yes he was proud of London now we are ashamed.

[@Anthony_Stockton09]

@@CARLIN4737ashamed?

[@simonhodgetts6530]

I loved Bob Hoskins - such a great actor! His passion for London shines through in this piece. I also miss England in this form, prior to the over development and gentrification we see now……..the ordinary person has been pushed out of areas in the name of financial gain ever since. A great shame.

[@paulcolville5972]

True, and continues today in all of our large cities. There is no end to it. Apparently it's called progress you know. Sad.

[@jjs3287]

And worse even than that is the subsequent attitude towards the (mostly white) working class who used to live there.

[@spidyman8853]

Call it progress, gentrification or call it development, when ordinary people get priced out of the areas they grew up in, to me, this is called Greed plain and simple.

[@richardburns5925]

Gentrification means social cleansing. You either have gentrification or urban decay. Why can't you have democratisation? It's all about money and big business, why have social housing, working man's social clubs and greasy spoons, when you can sweep all that away, rebuild, gentrify, charge more for everything? Best to sweep anything working class away, including housing, then the yuppies have nothing to compare their expensive boxes to! Get rid of the social clubs, cafes, open expensive bars and delis instead. By virtue of something being expensive, it's got to be better you see.

[@reginaldforthright805]

And mass immigration

[@McFraneth]

"Keep treating the people like crap and they turn into crap." Thirty years on and it's true.

[@VintageLifeCars]

Dumbing down.

[@McFraneth]

@@VintageLifeCars Absolutely. The long game. That and closing down libraries and underfunding education. Tactics of fascism. The EU is a fascist entity serving corporations and we are its hostages.

[@MohamedAli-cy4qs]

40 years

[@lmusima3275]

40 years plus onwards I’ve been to Tower Bridge lately. It’s a lot different from what we see in this video. Bob is correct. He saw 40 years into the future, regenerated buildings, luxury homes at high prices

[@dismith73]

Robert William Hoskins 26 October 1942 - 29 April 2014 Barry Leslie Norman 21 August 1933 - 30 June 2017

[@jol0973]

This is fascinating. People objecting to big business being able to speak freely on TV. It's like another dimension.

[@ΑναστάσιοςΠαπαζαχαρίου]

That was before the 1984 simulator we live in right now.

[@arostwocents]

Fascism was only just starting in 84. Remember that socialist Britain had only ended in the 70s, when the oil crisis and thatcher broke the working class and deindustrialised as we adopted US neo liberal economics.

[@arostwocents]

Fascism is now so deeply within every part of power and our society and reflected in everything including mass migration and 90% are too stupid to see the reasons behind what is happening, even as their homes and standard of living is taken from them due to the population explosion meaning noone can afford to live in even small towns

[@arostwocents]

Grinding down wages due to migrants also ruins everything in society as when people have no money, businesses cannot run. When the minimum wage rises, profits increase as people have more money. Now, all people's money goes to rentier landlords. Mass migration was something Labour was against when they cared for the working class.

[@jgmediting7770]

It as only 3 years into the capitalist revolution.

[@Macho_Fantastico]

I would've loved to take a tour of London with Bob, what a legend.

[@sujatadasroy4269]

Not sure he would love London as much now though sadly . It's lost all of its soul

[@uppercut2246]

“Those who are able to see beyond the shadows and lies of their culture will never be understood, let alone believed, by the masses.” ― Plato

[@patkearney9320]

Bob was a working class hero he knows what’s happening look how wise and sharp RIP BOB HOSKINS.

[@WolfTrap1000]

Crazy seeing as this was made in 82 how quickly London has gone to shite!

[@spanishpeaches2930]

How many stabbings did we have per month , in London, in 1982 ?

[@garethjames1300]

Not as many as now so what is that?

[@hmq9052]

@@spanishpeaches2930 We did have mass unemployment though.

[@growlerthe2nd712]

THATCHERISM .

[@spanishpeaches2930]

@@hmq9052 This is true, but that was an effect of the total overhaul of the country. Seventies Britain was an absolute shitehole when the unions were running the country and we had to be bailed out by the EMU/IMF to keep us afloat. Before you think i am a Tory , I'm not, nor Labour.

