Down and Out

by Tony Wilkinson

188 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Gavin Robertson]

Time capsule of London’s homeless in the early 1980’s. A strangely written book - it’s just a single narrative, with no chapters or subdivisions really. The last dozen or so pages feel very rushed - almost as though the author had to document the whole story by a deadline, and he ran out of time to do it properly.

This was one of the first “hidden camera” documentaries in the UK. They’re wall to wall in all channels now, but at the time this was truly groundbreaking stuff.

I read this in 2021, 40 years after it was written, and wondered how different life is for people in similar circumstances today.

[Anna Kimberley]

This book was written in 1981. The writer initially made a four part t.v. documentary before writing the book. When you read the book description, it may not strike you as anything out of the ordinary but, if you remember that this was 1981, then you may realise just how revolutionary and how daring the writer was. Going undercover and secretly filming was almost unheard of at the time. This book is very telling and also very moving. You see how some humans show compassion and how others are so lacking.