PART ONE - THE BIRTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE BBC

It is regarded as being second to none. It reaches more than 200 countries and is available to more than 274 million households. Its radio service is in the short wavelength, which makes it available to many regions of the world. It also broadcasts news - by radio or over the Internet - in some 30 languages. The BBC, a mighty giant in the land of the Lilliput, is now facing criticisms of its entirety and pushing off claims for privatisation.


So what will become of this great institution free from both political and commercial influence and which only adheres and answers to viewers and listeners? To find out we must first rewind time to when it all first began in 1922 and then step by step retrace its steps to the present day. Then and only then, will we truly know what can be done.


PART ONE - THE BIRTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE BBC



The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) a first of its kind was born on 18 October 1922 following demands from the general public for a radio station. Successful trials in radio, first in Writtle, Chelmsford and later on in London led to the creation of the BBC and John Reith becoming the first General Manager. In 1927, at the Crawford Committee’s suggestion, the BBC was issued a Royal Charter to become a public corporation. This meant that the BBC could expand its coverage and reach a wider remit. From radio and then onto television broadcasting, the BBC in 1934 was reaching world-wide audiences especially with its Royal wedding between the Duke of Kent and Princess Marina.

Sealed with this Royal approval it was no surprise that on June 2 1953, an estimated 22 million TV viewers – many of them crowded into neighbours’ living rooms – saw the young Queen Elizabeth II crowned. The television age had arrived. The event prompted many to buy their own sets, and it was evident that television would soon be as important as radio to UK audiences.


As the television licence income grew, more ambitious programmes were made possible and a new crop of stars emerged, including David Attenborough (Zoo Quest 1954), Eamon Andrews (This is Your Life 1955) and Jack Warner (Dixon of Dock Green 1955). Drama successes like The Quatermass Experiment and the controversial adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four became talking points all over the country.’


During the 1950s the BBC started to build a reputation for impartiality when it became embroiled in a conflict with the present day government over its reporting of the Suez Crisis. The then Prime Minister Anthony Eden, told the BBC that if they continued to take an unpatriotic stance in the war then the government would take over the BBC and run it themselves. Fortunately the BBC won the battle and it never came to the government taking it over. Following on from this triumph, the BBC continued to grow and during the 1960s a new era in television programming was born with more and more programmes being shown that reflected the up-to-date content at that time.


Documentary, drama and comedy continued to flourish in the 1970s in what became to be known as the ‘golden age’ of television. It was also during this period that many households’ switched to colour sets. The BBC also earned the description of ‘The Theatre in the Living Room’ when the televising of all of Shakespeare’s plays began in 1978 with Romeo and Juliet. This was a vintage period for outstanding new comedy such as Are You being served? (1973), The Good Life and Fawlty Towers (1975). As well as entertaining and informing, the BBC also addressed its educational remit. The decade saw the launch of ‘the University of the Airwaves’ with collaboration from The Open University.’

It wasn’t until 1977 that it began to go horribly wrong for the BBC. The Annan Committee Report criticised the BBC for ‘loss of nerve’ and ‘organisational fog’ over its programme making. As a result the way was paved for the establishment of Channel 4, in 1982. During the 1990s in the face of growing competition from Channel 4 and ITV, the BBC started to offer a wider-range of diverse programmes that commercially funded broadcasters would not provide. These included The Human Body and Walking with Dinosaurs as well as recreating old literature classics such as Pride and Prejudice and introducing News 24.


By 2000 the BBC had made a promise to enrich our lives with new and upcoming digital channels when faced with competition from both Sky and Cable TV. The result was BBC’s digital box ‘Freeview’, which offered a variety of free TV channels, and interactive TV. More recently the BBC has offered the digital iPlayer to the nation on the premise of ‘making the unmissable, unmissable’ when it comes to watching your favourite TV programme. There is also a BBC shift that by 2010 everyone will be switched onto Digital TV and that analogue TV signals will be switched off. Without doubt the future of the BBC was now in the Digital age.