Smoking.

This programme is part of a series dealing with habit-forming products. It traces the history of smoking in Britain this century. Smoking became widespread among soldiers in the First World War, with front line troops being given a government issue of cigarettes. Film clips illustrate the popularity of smoking - among cinema audiences as well as in the films they watched - and men and women born in the early years of the century describe its importance in their lives. Doctors recommended it to relieve stress and there were few restrictions on where it could be done. A 1957 Pathe News film, Coffin Nails, marked the beginning of health concerns over tobacco and by the 1970s smoking was linked with heart disease, emphysema and cancer. Today, in spite of the well publicised risks of smoking, 12 million British people remain hooked.