How to cure the small town blues
Analysis
BBC
4.6 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 26 February 2024
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Middlesbrough, in the north-east, is one of the most deprived towns in England. Once a steel and shipbuilding powerhouse, its fortunes changed when those industries closed down. Today, the town that Gladstone described as “an infant Hercules” faces a precarious future. David Baker, who grew up in Middlesbrough in the 1970s, returns to his hometown to ask what can be done to revive its fortunes and what Middlesbrough can teach us about regenerating small, postindustrial towns elsewhere in the UK.
Presenter: David Baker Producer: Dan Hardoon Editor: Clare Fordham
Contributors: Natasha Vall, Professor of Urban and Cultural History, Teesside University Rob Nichols, Editor, Middlesbrough FC fanzine Fly Me To The Moon Sally Rodgers, DJ, producer, and vocalist Steve Dugan, Head of Enterprise, Teesside University Oliver Lloyd, co-founder and COO, Dink Chris Cooke, Mayor of Middlesbrough Gary Hamilton, managing director, Community Leisure Management Lord Michael Heseltine, former Secretary of State for the Environment With thanks to the students of Teesside University and Reverend Kath Dean of the Genesis Project.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.6 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.4 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable |
| 0:14.3 | experts and genuinely engaging voices. What you may not know is that the BBC |
| 0:20.4 | makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.0 | BBC Sounds, Music Radio Podcasts. |
| 0:41.0 | Thank you for listening to this edition of Analysis, the podcast that looks at the ideas behind the news. |
| 0:47.0 | I'm David Baker, and in this episode I've gone back to the place I grew up in to find out how post-industrial towns can halt their decline. |
| 0:57.0 | Places are like people. They change as they age. Some, York, Bath, Edinburgh, sit comfortably in their longevity. Others take pride in reinventing themselves, |
| 1:16.0 | Manchester's Northern Quarter, Liverpool around the docks. But what if your longevity is not that long? |
| 1:23.0 | And reinvention feels like it's left you behind. |
| 1:27.0 | In the 2019 indices of multiple deprivation, |
| 1:31.0 | Middlesboro was in the sort of lowest 10% around long-term health, child poverty, worklessness, and crime. |
| 1:39.6 | I'm David Baker and I grew up in Middlesbrough in the northeast of England. In its heyday the town was a powerhouse of shipbuilding and steel. |
| 1:49.0 | Dorman Long from here and then later Teesside Bridge and |
| 1:53.6 | built bridges in all the continents of the world. |
| 1:56.2 | But when all that industry closed it fell into decline. |
| 1:59.8 | I see more and more people struggling people going without gas, electric, they can't feed the kids. |
| 2:07.0 | And that's a story that's taking place in many towns and cities across the United Kingdom. |
| 2:12.0 | So for this episode of analysis I've gone back to my hometown |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in -353 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.