[@cheapskateninja2655]

I met Bob several times and he was a lovely guy, really down to earth. The last time I saw him he was wandering around Harley Street London in his dressing gown and slippers, he wasn't well at that time I think his brain was going sadly, I forgot to say though that he was a true English man and he really loved London with all his heart! although he was born in Suffolk he was brought up in Finsbury Park I believe from a baby. This amazing man although small in stature could do everything, sing, dance and do gymnastics too! R.I.P Robert, you are not forgotten and are still much loved.

[@maaretrahkonen7706]

Now we need a dokumentary on him.

[@philjamesakaowlman6230]

Excellent actor, much missed and clearly an intelligent person, some great performances obv, the long good Friday and mona Lisa, playing tough but vulnerable characters, but also felicias journey, twenty four seven, Brazil and the uneven but nicely observed room for romeo brass.

[@philjamesakaowlman6230]

Also r.i.p Barry norman,

[@Elcore]

Damn that's sad if true. There's a lot of dignity in that, isn't there? Going out like a raspberry ripple.

[@caaaaats9890]

I cannot fathom that Waterloo looked like THAT all cosy and everything - there were communities living there?! It just looks touristy, cold and officey now. Gentrification is horrific, and I see it happening everywhere in London 😭

[@huss1205]

Saw him rarely in some movies, but now I have respect for the man for being so caring for his people, and that fame and money didn't change him...

[@paulblack8887]

There is a sublime aspect to famous, talented, articulate people expositing on their passions and concerns for the atomized inarticulate masses, who are prey to the power structures of their age. RIP Bob

[@wiegraf9009]

The residents weren't even atomized they just weren't rich enough to fight off the powerful

[@paulblack8887]

@@wiegraf9009 he is describing atomization throughout. The idea of atomization is disconnection from social structures and identity, which is useful for power structures, the dissolving of Londons myriad neighborhoods and class identities being the case in point. Thanks for playing, better luck next time.

[@kenneth2656]

Bob was right Londoners were sold down the river excuse the pun, and that continues today, the sheer greed of the city boys investment houses and property developers asset stripped the homes and future of Londoners many of whom had lived and worked there for generations.

[@mikeymc3094]

It’s happened in all the big city’s Inner city housing estates were the scourge of every city Now they’re all goin To Be replaced with offices nobody needs an unaffordable housing

[@Oathie1]

I must say, this BBC channel is a revelation. Some really interesting videos, and this is no exception. Times haven't changed much, and the insidious creep of pseudo-public space (actually owned by corporations) is one of London's biggest problems today.

[@tobywardrop6870]

The BBC are anti British and even then they were involved

[@lewis5384]

Thames TV is also another really great channel that is similar

[@tobywardrop6870]

Walter Williams: Why the Founders Did Not Want a Democracy A must watch, even though it's america but in all reality no difference

[@joachimmacdonald2702]

The amount of times I’ve been turfed out of places that look, feel and aught to be public squares by private security In london is quite shocking

[@conradmason87]

Forced and unwanted immigration on the indigenous population was/is the biggest killer.

[@RetroGamebloke]

When the BBC was actually reporting in a non-biased way. All true and still going on today it seems. Kudos to Bob Hoskins for seeing it back then!

[@RetroGamebloke]

@IIWII What I meant with my post is that these days, the BBC presenter would probably add their own views to the discussion. Back then they just reported the stuff, or at least tried to. Not saying everything was perfect back then, far from it :) Bob Hoskins probably lived with the views he is stating (from people close to him) for a long time before making it as an actor. The presenter at least didn't try to talk over him with his views and for that, I have to give it a plus.

[@SimonHorrocks]

BBC wouldn't be allowed to make this program now

[@joechapman8208]

The BBC now would brand him and everyone else in this clip the "hard left", and bring on some people to call them "enemies of progress". You know, for balance.

[@bobrew461]

@@SimonHorrocks Bullshit! You didn't see the Panorama show about gentrification in the north AND south of england, just a few months ago.

[@lutherblissett9070]

He'd be called a "champagne socialist" by the usual suspects if this was made today.

