academic requirements for pre-1989 bbc archive content

Academic requirements for pre-1989 BBC archive content

31st January 2014

AuthorDr Richard Hewett

“Academic requirements for pre-1989 BBC archive content ”

© Jisc

Published under the CC BY 2.0 licence

creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Contents

Executive Summary 4Background

Conclusions

Recommendations

4

4

5

Introduction 6Methodology 6

1. Current HE/FE use of pre-1989 BBC archive materials 8 Overview of current availability How materials are used Individual research Project research Teaching in Further and Higher Education Issues around discoverabilityRecommendations

8

9

10

10

11

11

12

2. What pre-1989 materials HE/FE would like to see made available from the BBC archive 13Overview of items requestedTelevisionRadioNon-broadcastHigh priority requestsDelivery optionsRecommendations

14

14

15

16

16

16

16

3. Barriers to access 17Rights issuesCost of rights clearanceCost of digitisationOptionsRecommendations

17

18

18

19

20

Conclusions 21

Bibliography 22

Appendix I: Outlets for access to BBC archive materials 25

Appendix II: Funded projects 28

Appendix III: Individual case study 32

Appendix IV: BBC items requested in the online survey 34

Appendix V: The ‘Top Twenty’ radio list 37

4

Executive Summary

BackgroundThis initiative was part of the Research and Education

Space (RES) collaboration between Jisc, the BBC and the

British Universities Film & Video Council (BUFVC). Guided

by a Working Group of academics, researchers and

librarians, the project was designed to investigate the

need in Further and Higher Education for increased

online access to those BBC Archive materials not currently

covered by the Educational Recording Agency (ERA). This

includes any radio or television broadcasts between 1922

and August 1989 (when the licence came into effect), in

addition to non-broadcast items and artefacts such as

written documentation, photographs, sheet music, etc.,

from any time after 1922.

The study, commissioned by BUFVC, addressed three

main areas:

» Availability of pre-1989 BBC Archive materials, and use

currently made of these for teaching and research

» What items academics would like to see made

available from the BBC Archive, and how they would

use them

» Barriers to access, and means of addressing them

The conclusions do not represent the views of the BBC.

ConclusionsA demonstrable academic need/desire exists for increased

online access to pre-1989 BBC Archive items across all

formats (television, radio and non-broadcast) and genres

(documentary, news and current affairs, drama, comedy,

etc.). A wide variety of audiovisual material is currently

being used for both teaching and research, but academics

are limited to materials that are both available and

searchable. The number and variety of items requested

in the online survey conducted for this study shows that

pre-1989 materials would add value to Higher and Further

Education; significant use is already being made of

post-1989 items via platforms such as the BUFVC’s Box of

Broadcasts (BoB), and were earlier archive materials

made similarly available they could be utilised to further

enrich the teaching and learning experience.

Priority areas include: for television, factual programming

(in particular documentary, news, current affairs and

science) and drama (with a high number of requests for

anthology drama series that are poorly represented on

commercial DVD releases); for radio, a wide range of

factual programming, from current affairs and magazine

programmes to quiz shows. While the majority of specific

requests were for broadcast programmes, related

materials such as scripts and documentation were also in

great demand.

The main reasons for fuller use not currently being made of

archive materials to add value to teaching and research are:

» Access to audiovisual items is limited in terms of what

is available, either online or on commercial formats

» Researchers and educators are often not aware of

which items actually exist in the BBC Archive.

Discoverability is therefore arguably as significant a

barrier to use as accessibility

» Cost of rights clearance is currently a significant

impediment to online availability (in particular

performers’ rights in drama and comedy programming)

Academic Requirements for Pre-1989 BBC Archive Content

Executive Summary

5

RecommendationsThe academic community is already making varied use

of whatever materials are available and discoverable;

improving these is therefore desirable to enrich teaching

and research. Awareness of existing online collections

could be raised by making them available via a single,

searchable portal.

The online survey demonstrates clear areas of interest for

academics, and it is suggested that these be given

priority for availability. As BBC digitisation of audiovisual

materials is currently dictated largely by deterioration or

obsolescence of format (Bishop and Berger 2013), the

survey findings could be used to help formulate BBC

policy with regard to prioritisation. For example, those

items requested that were currently held on obsolete

formats could be digitised ahead of those which have not

been requested.

In order to address the rights issues which apply to

broadcast items, an extension of the existing ERA licence

could address the rights issues which apply to broadcast

items, back-dated to cover broadcast items from the

period before 1989. While further legal consultation is

necessary with regard to the possibility of using this

exception to permit copying of pre-1989 material, it would

seem to offer a potential path towards facilitating future

online availability. The aim of this would make pre-1989

materials recorded off-air or taken from original transmission

tapes available under the spirit of the agreement, provided

these are as they would have been seen on original

broadcast (i.e. without time-codes, studio countdown

clocks, and any other material that was not broadcast,

such as audience warm-up acts).

To address the rights issues which apply to non-broadcast

materials, findings could be used as the basis of an

approach to the Secretary of State to agree a provision

for online educational availability under Extended

Collective Licensing. NB: This petition would require the

support of a recognised institution.

The BBC’s work to make its Shakespeare-related materials

available for education use by 2016 could, if pursued,

potentially be used as a test case for online availability of

archive materials for educational purposes. Given that this

collection would include both broadcast and non-broadcast

materials (many of which would pre-date 1989), this

would provide a useful indication of the ease or difficulty

of resolving barriers to online provision.


