Silverville
Overview
Who: Case study presented by Julian Mercer from the BBC and Sheila Peace from the Open University (OU)
What: Creating a documentary looking at life for the silver generation
Why: The case study focussed on how the OU and BBC Bristol collaborated in the making of Silverville, a six part BBC One observational documentary series in 2008/9.
Where: Various locations
When: 2008/2009
Project description
Retirement villages are a new kind of communal accommodation for the elderly and they are proving to be an increasingly popular alternative to care homes. Lovat Fields, outside Milton Keynes, is one of over 60 retirement villages which are springing up in the UK, each designed to give their residents the advantages of residential care along with - health-permitting - the lifestyle opportunities of life in the community.
Purpose
The BBC and OU Silverville series followed the lives and loves of some of the 350 residents of this retirement village. They recruited Bart Corpe, a 26-year-old with precious little experience of the elderly, to live amongst the residents and to record his experiences in a diary on the Open2.net website. The workshop looked at the role of research in the programme's development, and explores how people were engaged with it. You can find out more information on the open2.net site.