[@peterwilson5528]

The 1980s were a tough time. I was born in London and was in chaos everywhere, it was a bad feeling everywhere that Thatcher touched. We just could not take living in the slum dwellings, and joblessness. I had loved a holiday in the Lake District as a child and the wife had been in love with Scotland after a Scottish holiday she had as a child. We found a house exchange to the West Highlands packed our belongings into a van and headed North. People in Scotland were so kind. We arrived jobless, moneyless, and with not much else. 1983 began in Lochaber with heavy snow. falls. Then vanished and it was the most beautiful long summer and from our house window was Ben Nevis. Oh, Scotland you glorious place. There are few places on this planet as stunning as Western Scotland. But I can say that the Scottish people are what makes Scotland so great. London was lost a long time ago.

[@Spookieham]

Barry Norman was a great presenter and interviewer wasn't he? He just let's Bob take the lead and drive the conversation this time as it's a subject Bob was passionate and informed about.

[@Geffo555]

This is brilliant. Bob and Barry. And a London lost in time. Oh man, I miss so much.

[@ExileGilby64]

I went on a river tour of the Thames a few years back, the guide gave excellent history about most buildings along the river that are now luxury apartments... Was very sad.

[@scottblack9213]

So endearing to see the passion this man has.. born and bred in London, this great town and the love he has for his town.

[@carlgrove8793]

It was in the 80s that I first noticed the new buildings going up everywhere, especially in my favourite place, Charing Cross Road. Almost all of them removed forever some of the little book shops that gave the road its character. I think there must have been around 20 - 30 book shops in those days -- now only one segment of the road still has a couple of book shops, although there are still a few in Cecil Court, I believe. I last went up to London about 7 years ago and actually lost my bearings completely at one stage. They've done just as Bob predicted, turned it into a high rise nightmare.

[@agnidas5816]

book stores went out of business

[@E36ist]

Loathe as I am to ‘like’ a BBC video, it’s Bob Hoskins’ passion and sincerity that earns my respect.

[@drpancake4103]

Wasn't expecting I'd watch this, but damn he was right and entertaining at the same time. Well put together.

[@liamliosmyth]

Respect to Bob for speaking the truth 👊🏼

[@fingerhorn4]

London has gone beyond salvation. It will soon be indistinguishable from any city apart from a few landmarks which cannot be seen anyway because they are masked by yet another swathe of soulless glass and concrete. It is probably the ugliest ancient city in Europe, and arguably the most dystopian major European city of all. Muggings, knife crime, gun crime, car and bike hijackings are all the result of the alienation and poor social and infrastructure spending, and the grabbing of decent areas by Oligarchs who never live in the places they takeover but wait for prices to inflate. The government does not care. They have impounded the mega yachts but left the mega properties to carry on ruining the social structure of London. This film was prescient.

[@barrelrolldog]

I 100% agree. I've been all over the world and london is the shittest most soulles place i've ever been to. And it doesn't end with london. I prefer the english countryside.

[@tommcfadden5232]

Tourist Slogan: London. Where there’s no there, there.

[@jaguarvssnake]

I love London.😊

[@alanknotts1844]

I lived in Hackney in the mid 80's and saw the gentrification of the Borough first hand. Was shocking to see the acceleration of working class people being pushed out by the middle class. I loved the old East end of London and I'm Glaswegian. Shame. Bob was a great man, sorely missed.

[@mrnickb]

As nostalgic as I get about London on the 90s, areas like Hackney are objectively better now. Much cleaner and safer. I miss the history, but I’d prefer it how it is now

[@andyw3152]

@@mrnickb So is the East End. Had family that lived there 80 years ago. It wasn't the nicest place to live.

[@michaeljay3846]

@@andyw3152 Your both wrong , I live on the manor and my family go back 3 generations here. It is a jungle and the trendies/ hipsters have made it a ghetto ! One side money one side poverty , like most boroughs in London ! Not for locals anymore !

[@andyw3152]

@@michaeljay3846 Why was I wrong? I'm referring back to many years.

[@michaeljay3846]

@@andyw3152 It may have been poorer back then but now the gap between rich and poor is greater . Socially cleansed London has become Ghetto like , people who do not live here do not know how real London is , also crime rates , knife and gun crime / murder rates , are off the Richter ! So as I am in my fifties and my family go back a long way here , I know the difference between then and now . Wealth and investment does not mean progress .