Executive Summary

6

Introduction

The current study was launched in October 2013 as part

of the Research and Education Space (RES) collaboration

between Jisc, the BBC and the British Universities Film &

Video Council (BUFVC). It was designed to investigate

existing desire among academics in Further and Higher

Education for increased online access to those BBC Archive

materials not currently covered by the Educational

Recording Agency (ERA) scheme. This includes any radio

or television broadcasts produced between 1922 and

August 1989 (when the licence came into effect) and not

repeated since, in addition to non-broadcast items and

artefacts such as written documentation, photographs,

sheet music, etc., from any time after 1922.

The study was designed to address three main areas:

A. Availability of pre-1989 BBC Archive materials (not

covered by the ERA licence), and use currently made

of these for teaching and research

B. What items academics would like to see made available

from the BBC Archive, and how they would use them

C. Barriers to access, and means of addressing them

MethodologyA Working Group of academics, researchers and

librarians was established on Monday 14 October 2013.

Given the time-span of the study, limited to four months,

regular updates were provided and consultation sought

via group email, members providing suggestions for,

approval of and feedback on all actions taken. The

Working Group consisted of:

» Dr Richard Hewett (project research assistant)

» Professor Jonathan Bignell, University of Reading

» Tom Butler, Croydon College (librarian)

» Professor Hugh Chignell, Bournemouth University

» Dr Paul Gerhardt, Director of Education, BFI

» Professor David Hendy, University of Sussex

» Eleri Kyffin, University of Westminster (librarian)

» Adam Lee, formerly BBC Information and Archives

» Professor Richard Paterson, head of research and

scholarship, BFI

» Professor John Wyver, University of Westminster

Building on suggestions provided by the Working Group,

a number of approaches were taken. Interviews were

conducted with current and former BBC, Jisc and BUFVC

personnel, in addition to institutions which provide access

to BBC materials, including the British Film Institute (BFI)

and the British Library. The Arts and Humanities Research

Council (AHRC) were contacted to establish which

funded projects had made use of BBC materials, and in

November 2013 an online survey was launched by the

BUFVC to canvass FE and HE lecturers, researchers,

students and librarians regarding both use made of

archive materials and specific items that users would like

As highlighted by Paul Gerhardt and Peter B. Kaufman, ‘there are thousands of hours of quality audiovisual work waiting to be made available digitally online’ (2011: 16).


Introduction

7Academic Requirements for Pre-1989 BBC Archive Content

Introduction

to see made available for teaching and research1. The

survey was posted on MeCCSA, BAFTSS, Jiscmail Radio

Studies and the Regional Film Archives on Monday 11

November 2013; an announcement was also made on

the CSTonline site from 18 November 2013. Of the 315

people who completed the survey by the closing date of

30 November 2013, 1752 full responses were received.

In addition, existing research into academic use made of

BBC Archive materials was also investigated, including:

Listening to Learn and Learning to Listen - A Report on

UK Radio Archives: Policy, Practice and Potential by Dr

Ieuan Franklin and Dr Kristin Skoog, Bournemouth

University (2011); The BBC, Radio Archives and the Role

of the Academic Researcher (2013), a paper by Hugh

Chignell, Bournemouth; and ‘The Top Twenty Radio

Project’ (2013), report by Hugh Chignell in collaboration

with the British Library, Sound and Vision, and the Centre

for Media History, Macquarie University.

In 2013 two European surveys were also conducted

regarding archive access and use. In October and

November, the Euscreen XL project investigated the

current state of online access to audiovisual collections

across Europe, and received 80 responses. This is shortly

to be followed with a questionnaire, to be circulated

among EU countries, regarding IPR issues. The

Europeana Cloud survey examined how researchers in

humanities and social sciences carry out their research,

and received 65 responses. While it was initially intended

to share the findings from these studies, the fact that

deadline for this report fell before the IPR questionnaire

could be circulated meant that this was not possible;

however, the respective results should become available

in 2014, shortly after the completion of this report.

1 As a separate Academic Working Group, chaired by

Professor John Ellis, was simultaneously investigating

use of post-1989 BBC materials (i.e. those covered

by the ERA licence), the online survey did not have

any date-specific cut-off point, meaning that results

could be utilised by both studies.

2 These 175 responses were those who provided

specific requests for either BBC moving image or

sound content.

[1]

8

1. Current HE/FE use of pre-1989 BBC archive materials

Although a digitisation for preservation3 programme is in

progress for audiovisual items, as part of which access

copied are often made, no such process currently exists

for written documents, meaning that these are only

accessible in physical form at the Written Archives Centre

(WAC). The WAC, however, is the Corporation resource of

which the greatest use is currently made by researchers.

Some BBC audiovisual materials are accessible via other

institutions, such as the British Library and the BFI, which

include certain items not held in the BBC’s own archives,

e.g. the BFI acts as the Archive for all Parliamentary material,

which is owned by Parliament and not the Corporation

(Paterson 2013). While some of these exist in digital format,

electronic items remain in the minority compared with

physical, and this is reflected in the use made of them.

Despite existing limitations with availability of and access

to the BBC Archive, a wide number of items have been or

are currently being used by HE and FE academics for

both teaching and research, the findings for which are

detailed below.

