Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
"Shopping is our new religion - we're not consumed by guilt - we simply like to consume. By this architecture shall our generation be known, these are the cathedrals of our age."
Architectural critic and design writer, Jonathan Glancey proposes that our former sense of civic pride is crumbling into wilful neglect of public buildings and spaces, with a particular focus on shopping centres. Jonathan visits Gateshead's gargantuan new shopping and leisure complex, Metrocentre, to find out what the near future of our common spaces might look like, and what they say about us as a society.
How does modern design compare to Victorian architecture? How do "off the peg" modern buses compare to the bespoke Routemaster they have replaced? How do modern transport hubs compare to Frank Pick's turn-of-the-century designs for London Transport? Does the Homebase in Catford have the same impact as the Crystal Palace that inspired it? What does the rise of the D.I.Y. megastore mean for home design? What does it say about design in Britain when we outsource the design of our public toilets to a French company?
With contributions from Sir Terence Conran, Professor Derek Walker, Sir Hugh Casson and other major designers, architects and developers.
Clip taken from Visions of Britain: Common Spaces, originally broadcast on BBC Two, 4 December, 1988.
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"Shopping is our new religion - we're not consumed by guilt - we simply like to consume. By this architecture shall our generation be known, these are the cathedrals of our age."
Architectural critic and design writer, Jonathan Glancey proposes that our former sense of civic pride is crumbling into wilful neglect of public buildings and spaces, with a particular focus on shopping centres. Jonathan visits Gateshead's gargantuan new shopping and leisure complex, Metrocentre, to find out what the near future of our common spaces might look like, and what they say about us as a society.
How does modern design compare to Victorian architecture? How do "off the peg" modern buses compare to the bespoke Routemaster they have replaced? How do modern transport hubs compare to Frank Pick's turn-of-the-century designs for London Transport? Does the Homebase in Catford have the same impact as the Crystal Palace that inspired it? What does the rise of the D.I.Y. megastore mean for home design? What does it say about design in Britain when we outsource the design of our public toilets to a French company?
With contributions from Sir Terence Conran, Professor Derek Walker, Sir Hugh Casson and other major designers, architects and developers.
Clip taken from Visions of Britain: Common Spaces, originally broadcast on BBC Two, 4 December, 1988.
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
