Nick Hitchon, a scientist who first appeared as a seven-year-old in 1964's Seven Up!, will feature in the new ITV documentary 70 Up despite having died in July 2023, just three days after filming his final interview. Hitchon had been diagnosed with terminal throat cancer and revealed his illness in 63 Up seven years earlier, telling producers he wanted to record one last appearance before he passed away. His inclusion is expected to move viewers, since many had assumed he would not have lived long enough to take part in the latest instalment.

In his final filmed scenes, Hitchon is shown being taken to hospital and lifted into a wheelchair, describing feelings of guilt that others were "picking up the slack" while he relied on a walker. He told producer Claire Lewis of his diagnosis and asked for the material to be included in the finished programme. Hitchon, who grew up on a farm in the Yorkshire Dales, went on to study at Oxford and became a nuclear fusion scientist and professor at the University of Wisconsin. Of the original 14 cast members, 11 appeared in the 2019 instalment; 70 Up airs on ITV1 on Tuesday at 9pm.