The information provided is comprised of a combination

of research into projects conducted which have utilised

the Archive; existing research into Archive use; and the

findings of the BUFVC’s online survey.

The survey was completed in full by 175 users, this provided

statistical information regarding overall use made by

teachers and lecturers, librarians, researchers, postgraduate

and undergraduate students. General information was

provided with regard to the type of materials used, but of

those contacted for further information only 12 provided

detailed responses, meaning that a detailed analysis of

themes and patterns of use was not possible. However,

general information on HE/FE provides useful evidence

with regard to needs in terms of content, and is therefore

a determining factor as to what areas should be focused

on with regard to content provision.

Overview of current availabilityPre-1989 BBC broadcast materials which are not covered

by the ERA licence are available in several formats via a

number of outlets, with the general pattern that fictional

programming is more likely to have been made

commercially available, while factual programming can

more often be found online. Many archive television and

programmes have been released on DVD and CD, and

the tendency here is towards popular drama and comedy

series. However, some rarer programmes are occasionally

made available via streaming sites such as YouTube, e.g.

the Sunday Night Theatre entry ‘It is Midnight, Dr

Schweitzer’ (1953), and certain Dennis Potter plays that

have not received commercial release. However, it is not

possible to say whether these have been cleared for use.

3 This process often produces a digital access copy,

but the upfront and on-going costs of digitisation

for preservation are far higher than the costs of

digitisation for access only.

[1]

While in recent years the BBC has made a number of audiovisual items from the archive available via online platforms, these remain comparatively limited in number.



9

Over the last decade the BBC has launched many online

initiatives, including: the BBC Archive; the BBC Creative

Archive; the Desert Island Discs Archive; BBC4 Collections;

and The Space. The majority of this content is factual, e.g.

news, current affairs, and documentary. In addition,

documents can be physically accessed at the Written

Archives Centre. Future initiatives include the Genome

project which has digitised the BBC listings from the

Radio Times magazine (1923-2009) with plans to make

this available online shortly, though there is no timescale

for release as yet (O’Dwyer 2014); and in 2016 the BBC is

planning to make a significant amount of their archive

content relating to Shakespeare (including documentation)

available for the purposes of education. Full details of

these can be found in Appendix I.

Other organisations also provide physical and virtual

access to pre-1989 BBC content. Some material, including

a range of archive radio recordings, can be accessed at

the British Library’s Listening and Viewing Service, while

the BFI offers a number of access points for both television

fiction and factual programming: BFI Collections; the

screenonline website; Mediatheque; Inview; and the

Research Viewing Service (see Appendix I for details).

How materials are used81.7% of those who responded to the online survey

currently make use of television broadcasts in their work,

and 74.3% use digitised copies of documents. Films are

used by 70.9%, photographs by 62.3%, radio broadcasts

by 48%, and scripts and transcripts by 46.9%; only 6.3%

use sheet music.

Answered: 297

Which types of materials do you use in your work?

Digitised copiesof...

Films

Photographs

Radio broadcasts

Scripts andtranscripts

500 100 150 200

Sheet music

Televisionbroadcasts

250

207

199

161

138

123

228

21



10

Individual researchBBC materials used for research can be divided into work

conducted by individual researchers and group projects.

The primary source of BBC materials utilised by the former,

either for academic study or intended publication, is the

WAC. Ieuan Franklin and Kristin Skoog’s report on sound

archives showed that the WAC was the most frequently

used archive, visited by 63.6% of respondents between

2006 and 2011 (2011: 3). However, 60% used the British

Library’s National Sound Archive (ibid), indicating that

archive recordings are of near-equal interest. According

to British Library radio curator Paul Wilson, Listening and

Viewing Service users are most likely to request certain

types of programmes: ‘classic’ radio features and drama,

especially those cited in the published literature (e.g. A

Social History of British Broadcasting: 1922-39 – Serving

the Nation by Paddy Scannell and David Cardiff, Life on

Air: A History of Radio Four by David Hendy), with steady

demand for the work of pioneers such as Denis Mitchell,

Louis MacNeice and D.G. Bridson; news and current affairs

relating to significant historical events (e.g. propaganda,

wartime actuality); music programmes with unique content;

the work of influential or pioneer producers and presenters

(e.g. E.A. Harding, Charles Parker); earlier World Service

content; programmes serving minority or special interest

communities (e.g. made by or primarily for women, black

and Asian communities); unusual or experimental

programming; and those rare or unique archive survivals

representing a larger series or genre which is otherwise

lost. However, requests are received for almost all kinds of

programming; ‘almost any factual speech-based content

may be of interest to someone. Some select content just

as examples of language/dialect or to study aspects of

performance. Others seek examples of period radio genres

for use in theatre or film productions.’ (Wilson 2013).

In 2012, the WAC received 796 day visits (though this figure

is inclusive of returning researchers; at the time of writing,

only materials up to 1979 are available to view) (Codd 2014).

The BFI’s Research Viewing Services saw 424 BBC titles

accessed in the same period (though this is inclusive of

post-1989 materials) (Dickson 2013), while the British Library’s

Listening and Viewing Service provides access to an

estimated 1320 hours of radio recordings each year

(Wilson 2013). All these figures also include non HE/FE

researchers, but demonstrate interest in and use made of

both written and audiovisual materials, with a bias towards

the former.

