Many will feel a nostalgic twinge when they see clips of television from days gone by. But fond memories inspired by footage of Sir David Attenborough’s encounter with gorillas, Kenneth Clark strolling through Civilisations and the theme tune to the Old Grey Whistle Test have been shown to have a greater purpose: helping those with dementia.

The BBC has launched a permanent archive of pictures, audio and video clips as part of a project to help people with dementia, their family and carers, using their extensive archive to spark conversation. [ . . . ] More at source: BBC launch archive of memorable programmes to help dementia sufferers