[@Pulsonar]

It’s absolutely fantastic and mind boggling watching a documentary of London from 40+ years ago. Bob Hoskins done a magnificent job here with Barry Norman, boy i miss these 2 legends of the movies and journalism industries.

[@carlashcroft6652]

A great actor, a great man!

[@timgreen7409]

Kick the working tax paying voters out for their rich mates with tax dodging companies, what a surprise. Time to build guilotines... the'll never expect the Brirish Inquisition. Bob, a man of the people ❤

[@DanHlrzr]

What a great character and person, not many people like him around anymore...

[@davidflaneau2810]

Bob Hoskins was a passionate, good man. Wish we all had a bit of that spirit.

[@woodfox8803]

So well informed and articulate. We could use him today

[@christopherrobin4619]

He be branded a racist and likely arrested by the MET for wanting to preserve local communities and speaking his mind. Hate speech against DEI and multiculturalism would keep him quiet or destroy his then burgeoning career.

[@thaskoobz]

And this was in 1982... agree with others, fascinating video. Two great guys too to do it! Very much missed!

[@davidvasey5065]

Completely natural conversation

[@nazb33]

Bob is a true legend. He reminds me of Uncle Albert when he was talking to Del and Rodney about where he grew up.

[@RootlessNZ]

Bob Hoskins, sorely missed.

[@Poseiden2]

Great actor, big personality with a social conscience (no agent-led vapid soundbites with Bob!), he makes important points, and the Long Good Friday was a wonderful, timeless film . RIP to both Bob and Barry.

[@davidmccann9811]

I remember Waterloo when it was like that because I grew up about a mile away. Lots of the property was Victorian slums, for example the house I grew up in was falling apart and still had the toilet outside even in the 70s. The whole Southbank was basically abandoned and derelict warehouses full of rats (which we played in). The problem is that they were also communities of people that had lived there for generations, and when they modenised the area they just swept our communities away with no care about that community. They saw us as working class Londoners who had no 'right' to live in London unless we had big money, which we didn't.

[@BalrajTakhar-u7u]

The living memory of London as Hoskins obviously has his family living there for generations. Unless you have a picture book to hand it's incredibly difficult to see how the riverside used to look like.

[@spidyman8853]

Bob Hoskins cared about the ordinary people of London

[@jesusisking3974]

Wow ! So informative...Bob would have made a great Ambassador for the ordinary London citizens who's family generations financially supported London with all their trades and craftmanship yet were eventually sold down the swanny (river). This type of inequality, snobbery, greed and Privitisation still exist's today but more aggressively and progressively. Sad but True !

[@Matt10670]

Wow, Bob Hoskins has such a force of personality and gravitas in this it's almost like he's a character in a film.

[@macklee6837]

4:44 I love Barry Norman's cockney "Where's that then?" 😆

[@sonnyirish3678]

If he saw what London is like today he would not believe it.

[@mrn13]

Nobody would. Nobody

[@sq1rlsqu4d]

The sad fact of the matter is that he probably would believe it :( He saw the writing on the wall 40 years back...

[@sonnyirish3678]

@@sq1rlsqu4d You think.We all knew that the buildings going up were a disaster,what no one knew was that the people would change so so much.

[@sonnyirish3678]

@@mrn13 I concur.An English city that is not very English anymore.

[@theone3662]

He was a Corbyn supporter and big on Multiculturalism and not a racist like you that blames poor people for the greed of the elites

[@therealleonidas229]

Heartbreaking RIP Bob and London 🙏

[@tonyluxton3726]

Good old Bob a legend he was and greatly missed. Rip Bob Hoskins

[@bostavely204]

Can't believe he has left us

[@pojo1234567890]

I have watched this several times and find it somehow very moving; Bob really speaks from his heart. He really was a great man!

