London Council Estates (1971) | Where the Houses Used to Be | Doddington and Rollo Estate

“They’re building flats where the houses used to be“. ’Flat’ might as well be a dirty word in this sobering documentary on Battersea’s Doddington and Rollo estate - a vast, high-density development built by Wandsworth Borough Council in the late 60s to house some 7,000 people. Refreshingly, the commentary comes entirely from the mouths of the residents themselves: young mothers, working fathers, elderly women, teenagers and children, who discuss their experiences, particularly the issue of loneliness and isolation. The film was made in 1971 when the estate was still being developed. Just one year later, the tenants’ association complained that Doddington was rapidly deteriorating. As one young female resident puts it: “I don’t think I’d give these places 20 or 30 years before they become slums. I think I’d give it two or three years, the way they’re going at the moment“.