Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
"They're proud to be Hungarian, and wish more people knew what that meant."
Nick Thorpe, who has been the BBC's correspondent in Budapest for the past two years, presents his personal view of teenage life in Hungary today. Hungarian teenagers have more freedom than their parents' generation, and their country is rapidly changing. What are their hopes and dreams?
László lives in a housing estate in the 9th District of Budapest, he likes football, computer games and the Hungarian pop band R-Go. László wants a job using English, which he studies in school. In his spare time he hangs out with his friends on Váci utca, Budapest's most westernised street.
Gabriella lives in a fairly new housing estate in Pest, which has good facilities. She has a year left at school, and wants to be a journalist - in the summer, she attends a camp run by the Young Communist League, where she hones her journalistic skills. Gabriella likes living in Hungary, feels free, and has no plans to leave.
More than half of Hungarians live away from the big cities, in small rural villages like Martonfa - situated in the shadow of the Mecsek mountains in the south of the country. Martonfa is one of the few remaining villages in Hungary without running water. László lives there with his fiancee, his two brothers, his mother - who works on the local co-operative farm, and his father - who has his own private farm. Many young Hungarians are leaving the countryside to start a new life in the city, but László and his fiancee are planning to stay.
Clip taken from Scene, originally broadcast on BBC Two, 12 January, 1989.
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
"They're proud to be Hungarian, and wish more people knew what that meant."
Nick Thorpe, who has been the BBC's correspondent in Budapest for the past two years, presents his personal view of teenage life in Hungary today. Hungarian teenagers have more freedom than their parents' generation, and their country is rapidly changing. What are their hopes and dreams?
László lives in a housing estate in the 9th District of Budapest, he likes football, computer games and the Hungarian pop band R-Go. László wants a job using English, which he studies in school. In his spare time he hangs out with his friends on Váci utca, Budapest's most westernised street.
Gabriella lives in a fairly new housing estate in Pest, which has good facilities. She has a year left at school, and wants to be a journalist - in the summer, she attends a camp run by the Young Communist League, where she hones her journalistic skills. Gabriella likes living in Hungary, feels free, and has no plans to leave.
More than half of Hungarians live away from the big cities, in small rural villages like Martonfa - situated in the shadow of the Mecsek mountains in the south of the country. Martonfa is one of the few remaining villages in Hungary without running water. László lives there with his fiancee, his two brothers, his mother - who works on the local co-operative farm, and his father - who has his own private farm. Many young Hungarians are leaving the countryside to start a new life in the city, but László and his fiancee are planning to stay.
Clip taken from Scene, originally broadcast on BBC Two, 12 January, 1989.
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
