Man died hours after final interview with film crew that followed his entire life

Tonight marks the end of 63 years of work as what’s hailed as the ‘greatest documentary series of all time’ comes to an end.

Having first started with a group of 14 seven year olds across the UK back in 1964 as Seven Up!, the participants are now marking their 70^th year.

But one of those featuring sadly did not make it to 70, filming his contribution a few years back due to his declining health.

Tragically, Nick Hitchon died just three days after filming for 70 Up as ITV producers flew out to him to record his interview.

The series actually started off as a one-off World in Action documentary, interviewing the young kids about their hopes and fears, and life in general, with Hitchon framed as the shy farmer’s son from the Yorkshire Dales.

Nick's love for science continued throughout the documentary scientist. (ITV)

And as the late director Michael Apted (who originally served as a researcher) turned it into the world’s longest-running documentary series, we saw him grow up to become a scientist.

Hitchon stuck with the show, as it saw him studying at the University of Oxford before moving to the US in the early 80s.

When he first featured in Seven Up! researchers was told he would definitely talk to them but he was still only six. Nick was filmed talking about how he would ‘like to find out all about the moon and all that’, with his love of science going on to continue as each seven years rolled around.

He became a nuclear fusion scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and despite his throat cancer diagnosis, didn’t retire until the spring of 2022.

And when he became gravely ill, he ended up filming his contribution for 70 Up a few years early.

Producer Claire Lewis told Times Higher Education that Hitchon didn’t disclose how bad his health was until he sent her an ‘almost coded email’.

He died just three days after filming. (ITV)

“Nick was so ultra-professional and pretended he wasn’t as ill as he was: he was very much [intending to be] here for the next series. But reading between the lines of his emails, I realised how extraordinarily ill he was,” she explained.

While the final series hadn’t actually been commissioned yet (following Apted’s death in 2021), she persuaded ITV to fly her and a camera crew out to Hitchon in 2023.

“Nick died three days after our interview...when we were on the plane back from Chicago,” she explained.

Lewis praised Hitchon’s commitment to science and teaching as it’s also quoted: “Until the last moment, just before he died, Nick was marking his students’ dissertations on his phone. He was so ill and yet his brain was completely all there. His commitment to his students was unbelievable.”

Unsurprisingly, the scenes in 70 Up of Hitchon are quite a difficult watch yet inspiring as he reflects on life in what were his final days and discusses the struggles he was facing with his health.

“Suddenly there are parts of the jigsaw missing,” participant Suzy says during the doc.

70 Up starts on ITV tonight at 9pm.