led the way in introducing other techniques to mainstream TV. In 1971, years before reality programming became the staple diet of the TV schedules, World In Action challenged the Staffordshire village of Longnor to quit smoking, a forerunner of many of the popular-challenge documentaries which enjoyed success in the 21st Century reality boom.
In 1984, World In Action caused a sensation by challenging a rising young Conservative Member of Parliament, Matthew Parris, to live for a week on a 26 unemployment benefit payment to test the reality of his own critical views on the unemployed. (Parris subsequently abandoned Parliament for a career as a broadcaster and writer.) The same year, World In Action revealed the tricks behind political oratory by coaching a complete beginner, Ann Brennan, to deliver a speech which won a standing ovation at the annual conference of the Social