Interviewed for this survey, British Library Chief Executive

and former BBC Director of Archive Content Roly Keating

offered the opinion that, aside of media specialists, the

majority of academic researchers have traditionally given

more weight to written documents than broadcast

materials, and that while the BBC has made extensive use

of its own archive when utilising footage for documentaries,

etc., it has been less easy for researchers to locate archive

recordings (2013).

Project researchThere is some crossover between individual research and

funded project work, which also features a blend of written

archives and AV, though here the focus is increasingly on

the latter. Appendix II features details of academic research

projects in Britain since 1996 which have made use of

pre-1989 BBC materials. The 23 projects listed cover a wide

variety of subjects, ranging from environmental change

to female film criticism. It is notable that of these, 13 (56.5%)

make use of pre-1989 audiovisual materials, with written

documents the primary basis of just five (21.7%). Nine of

the projects (39.1%) focused specifically on drama, though

all bar one of these centred on television. Radio provided

the main focus for just two projects (8.7%).

Prime among initiatives to have utilised audiovisual materials

are the Chronicle Project, a Jisc-funded collaboration with

BBC Archive Development and the BUFVC which digitised

approximately 300 hours of BBC Northern Ireland news

from the 1960s and 1970s (Fahmy 2013), and the BBC Open

Archive Project. This was an AHRC-funded scheme in which

television and radio coverage of the 1984/85 miners’ strike

was digitised and used by Simon Popple and Heather Powell



11

at the University of Leeds as the basis for a series of oral

history films on how the dispute was presented in the media.

These projects indicate an increasing interest in obtaining

access to and making creative use of digitised audiovisual

archive materials. The fact use has largely been limited to

factual programming perhaps reflects the difficulties in

terms of rights clearance related to fiction (see 3. Barriers

to access); a fact that is also reflected in teaching use.

Teaching in Further and Higher EducationThe most common utilisation of BBC archive materials for

teaching is the use of audiovisual materials, though this is

not limited to media studies. The online survey showed

that television and radio material has been used to teach

topics as varied as realism, class and identity; chain

management, customer service and marketing management.

It has been used to provide social, cultural, political and

economic context for historic events; and as the basis for

language tasks.

Franklin and Skoog’s survey also highlighted the use made

of radio archive material to teach a variety of subjects,

including radio history, communications and media

studies and English (collectively 67% of respondents), in

addition to radio production (33%) (2011: 3).

Given the variety mentioned, and in light of the fact that

few detailed responses to the survey were received, it is

difficult to detect particular patterns in terms of type or

genre of content taught. However, in many cases educators

are currently using what is available out of necessity, rather

than what they would like to use. The majority of specific

examples of online content used were limited to post-

1989 items available on services such as BoB, as items

from this period are currently covered by the ERA licence.

The primary use of pre-1989 items is from commercially

released items (on DVD, VHS and CD), the comparatively

small selection made available online by the BBC (see

Appendix I), or programmes which have been repeated

since 1989. Included as a case study in Appendix III is

Professor Jonathan Bignell at the University of Reading, a

Working Group member whose teaching of archive BBC

content reflects this use via titles such as Doctor Who

(1963-89), The Likely Lads (1964-66), The Wednesday Play’s

‘Cathy Come Home’ (1966), Boys from the Blackstuff

(1982) and The Singing Detective (1986). Each of these

has been released on DVD, and as such arguably reflect a

television ‘canon’ that is dependent on availability as

much as true representativeness of the medium.

Issues around discoverabilityThe problem of availability is matched by that of

discoverability. Within the BBC, neither the Guide to the

BBC’s Archives (Berger 2012) which provides a general

overview of archive content or the Corporation’s Infax

system are available to either the academic community or

the general public. The latter is available in snapshot form

via British Library reading rooms, and can be used to search

for archive items; this includes materials that once existed

in the archive, but might no longer be present, though

these are in the minority (McRoberts 2013). The British

Library version is, however, restricted in terms of metadata;

as Infax was never maintained by BBC staff with a view to

public accessibility, a degree of data enrichment would be

required in order to make it searchable by the public; an

editorial concern which serves to limit the database’s

potential as an archive catalogue (McRoberts 2014).

Of the circa 120,000 hours of pre-1990 radio content which

the British Library holds onsite, around 60% is currently not

detailed in the electronic catalogue; Listening and Viewing

Service users are therefore often unaware of much of what

is actually available (Wilson 2013), largely reliant on the

special knowledge of archivists.

It is clear that researchers cannot request items which they

are not aware exist in a collection. Hugh Chignell (2013a) has

called for an approach similar to that used by the LARM

project in Denmark (available at en.statsbiblioteket.dk/

about-the-library/news/larm-audio-research-archive),



12

which aims to provide researchers and students with direct

online access to more than one million hours of sound

items. As will be seen in section 2, many of those who

completed the BUFVC’s online survey requested items

that were in fact already freely available online, e.g. Desert

Island Discs. This highlights the fact that more needs to

be done to raise awareness of those items which are

currently available.

RecommendationsThis study shows that academics already make extensive

use of whatever materials are available and discoverable,

across various areas of interest; it is therefore desirable to

give priority to the issues of availability and discoverability.

Of these, the latter is perhaps the easiest to target in the

short term. Three approaches are therefore proposed:

A great deal of digitised BBC Archive content is currently

scattered across various portals (see Appendix I), which,

while utilising iPlayer technology as a playback device, are

not currently searchable (i.e. directly accessible) via the

iPlayer site. This is due to market impact constraints

governing the surfacing of material available on a long-term

basis through iPlayer (McRoberts 2014), but if possible these

materials could perhaps be placed in an ‘archive’ section,

or in a similar hub which would collect all materials together

in one online location.

