The forgotten flu epidemic of 1989

In 1989, a flu epidemic took hold in Scotland, causing disruption to the education of young people and the hospital care of others as many teachers and nurses were off sick.

More people in Scotland died at the height of the ’89 epidemic than at the peak of the first wave of Covid-19 in 2020. But that is only part of the story.

As part of the BBC Rewind archive project, we look back at a flu epidemic that has now largely been forgotten.

Video by Graham Stewart and Graham Fraser