Tony Blair thinks that traditional English decency has broken down and that we are in the grip of an unprecedented wave of anti-social behaviour. But haven’t we always been like this? Filmmaker Joseph Bullman ( Crime Scene Cleaner , The Man Who Bought Mustique ) uncovers the nation’s ancient heritage of binge-drinking, rudeness, violence, hooliganism, slaggishness, consumerism and bigotry in The Seven Sins of England .

For this groundbreaking film, real-life hoodies, booze-hounds and chavs deliver the authentic words of 11th-century binge-drinkers, Edwardian yobs, Elizabethan xenophobes and 17th-century hooligans in a full-on recreation of historical ‘chavvery’. Tony Blair wants to stem the tide of beer, sick and blood and take us back to a golden age of civility and good manners. But is he wasting his time? The English have been anti-social, beer-stained yobs for more than a millennium.

On the eve of the Battle of Hastings, the Normans spent the night in quiet contemplation and prayer, while the English got plastered. And the first law to control English binge-drinking was passed in 616 AD. The Seven Sins of England reveals the English in all their sick-stained glory and argues that our lack of respect, lust for violence and love of drink have fuelled our democratic spirit and made us what we are today.

Tuesday 8th May, Channel 4, 10PM