Secondly, once the Genome data is made freely accessible

to academics, this will provide a searchable database of

all items which were planned for broadcast (though some

materials might not necessarily be held in the Archive),

which and give researchers a useful tool to aid in the

search for specific items.

Lastly, from the findings it is clear that a large number of

pre-1989 broadcast items are already available (even

though these only represent a fraction of existing holdings).

It is therefore recommended that more be done to make

users aware of their existence. Increased collaboration

between institutions such as the BBC, the British Library

and the BFI would be desirable in terms of directing users

towards the most likely repository of accessible archive

holdings. The BBC is currently conducting a pilot project

with each of these institutions in which off-air recordings

are available via their respective reading rooms. As this is

exclusively post-1989 content it has not been detailed

here, but this shared resource demonstrates the potential

for collaboration between institutions that could help

address the problem of discoverability.

In addition, given that an increasing amount of research

is now being conducted internationally with regard to

archive access, it could also be possible to establish an

information-sharing scheme with institutions such as

Europeana to help raise awareness of archive availability.

With regard to the difficulty of accessing pre-1989 materials

that are not commercially available this is largely dependent

on the addressing of rights issues which currently impede

online provision. It is suggested that, should a back-dating

of the ERA licence to cover the period prior to 1989 prove

feasible (see 3. Barriers to access), any content already

digitised by the BBC could be transferred to a suitable

digital asset management system.



13

2. What pre-1989 materials HE/FE would like to see made available from the BBC archive

These span factual programming, such as documentary,

news and current affairs, to requests for a diverse selection

of drama and comedy series. Interest in these materials

was not limited to any one purpose, with all areas in

demand for both teaching and research.

The online survey conducted for this report indicates

academic interest in a wide range of BBC materials for

both teaching and research. Requests were not limited to

any one genre or format; interest was expressed making

use of both written and audiovisual items, with demand

for radio materials rivalling that for television.

The information presented below is taken from the findings

of the BUFVC online survey. Of the 315 users who began

the survey, 175 full responses were received, and these

have been used as the basis for the statistics provided.

Survey users were provided with the option to specify

particular items that they would like to see made available,

and requests were received for 89 separate pre-1989 series

or strands, which are examined in Television, Radio and

Non-Broadcast below.

22.5% of the items specifically requested are in fact

already available, either in commercial formats or online.

This once again raises the issue of discoverability, while

highlighting an existing desire for a freely available,

searchable online resource.

Until comparatively recently, little comprehensive research was conducted with regard to how the BBC Archive can best be made use of by academics; this study therefore offers a first step in indicating the range of materials in which interest already exists.



14

Overview of items requestedIn the moving image section, completed by 172 users,

78.5% were interested in documentary, 56.4% in arts

programming, 50% in history, 45.9% in current affairs and

politics, 44.2% in national/international events, 43.6% in

news bulletins, and 41.3% in drama. Of the 146 people who

specified how they would make use of these items, 49.3%

were interested in teaching, and 35.6% in research, e.g.

writing papers, presentations and books; 15.1% expressed

an interest in both.

In the radio broadcasts and sound section, completed by

144 users, 72.2 % were interested in documentary, 51.4% in

arts, 45.8% in history, 42.4% in current affairs and politics,

41.7% in national and international events, and 34%

respectively in drama and news bulletins. Of the 84 who

specified how they would make use of these items, 60.7%

were interested in teaching, and 27.4% in research; 11.9%

expressed an interest in both.

Television73% of the specific survey requests received were for

television programmes, with 58.4% of these for non-

fiction, 35.4% for drama and 6.2% for comedy.

The majority of non-fiction programming requested was

documentary material, such as The Body in Question

(1980), Chronicle (1966-1991), Forty Minutes (1981-1994)

and Horizon (1964- ); the most popular factual subject

areas requested were news and current affairs (e.g.

Panorama (1953- ), Newsnight (1980- ) and science.

However, there were also isolated requests for light

entertainment (The Black and White Minstrel Show

(1958-78)) and quiz shows (Animal Mineral or Vegetable?

(1952-59)).

Requests for drama were evenly split between long-

running series, serials (David Copperfield (1964), The

Dark Side of the Sun (1983)) and single strands, with Answered: 268

Which types of BBC TV programmes would you be

most interested in for teaching and/or research?

Arts

Children’s and youth...

Current a�airsand...

Documentary

Drama

500 100 150 200 250

History

Lifestyle

Light entertainment

Natural history

National / international...

News bulletins

Reality TV

Regional TV

Schools

Science

Sitcom

Sports

152

39

126

215

109

132

63

44

58

127

120

39

66

38

82

37

27



15

multiple requests for entries in The Wednesday Play

(1965-70), Out of the Unknown (1965-71) and Play for

Today (1970-84), and the work of Dennis Potter not yet

released on DVD noticeably in demand.

