Paul Watson, who has died aged 81 after suffering from dementia, was a distinguished television documentary-maker who pioneered fly-on-the-wall films, bringing people’s daily lives into viewers’ living rooms. He made his reputation in 1974 with The Family, a 12-part series following Terry and Margaret Wilkins and their children in Reading, Berkshire. Watson and his crew spent three months with them, filming 18 hours a day to present a portrait of family life, warts and all, that was as close to reality as possible.
The clean-up TV campaigner Mary Whitehouse, among others, attacked the programme, complaining that the Wilkinses would be seen to be a “representative” family as they swore, tackled the benefits system and talked honestly about sex, race and having children outside marriage.