[@gjones8847]

How true was Bobs prediction from 42 years ago

[@lawsonrichards2584]

RIP BOB, AMAZING MAN

[@roberthayes9842]

Well having been brought up and lived in London for 48 years I went back 5 years ago after having left 17 year's ago, the south Bank to London Bridge is unrecognisable, vast rows upon rows of Riverside flat's, sorry apartments that only the very rich can afford, communities up and down the country have forced locals out from Cornwall to Edinburgh even Dublin, people who grew up there from generation after generation can no longer buy a two up two down because of an ever changing world that ain't for the better for the average person

[@madMARTYNmarsh1981]

When I was a lad my next door neighbour bought her council house for £3,000. 30 years or so later and that house, which was a proper state, just sold for £240,000! This is in a town where the average wage is about £25,000. Locals can't afford to buy here now and it's not because they can't afford a mortgage, they can afford rent which is two to three times a mortgage payment so they can afford it, banks would rather loan to land lords, its exploitation of the poor and is obscene and vile.

[@kidkieran77]

@@madMARTYNmarsh1981 Yes it's ridiculous. I even left the UK to save money but the banks won't give me a mortgage unless I make £75,000 a year. I actually make decent money due to the low cost of living where I am and I save £1,500 a month. I could easily afford a mortgage and have enough for. sizeable deposit. The system is completely rigged.

[@roberthayes9842]

@@madMARTYNmarsh1981 its the biggest blagg in modern history, all instigated by banks and self serving governments they say villains rob bank's the real crooks own them, I bought my first house for £10,000

[@madMARTYNmarsh1981]

@@kidkieran77 seeing an article in The Financial Times about the kinds of loans Elon Musk has access to only proves your point that the system is rigged in favour of the already vilely wealthy. Banks shouldn't be there to help millionaires or billionaires, they should be loaning to people that actually need their help. The idea of a loan was originally to help poorer people afford something that would improve their lives, they pay for it over time, now they've become a method of tax avoidance for people who already have more wealth that they'll ever need for themselves and their entire families. I hesitate to say it's unfair because life isn't fair but you know the system has gone wrong when it's used the way the mega wealthy are using it to the expense of people that actually need that money to progress their lives.

[@kanthakathewhite1012]

@@kidkieran77 where do you live ?

[@ImmortalRimas]

Bob Hoskins Bloody called it all the way back in 1982. I’m surprised BBC uploaded this as Good Old Bob is essentially criticising their Lords & Masters

[@honesty_-no9he]

This is the BBC ARCHIVE department no one pays any attention to them.

[@crayzmarc]

Powell did before him

[@patnevin4478]

I used to see Bob in the pubs around the Cally(Islington) was always a nice gentleman R.I.P

[@RT-zk7yr]

Bob Hoskins spitting facts wandering around the south bank with Barry Norman in the year I was born. Magic!

[@nicolasansom2681]

so prophetic - its why I left London

[@robcherry6734]

With Coin St, the residents won, a rare win for the common man. Bob was a truly nice guy, before he got ‘Hollywood Famous’ in Who Framed Roger Rabbit he used to come into the camera shop where I worked and would often spend hours over a cup of tea discussing everything from the best street photography lens made for his latest 2nd hand Leica to his latest casting call for a part playing an East End market trader/gangster (he hated that he was, at that time, typecast and couldn’t get the parts he wanted). As a young 19 yo it was a fascinating experience.

[@davidfennessey2727]

In 2023 the bomb site car park is still there

[@keef71]

the thing is, for all the talk in the '80s of investment and development, at first it was just a turkey shoot for companies to 'invest' in derelict dockland etc. for tax breaks etc. it wasn't really until Docklands/Canary Wharf came in that the money was providing something that could actually exist and progress. Either way, the incumbent residential population were always going to be 'inconvenient'. Scariest thing is that this bit of Bob's London of 1982 was probably nearer that of 1942 than what we have in 2022 (40 yrs either way)

[@paulmaryon9088]

Yes you are quiet right there, I remember this area in the 60s still a shithole then

[@raycroal]

a thought i had the other day was thinking how the atom bomb and the vee 2 rockets were a lot closer to victorian times than today, which is staggering when you think of jack the ripper vs rockets and splitting the atom

[@mojonojo3]

even after the first wave of docklands development it still took a decade for it to take off.

