Prepare for a lorra, lorra fun as Cilla reveals how the ’60s were not really that cool in ‘Cilla’s Unswung Sixties’ – a new one hour documentary for the UK’s leading history channel Yesterday.

The ‘swinging sixties’ are remembered as the decade in which a generation turned on, tuned in and dropped out. However, the reality is that for most people living in Britain the sixties were not that ‘groovy’.

‘Cilla’s Unswung Sixties’ tells the real story of Britain’s popular culture in a decade synonymous with music and fashion. Drawing on her own memories and experiences Cilla is uniquely placed, as the girl next door turned superstar, to reveal what the great British public was really wearing in the 1960s, what records they bought and what they liked to do at the weekend. Debunking myths and sidestepping stereotypes through the testimonies and archives of people who were there, ‘Cilla’s Unswung Sixties’ will show a very different but equally colourful decade, as experienced by ordinary men, women and families in the UK.

When it comes to music, Cilla was at the heart of the scene in the sixties. However, she reveals that just as The Beatles were about to hit the big time, music aficionados were predicting the death of rock and pop. The record buying public were going mad for Acker Bilk and Englebert Humperdinck and despite the fact that 1965 was a great year for The Rolling Stones, more people bought Ken Dodds’ ‘Tears’!

The wide belief is that the sixties were all about ‘sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll’, but this was far from true – teenagers were a pretty conservative bunch, marriage had never been more popular, living in sin was still a taboo and when the pill first came out it was only available if you were married.

Throughout the sixties, the world of fashion was rocking down on the Kings Road and Carnaby Street, but most Brits were shopping from catalogues, on the high street and making their own dresses. Tights and anoraks were the must have fashion items for the average Brit, not the mini skirt as it’s popularly believed.

The Unswung Sixties is set to be a trip down memory lane and for those who weren’t lucky enough to be there, it will be a real eye opener to what the legendary decade was really like.

Cilla’s Unswung Sixties
19 March 2012 @ 9pm on Yesterday
(Sky channel 537, Virgin TV channel 203 and Freeview channel 12)