Aberdeen Oil Boom

Aberdeen's local fishermen turn into wildcatting oilmen in a lively report from the early days of the North Sea oil boom.

The liquid gold rush begins! Aberdeen's local fishermen, bakers and candlestick makers turn into roustabouts and roughnecks in this lively government news report about the early days of the North Sea oil boom, targeted at Australian audiences. As viewers will discover, some of the more gloomy predictions about the industry's long-term future have proved hopelessly off target.

Aberdeen Oil Boom was produced by the government's Central Office of Information (COI) and distributed to overseas audiences as part of the magazine series This Week in Britain. The series was particularly popular in Australia, where it had a regular weekly shot throughout the 1960s and 70s. This government film is a public record, preserved and presented by the BFI National Archive on behalf of The National Archives, home to more than 1,000 years of British history.