Revealing and surprisingly moving government video showing how information technology freed millions of office workers from drudgery.

1982, and Britain's nearly 10 million office workers are increasingly fed up. So great are the trials surrounding office life - from inefficient systems to the traffic chaos of the daily commute - that, says Tom Vernon, co-presenter of this government-sponsored video, "civilisations and cities are close to being strangled". But hope is in sight.
Though few workers in 1982 could have sensed the scale of what was coming, a revolution was already underway that would transform office work fundamentally. The cutting-edge technology this video excitedly celebrates is long since obsolete - and looks almost prehistoric today - but for office workers worn down by a thousand cumbersome daily tasks, it seemed heaven-sent, as many interviewed here testify.
For one company executive, frustrated by the difficulty of reaching colleagues by telephone and the days-long wait for letters to reach their recipients, IT is the "light at the end of the tunnel". Bookkeeping, once "one of the most tedious office tasks", is now a breeze, thanks to computers and printers that can "churn out invoices by the hundred, payslips by the thousand." The video also shows how IT is working its magic in planning and costing construction work, stock control and a BBC newsroom.
But the video's genuinely touching highlight is the relief and delight of the secretaries, liberated from mountains of repetitive and monotonous typing by the humble word processor. Standard letters and even bulk mailouts can be completed in a matter of minutes, with only addresses needing to be changed. Figures - including decimal points - can be lined up easily. And if a letter, memo or report needs editing or updating, "you don't have the bother of typing it again and again and again..."

The eight videos made for the 'IT82' campaign offer an accessible guide to the kind of developments beginning to be felt in the workplace, in healthcare, in services and at home. The series was produced by independent production company SPO Films and commissioned by the Department of Trade and Industry's Information Technology Awareness Programme.

Though they inevitably show their age, the videos in the series are entertaining and slickly produced. The engaging scripts explain complex technology clearly, without unnecessary jargon. Despite evidence of tight budgets (notably the Spartan studio sets), much of the footage looks great, too, thanks to a surprisingly illustrious crew - including legendary cinematographer Wolfgang Suchitzky, whose credits include Get Carter (1971), and designer Anton Furst, later to work on Company of Wolves (1984), Full Metal Jacket (1987) and Batman (1989). The fine electronic score is by Alejandro Viñao and Richard Attree, who demonstrate their approach in another video in the series.