Five years ago, Apted passed away, aged 79.
The effect he had on the cast is clear in the final episode.
Despite their differences, Jackie maintains deep affection and respect for the man she said “opened up a world to me that I would never have known”.
“I’ve always said it’s a bit like having an uncle in the family. Sometimes you love him and cuddle him to death, and other times you think: I wish he’d just go away.
“He would always, always help anybody and anything.”
Nick Hitchon died from cancer in 2023, becoming the second member of the cast to pass away after Lynn Johnson 10 years earlier.
Nick, who was born on a farm in the Yorkshire Dales and famously said he wanted to “find out about the moon and all that” in 7 Up, went on to become a scientist and professor at the University of Wisconsin.
In his obituary, his brother Andrew wrote Nick “was an expert in nuclear fusion who eventually accepted that he would always be best known for appearing in a ground-breaking TV documentary rather than as a scientist”.