While few of these latter items can currently be accessed

(some of the Dennis Potter plays requested are currently

available on YouTube, but there is no guarantee that they

will remain so), 21.5% of television items specifically

requested were already available, either on commercial

DVD releases (e.g. Bergerac (1981-91), Doctor Who

(1963-89)) or online (Sunday Night Theatre: Nineteen

Eighty-Four (1954) on YouTube, Arena (1975- ) via The

Space, and Open Door (1973-83) on Inview). In certain

cases, only selected episodes have been made available

commercially, the DVD releases Dixon of Dock Green

(1955-76) and Z-Cars (1962-78) only featuring certain of

the later colour episodes.

Some users nominated themes rather than specific

programmes, e.g. immediately post-war television, and

women’s afternoon television of the 1970s. However,

there was generally little crossover in terms of items

requested, indicating the wide range of purposes to

which archive materials could potentially be put.

Radio27% of the specific survey requests received were for

radio programmes, with 70.8% for non-fiction, 16.7% for

comedy, and 12.5% for drama. While the fiction items

requested were perhaps unsurprising (e.g. The Archers

(1951- ) and Afternoon Play (1967- ) for drama; Round the

Horne (1965-68) and ITMA (1939-49) for comedy),

non-fiction showed fewer areas of commonality than for

television, ranging from current affairs (File on Four

(1977- ) and magazine programmes (Woman’s Hour

(1946- )) to quiz shows (Just a Minute (1953- )) and music

(Music While You Work (1940-67).

Answered: 227

Which types of BBC radio broadcasts and sound

recordings would you be most interested in for

teaching and/or research?

Arts

Children’s and youth...

Current aairsand...

Documentary

Drama

400 80 120 160 200

History

Lifestyle

Light entertainment

Local radio

Music

Natural history

National / international...

News bulletins

Schools

Science

Sitcom

Sound eects

Sports

116

21

102

169

82

102

41

33

44

59

38

76

99

30

61

21

51

21



16

As with television, several of the items requested were

already available, with 24% of sound items either on

commercial CD releases (e.g. The Goon Show (1951-60),

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1978-2005)) or

accessible online (Desert Island Discs (1942- ); Radio 4

Extra repeats of The Goon Show on BoB National).

Some users again named themes rather than specific

programmes, and there was slightly more commonality

here than in television, with early and pre-war radio being

requested by more than one user. In addition to the

survey findings, the ‘Top Twenty Radio Project’ (Chignell

2013b) lists 20 sound recordings that should be prioritised

for availability in the Digital Space due to their historical

significance. These included productions by Denis

Mitchell, Olive Shapley, Joan Littlewood, Louis MacNeice

and J.B. Priestley. Full details can be found in Appendix V.

Non-broadcastSurprisingly, few specific requests were made for non-

broadcast items such as scripts, production files, stills, etc.

However, the high usage already being made of these

types of materials illustrated in section 1 suggests that users

would require access to these in addition to audiovisual

content. This again highlights the issue of discoverability;

until a searchable database is made available, researchers

and teachers in higher and further education will be

largely unaware of what materials might exist.

High priority requestsGiven the wide spread of requests, this is difficult to assess.

Factual programmes represent the majority of requests

for both television and radio, so these could perhaps be

given priority. The second most popular requests were

for drama and comedy programmes, but as will be seen

in section 3, rights for these programmes are arguably

more problematic to clear. However, should such rights

issues prove resolvable, some of the drama strands

requested which have not received commercial release

should be prioritised over those which are already available.

Delivery optionsThe BUFVC survey was conducted on the assumption

that as BoB is currently the platform most commonly

accessed for post-1989 television broadcasts, this might

seem a suitable repository for pre-1989 materials, should

relevant rights issues be resolved. However, this raises the

question of providing access to non-broadcast materials

such as documents, for which an online platform might

be preferable, along the lines of the BBC Archive

(bbc.co.uk/archive), which combines video and audio

files with scans of documents and stills.

RecommendationsAs demonstrable interest exists for archive materials across

all genres (programme type) and formats (television, radio,

and related non-broadcast items), digitised items could

initially be made available as themed collections, in a

manner similar to the collections available via the BBC

Archive and BBC Four sites (see Appendix I). Further

research might be necessary to establish which themed

collections could be prioritised for digitisation, rights

clearance and online availability, e.g. ‘the work of Dennis

Potter’, ‘television adaptations’; ‘world events’, etc. If

pursued, the 2016 Shakespeare Project could be used as

a test case. This collection would include both broadcast

and non-broadcast materials (many of which would

pre-date 1989), so would help ascertain the ease or

difficulty of making a specific collection available online

for education and research.

With regard to digitisation, it is suggested that any of the

items listed in Appendices III and IV currently held on

obsolete formats be digitised ahead of those which have

not been requested.




3. Barriers to access


The cost of clearing materials for educational use is a

separate issue from commercial use. Contracts signed by

original contributors to BBC programming pre-1989 did

not envision a forum such as the internet, and the need

for copyright and IPR reform has been recognised both in

the UK and abroad.

Another area to consider is the issue of orphan works,

where original rights holders can no longer be traced. Ian

Hargreaves’ report Digital Opportunity: A Review of

Intellectual Property and Growth (2011) proposed

several ways in which these issues could be addressed.

Following Richard Hooper and Ros Lynch’s independent

report Copyright Works: Streamlining Copyright

Licensing for the Digital Age (2012), several of Hargreaves,

Hooper and Lynch’s recommendation were incorporated

into the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act (2013).

However, though a legal framework is now in place which

could theoretically be used to address existing rights

issues (see Options), it remains untested.

