Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
*Warning: This programme contains adult themes, discussions of a sexual nature and references to suicide*
Four advice columnists talk to Dr Stephen Black.
"Advice columns are all written by cynical middle-aged male journalists who make up the letters between trips to the pub...", or so runs the popular mythology.
The reality is not quite so cosy. Every year in Britain more than half a million troubled people seem to find that they have no one else to turn to.
They all get an answer, and the tiny percentage of letters that appear in print give only the palest indication of the avalanche of sexual ignorance, personal anxiety, guilt and loneliness that the columnists are, every day, called upon to cope with. Who then, are these people who have to find all the answers - what is the reality behind those reassuring bylines?
Dr Stephen Black talks to Marjorie Proops of the Daily Mirror, Evelyn Home of Woman, Claire Rayner of Petticoat and Jane Firbank of Forum. Between them they deal with more than 100,000 letters a year.
Clip taken from Tuesday Documentary: Sob Sisters, originally broadcast on BBC One, 9 May, 1972.
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*Warning: This programme contains adult themes, discussions of a sexual nature and references to suicide*
Four advice columnists talk to Dr Stephen Black.
"Advice columns are all written by cynical middle-aged male journalists who make up the letters between trips to the pub...", or so runs the popular mythology.
The reality is not quite so cosy. Every year in Britain more than half a million troubled people seem to find that they have no one else to turn to.
They all get an answer, and the tiny percentage of letters that appear in print give only the palest indication of the avalanche of sexual ignorance, personal anxiety, guilt and loneliness that the columnists are, every day, called upon to cope with. Who then, are these people who have to find all the answers - what is the reality behind those reassuring bylines?
Dr Stephen Black talks to Marjorie Proops of the Daily Mirror, Evelyn Home of Woman, Claire Rayner of Petticoat and Jane Firbank of Forum. Between them they deal with more than 100,000 letters a year.
Clip taken from Tuesday Documentary: Sob Sisters, originally broadcast on BBC One, 9 May, 1972.
You have now entered the BBC Archive, a time machine that will transport you back to the golden age of TV to educate, entertain and enlighten you with classic clips from the BBC vaults.
Make sure you subscribe so that you never miss a single stop on our amazing journey through the BBC Archive - youtube.com/c/BBCArchive?sub_confirmation=1
You can also dive into plenty more BBC Archive on our website - bbc.co.uk/archive