[@enlightenmentworldunited8545]

So glad discovered this.Best thing watched in a while

[@mikeymc3094]

Pity it wasn’t longer

[@mohawk876]

Bob was not only a great actor... 'long good friday' and 'pennies from heaven' and great londoner with pride in his heart of local communities

[@lazyeight01]

God I love Bob Hoskins. Legends never die.

[@DrumToTheBassWoop]

Inner London is just one big holiday home for the wealthy foreigners to reside in.

[@wizard3060]

He was ahead of his time…as I write this in 2022 nothing has changed!

[@alexandermoody1946]

The old wharf’s about 7:30- 7:50 are really beautiful to walk around, you can imagine as you walk there all the different spices that came into those wharf’s.

[@josephgunnett7715]

Watched this interview when first aired,I thought Bob had a fantastic pragmatic view on what was needed.He was right then and right now.

[@MrMamooshka]

Seems to me that if the world was deprived of a great actor London might have had a great civil engineer in Bob Hoskins.

[@-xirx-]

Or tour guide!

[@acerimmer1023]

The river belongs to the wealthy now..... Bob would be heartbroken to see what they've done to our beautiful city..... London's river communities are the oldest in the city..... Now they're mostly gone I so wish Bob were still with us .... Sorely missed..... God bless you Bob. Thanks for the upload 👍👍👍👍👍

[@lauramartin5579]

Then we wonder why the media and rentier class are screaming "Get back to the office!"

[@38kob]

i just love how patient and trusting these old segments are

[@vice.nor.virtue]

My god, Bob Hoskins cockney accent is so freaking perfect it's literally music to my ears. I could listen to this man read a dictionary and be absolutely enthralled by his classic working man vintage.

[@buffywhatever1093]

I met Bob in the Marlborough Pub in Brighton. He was a proper interesting fella, which is shown here clearly.

[@That_Random_Bloke]

In between takes Bob took Barry for a drink at a slightly dodgy bar. Hoskins later returned for a drink there and the barman confided to Bob that he’d thought Barry was a gangster and Bob his bodyguard! Lovely story in Barry’s book. Hoskins came across as a great bloke.

[@paulmaryon9088]

Well said there Bob, and not too wrong

[@kailashpatel1706]

Just finished watching last orders with Bob Hoskins...spot on Bob..and it was a pleasure watching you..

[@bekindandmerciful5145]

Bob was a true, kind, genuine personality

[@phmwu7368]

Nothing has changed ... about time houses in London require the owners to actually permanently living in these houses !

[@marioavossa]

When I moved to London 20 years ago, whatever it was when I moved here has gone. Its just changed so much, from something vibrant and exciting to a city that even before the pandemic feels that its dying, going through the motions of nothingness.

[@ajs41]

It's not as interesting as it used to be. But I still visit every so often.

[@MrRock919]

That might be an age thing ,no?

[@dazauto1400]

It feels like it's been sterilised. It once had an edge and character. Just the excitement walking around. Like you what it once had has now gone. In the 80s and 90s it was the best city on earth.

[@steveconn]

Miss this man...the honest voices of society.

[@FrithonaHrududu02127]

I love Bob Hopkins. And he actually knows the subject of which he speaks he's not just throwing in his 2 cents just to hear himself talk. And he's one of my all time favorite actors. I'm from South Boston Massachusetts and Ive seen my neighborhood bled of all identity through gentrification.

[@epicellen7299]

London was one of the most beautiful places to visit. No wonder so many true Brits race to foreign countries where historic architecture still stands, and laws against any thought of demolition. Modern buildings never last. Glass will be to expensive to replace. More demolition. Then what? Love Bob Hoskins

[@moominmay]

True brits? Regardless of your nationality, if you really dislike your country of birth and can afford to go where somewhere that suits better than obviously most people would just go lol

[@MeiinUK]

Have you ever been to Florence ? I recently saw a documentary on YT... about how the old London used to be. Am surprised that it was so... Cos the bridge in Florence was exactly like that. Such a warm feeling when I saw that.. I don't know why... What and how would people really react.. if one London, we brought that back into modernity ? Would people really go back in time.. and move back to London ?.... That entire bridge had both houses and people working there. Small shops.... but literal businesses. I dunno why, but I also love those old architectures.