Rights issuesThe following rights-related issues are all applicable to

pre-1989 audiovisual materials, and would need to be

negotiated before materials could be made available:

Arts, Documentaries, History, Science, Youth, et al: Presenters before 1997 (i.e. pre-All Rights) may need

contracts extended (Berger 2012: 139-42; 155-57; 169-71;

192-94; 204-5).

Arts, Current Affairs, Documentaries, et al: Material

that solely features a single artist, band or performer may

require additional clearances, and advice needs to be

sought from Music Copyright (ibid: 139-42; 149-53; 155-57).

Children’s, Drama & Sitcom: ‘The current position is that

no contributions can be used from writers and actors in

an online archive’ (ibid: 144-47; 159-60).

Events: For pre-1990 items, contracts for the majority of

performers/presenters (especially those who are high

profile) will need to be checked, though most studio-

based will be All Rights (ibid: 162-5).

Lifestyle: Programming is presenter-led and contracts

generally unclear for archive use online (ibid: 173-5).

Light Entertainment, Natural History, Science: High-

profile lead presenters and contributors generally need

further clearance and payment (ibid: 177-80; 182-5; 192-4).

With regard to WAC materials, it is currently permitted for

copies of BBC copyright documents to be made by

researchers, but not documents that are the copyright of

a third party. This will change under arrangements to be

introduced in 2014; provided the purpose of the copy is

for personal, private research, it will also become possible

to make copies of third party copyright material.

However, the onus will remain on researchers to clear the

rights for publication or re-use (Codd and Rooks 2013).

The main barrier to online provision of archive materials is rights clearance, details of which are outlined below.

18 Academic Requirements for Pre-1989 BBC Archive Content


Cost of rights clearanceThe costs of clearing rights for specific programmes are

variable, being dependent on programme type and the

number of contributors. While an exact overall figure for

the cost of rights clearance of all pre-1989 content is

difficult to establish, the BBC has estimated it to be over

£70 million (BBC and BBC Worldwide response to IPO

Consultation on Copyright 2011). In terms of person

hours, it has been estimated that clearing the entire BBC

Archive for online use would take 685 years (Gerhardt

and Kaufman 2011: 16).

Cost of digitisationIn terms of pre-digital content, the BBC holds an estimated

400,000 television and radio programmes; an estimated

900,000 hours of material (Popple and Powell 2008: 6),

comprised of 600,000 hours of video and film and 300,000

of audio (ibid). The WAC holds a total of approximately 10 km

(6.25 miles) of files, volumes, posters, engineering drawings

and microfilm (Berger 2012: 61), though statistics on the

number of individual sheets/pages of which this is

comprised is not available, while the Photo Library contains

over 5 million photographs (Berger 2014).

The BBC’s digitisation programme is a fundamentally and

necessarily a preservation programme, rather than one

focused on making accessible digital copies for viewing

purposes. By definition, the processes around preserving

media are substantially more complex, cautious and costly

than simply making a digital copy of the master asset: the

preservation file becomes the new master asset, and the

old master is unlikely to be used ever again.

Due to format changes which can take place over time,

the concept of preserving the BBC Archive is dependent

on the format in which its holdings are held being both

relevant and accessible.

Some approximate preservation costs are provided below.

NB; the figures cited from Nick Poole’s 2010 report have

been converted into sterling from Euros.

Television: The estimated cost of digitising one hour of either video

or film is £100 (Berger 2014). The total cost of digitising

the 600,000 hours in the BBC’s television collection (for

which a breakdown of the video to film ratio is not available)

would be approximately £60,000,000.

Radio:The estimated cost of digitising one hour of audio is £30

(ibid). The total cost of digitising the 300,000 hours in the

BBC’s audio collection would be approximately £9,000,000.

The WAC:The cost of scanning a single page is between around 30

and 38 pence (Poole 2010: 62). On an estimated 6000

pages per metre (ibid: 61), the lowest total cost of scanning

the 10 linear kilometres of the WAC archives would be

approximately £18,000,000.

Photo Library:The estimated cost of digitising a photograph ranges

between around £3.32 and £12.46, dependent on size and

resolution (Poole 2010: 56). Using a median of £7.89, the

total cost of digitising the 5 million-plus photographs in

the BBC’s collection would be approximately

£39,450,000.

Total estimated cost: £126,450,000

19

In terms of digitisation of broadcast materials already

carried out, it is estimated that around 40 to 45% of sound

materials have now been digitised, and upwards of 20%

of television (Rooks 2013). Aside of the digitisation of

‘programmes as broadcast’ documents for internal use,

digital conversion of WAC files has been minimal, and is

carried out on an ad hoc basis, e.g. for the BBC Archive

website, or where galleries request written materials in

addition to other artefacts (Codd and Rooks 2013).

Materials already digitised for internal use would require

additional clearance/redaction before they could be

made available online (ibid).

At the time of writing, the nine-year digitisation plan

launched by Mark Thompson in 2010 (Thompson 2010)

is still in place (Berger and Bishop 2013). Whenever

archive items are digitised for internal or external use, it is

now BBC policy to digitise the entire ‘parent’ recording,

rather than the specific segment requested (Ageh 2013),

as the latter is an inefficient mechanism for digitising a

collection. Digitisation is currently dictated in the first

instance by deterioration or obsolescence of format

(Bishop and Berger 2013).

