The River Wear begins its 40-mile journey to the sea near the village of Wearhead in County Durham gently meandering its way eastward before entering the North Sea at Sunderland. Along its journey the Wear passes through the towns of Stanhope, Wolsingham, Bishop Auckland, Durham, Chester-le-Street and finally Sunderland.

Although several churches and abbeys have been built along its shoreline, probably the most iconic structure is that of Durham Cathedral. Constructed on a unique peninsula formed by the river, the present Norman structure was a replacement for a simple temporary structure originally built to hold the remains of St Cuthbert on its journey from Lindisfarne to Chester-le-Street where the Anglo-Saxon priests intended to bury their beloved saint. However, with the Norman invasion and subsequent conquest the new rulers wished to cement their triumph and garner local support by constructing a new stone structure for Cuthbert's remains where they remain to this day.

The River Wear is not short of local legends, most notably the story of the Lampton Worm. The legend revolves around John Lampton, heir to the Lampton Estate who battled and eventually vanquished the worm or dragon which had been terrorising local villages. Although the origins of the story are lost to time, scholars theorise the worm maybe an allegory for the Vikings who were using the Wear, like other rivers, to attack villages from the 8th century. Their longships with dragon mastheads could potentially be seen and interpreted by those being attached as being 'worm' like. Food for thought?

"Forty-eight hours is just a moment in time in the social history of a nation. However, over 26 and 27 August 1988, the people of the North East England have produced a significant record of their lives, their time and their country." These are the words of HRH Prince Charles in his introduction to the book '48hrs: Two Days in the Life of the North East', published by BBC Books and containing hundreds of original and unique photographs taken by people across the region that, according to David Cox, producer of 48hrs, "Create a true reflection of how people feel about their area and their lives' at a specific moment in time."

'48hrs: Two Days in the Life of the North East' began as a collaborative project between the BBC in Newcastle, local production company Filmnova and the Tyne & Wear Development Corporation. The BBC were able to promote the project and along with Filmnova provided curatorial assistance in witling down the thousands of submissions to those that would eventually make up the book. The Tyne and Wear Development Corporation provided financial support with the books publishing.

While the book went onto become a success, what is less know is that twenty film submissions in the form of video tapes were also submitted by for consideration. Sadly, none of these films made it into the final publication and for the next thirty they sat on the shelves of Filmnova until being donated to the Yorkshire & North East Film Archives in the early 2010s. Now, thanks to the support of BFI Heritage 2022 these tapes have been digitised and made available here for you to view and look back on the people of the North-East of England over a summer Bank Holiday more than thirty years ago.