7 Up original John Brisby has hit out at original Up series director Michael Apted, describing him as “sneering and supercilious”.
John, who is now a judge, will explain to viewers why he believes he was “set up” when he appeared on the programme aged seven.
In the final 70 Up episode, he also describes the way the show portrayed him in the 1960s and 1970s as “an awful little prig”.
John did not appear in 28 Up and only agreed to return for 35 Up after setting strict conditions.
He shares his thoughts on Michael, who died in 2021, in Tuesday’s final episode.
7 Up’s John Brisby slams show for ‘setting him up’
John was among the 14 children selected for the original 1964 programme, 7 Up. The group featured four girls and 10 boys.
Viewers will remember him telling the cameras at seven that he hoped to attend the prestigious Westminster Boarding School and Cambridge University. He also said he read broadsheet newspapers.
However, when he reached 28, John decided not to appear in 28 Up.
Looking back in 70 Up, John explains that strangers would take an “instinctive dislike” to him because of the way the earlier programmes portrayed him.
“When I was 28, I hadn’t been very happy with the way I’d been portrayed in the first three programmes,” John says.
“Years ago, when I first started at the Bar, a lot of people who subsequently became good friends said they instinctively disliked me.
“They said they approached me with a completely different idea of who I was.
“I was made to appear age seven as an awful little prig. People I’ve talked to who knew me when I was seven said I was actually quite nice. I was a bit of a dreamer. You don’t see that side of things at all.”
He adds: “I felt that I had been set up to represent an outmoded class system that had no validity in the modern world.”
‘He wanted the bogeyman’
John will then discuss his relationship with Michael Apted. The late director made his final Up episode, 63 Up, in 2019. 70 Up is directed by Asif Kapadia.
“I did not have a relationship with Michael Apted,” John says. “He had a sneering and somewhat supercilious manner. I didn’t feel he was on my side.”
John adds: “He wanted the fake me as a bogeyman.”
Despite his feelings, John insists he never “fell out” with Michael. “But I didn’t like him and didn’t trust him,” he says.
John eventually agreed to return for 35 Up, but only after setting strict terms. One condition was that Michael could not interview him. He also wanted the programme to show his work around the Bulgaria humanitarian and social crisis.
After those conditions were met, John agreed to return every seven years. Michael never interviewed him again.
John is now preparing to say an emotional farewell to the programme alongside the remaining participants.
- 70 Up concludes at 9pm on ITV on Tuesday September 22, 2026.
Read more: 70 Up’s Neil Hughes issues mental health plea to fans: ‘We’re not weird or antisocial’
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