III.

The Post-War Period

The BBC had expanded greatly during the war and the problems of reconstruction were formidable. The television service restarted in 1946 and became a great success, especially following the outside broadcast of the 1947 wedding procession of Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) and the Duke of Edinburgh. On radio, the Forces Programme became the Light Programme, and in 1946 the Third Programme was devised to provide serious music and cultural programs. The BBC thus had three distinctive radio channels alongside its regional output from Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and its major centers in England. By 1950, 30 hours of television and 260 hours of radio were broadcast each week. As transmitters were built, half the population was soon able to receive television pictures.

Expenditure on television soon seemed set to equal that on radio, and audiences moved increasingly to the new medium; live coverage of the 1953 coronation of Elizabeth II was a major turning point. By the time the BBC monopoly was broken by the arrival of Independent Television (ITV) in 1955, over 90 percent of the population had access to television. The age of competition began and the BBC had to fight for survival. At first it failed badly and its share of the audience slumped to 28 percent in 1957.

The fight back by radio, in competition with television, and by BBC TV, in competition with ITV, was initiated by one director general, Sir Ian Jacob, and completed by another, Sir Hugh Greene, who was knighted in 1964. By the end of the 1950s expenditure on BBC television equaled that on radio and, thenceforth, the gap widened dramatically, but the BBC’s audience share took longer to recover. Radio continued to excel in many fields, with “The Goon Show” attracting big audiences and creating new comedy styles, while old favorites such as “The Archers” (which started in 1951 and is still running) continued its early success. On television an adaptation of 1984 by George Orwell created a stir, while “Panorama,” the BBC’s current affairs flagship, “Sportsview,” and “Zoo Quest” by David Attenborough set new standards and attracted large audiences. Children’s television and television for schools also started in the 1950s, a period of expansion and experiment.

A major reorganization of radio occurred in 1967 with the opening of Radio 1, a response to “pirate radio,” and the renaming of the Light, Third, and Home services as Radios 2, 3, and 4. In the same year, BBC Local Radio started in Leicester and within six years there were 20 such stations, making special programs for local communities, for example, those with large Asian or Afro-Caribbean populations.

The late 1950s and 1960s saw the BBC introduce a remarkable number of technical innovations, including VHF (very high frequency) and stereo radio, efficient video recording, satellite transmissions, color television, and a second television channel, BBC 2. In the same period the BBC’s Television Centre was opened in west London, a Radiophonic Workshop set up, and work began on the teletext system Ceefax, which went public in 1972. These enhanced the quality and range of programs: stereo sound improved music quality; satellites, such as Telstar, enabled intercontinental broadcasts; BBC 2 offered more choice; and color added to the enjoyment of drama, sports, light entertainment, and nature programs. Huge successes such as “The Six Wives of Henry VIII,” “Dad’s Army,” “Civilization,” “Horizon,” and “Omnibus” all belong to this period.

In the 1970s and 1980s popular television audiences often reached 20 million and radio audiences 5 million, but troubles began to loom with a worsening economic climate, partly caused by the oil crisis of 1973. Programs such as “Yesterday’s Men” and “The Question of Ulster” were criticized by politicians, with whom the BBC had to deal over the license fee and other issues. Broadcasting and its effects on vulnerable groups such as children became a subject of heated debate. One outcome was the setting up of the Broadcasting Complaints Commission in 1981. BBC broadcasters were taking their social responsibilities seriously with programs for deaf and disabled people joining those for blind people, as well as a multimedia campaign on adult literacy. Programs for the Open University started in 1971. However, entertainment, sports, and news and current affairs were the chief ratings battlegrounds, with the BBC and ITV sharing the television audience roughly fifty-fifty.

The late 1970s was dominated by economics and the issues raised by the work of the Annan Committee on the future of broadcasting. Inflation made the period “increasingly gloomy” for the BBC, in the words of the chairman, Sir Michael Swann. While ITV could control its income partially, the BBC could do little, apart from increasing the relatively small amounts obtained through sales of programs and books. One indirect outcome of the Annan Report was the creation of the advertising-financed Channel 4, designed to be innovative and experimental. This came on the air in 1982, thus completing the television duopoly with the BBC, considered by many as the high-point period of British television.

In a 1978 White Paper the BBC was described as “arguably the single most important cultural organization in the nation.” The Shakespeare Project (the televising of Shakespeare plays backed up by explanatory programs), “Life on Earth,” “Yes Minister,” “The Boys from the Blackstuff,” and “Timewatch” are just some examples of television programs that testify to this.