OptionsThese are listed in descending order of usefulness:

A. An extension of the existing ERA licence:

Back-dated to cover broadcast items from the period

before 1989. According to the House of Lords

discussion of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform

Bill (2012) in January 2013, this may in fact already be

legally possible through an exception in Section 35 of

the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (1988):

Government believe that the exception in Section 35

of the CDPA, which this refers to, may already apply to

pre-1990 works, but our legal team will be considering

this in more detail when preparing the legislation on

exceptions. I am pleased that the noble Lord is

thinking about the benefit that extended collective

licensing could have in some sectors. I hope we have

assured him that the type of use he suggests would

already be possible under the Government’s proposed

scheme. (Younger 2013)

While further legal consultation is necessary with regard

to the possibility of using this exception to permit

copying of pre-1989 material, it would seem to offer a

potential path towards facilitating future online availability.

B. Extended Collective Licensing (ECL)

This is a feature of copyright and IPR in Nordic

countries such as Sweden, Denmark, Norway and

Finland, each of whom has their own variations. There

is a new provision for this in UK law, introduced in the

Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act, alongside a

provision for licensing orphan works.

Where a defined community of potential users exists,

with good public policy reasons for wanting to access

audiovisual material (e.g. added value for teaching and

research), but where it might not be possible to reach

complete agreement due to the absence of some

information, ECL allows the Secretary of State to make

those materials available, either for a negotiated fee to

be distributed among rights holders subject to various

conditions being met (Kirkham 2013).



20

C. The Copyright Hub.

This is a version of the Digital Copyright Exchange

proposed by Ian Hargreaves in his 2011 report, and

subsequently developed as the Hub led by Richard

Hooper. Accessible online (copyrighthub.co.uk), it

may eventually provide pathways that could be

followed for copyright clearance. Subject to the

continuation of industry funding, it will be established

as Copyright Hub Ltd., and could potentially become

an online location for transacting copyright clearances.

While this has potential for large copyright owners

transacting with smaller businesses or individuals (e.g.

public performances licensing in premises), and

individual owners transacting with individuals (e.g.

someone wanting to make a film of a wedding using

library music that has been cleared for use), it is likely

to be less suitable for large business users transacting

with large copyright holders. The Copyright Hub will

probably not therefore add significant value for the BBC,

as the Corporation already knows its own contractual

requirements and what is required for the clearance of

large volumes of programmes (Kirkham 2013).

D. The creation of an exception.

Arguably the least desirable option, as this can

potentially polarise rights holders and users, as it

effectively removes rights-owners’ ability to shape a

solution (Kirkham 2013).

RecommendationsIn the short-term, it might be possible for an approach to

be made to ERA with regard to enquiring about the

possibility of back-dating the terms of the licence, by

which off-air recordings – or original transmission tapes

which are presented as they would have been seen on

original transmission (off-air recordings being unlikely to

exist prior to the introduction of home video recording in

the 1970s) – could be made available for the purposes of

education and research. The current cut-off date of 1st

August 1989 applies purely because this was the initial

start date for the ERA scheme, and there would seem to

be the possibility to make earlier material available;

particularly when older archive materials are perceived to

have less commercial value (e.g. in terms of DVD release).

ERA could also be approached as a potential body to

request an Extended Collective Licence for non-

broadcast materials from the Secretary of State.



21

Conclusions

In brief, the conclusions arising from this report are that:

A. Many of the BBC Archive items currently being utilised

for HE/FE research and teaching are being used

chiefly because they are the only materials available. A

demonstrable need exists for increased academic

archive access to all broadcast materials, both television

and radio, though with more of a bias towards the

former. In particular, factual programming such as

documentary, news, current affairs and science are in

great demand; however, drama and comedy

productions are also sought after in both television

and radio.

B. It would be advisable for those items requested herein

(see Appendices IV and V), which have proven to be

of value for academic research and teaching, to be

prioritised for preservation and online availability.

C. Discoverability of those BBC Archive materials which

are already available is an area which could be

improved, and greater collaboration is desirable

between the chief providers of content: the BBC, the

BFI and the British Library.

D. Changes in current licensing legislation may be

necessary in order to facilitate provision of pre-1989

broadcast materials (e.g. the possible back-dating of

the ERA licence).


Conclusions

22

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Angelini, Sergio (2013) Interviewed by the author, 10 December

BBC and BBC Worldwide response to IPO Consultation on Copyright (2011)

BBC Strategy Review, March 2010,

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‘BBC to Digitise and Make Available Its Shakespeare Archive’, BBC Media Centre, 8 October 2013,

bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2013/dg-shakespeare.html

Putting Quality First: The BBC and Public Space, Proposals to the BBC Trust (2010) London: BBC

Benardou, Agiati (2013) Interviewed by the author, 18 November

Berger, Jake (2012) A Guide to the BBC Archives, London: BBC

Berger, Jake (2013) Digital Public Space, presentation to TEDx Southwark, 24 October

Berger, Jake (2014) Email response to questions, 14th February

Berger, Jake, and Bishop, Hilary (2013) Interviewed by the author, 14 October

‘BFI Mediatheques around the UK’, BFI Mediatheques,

bfi.org.uk/archive-collections/introduction-bfi-collections/bfi-mediatheques/bfi-mediatheques-around-uk

Bishop, Hilary (2013a) Email response to questions, 11 December

Bishop, Hilary (2013b) Interviewed by the author, 16 December

Bryant, Steve (2014) Email response to questions, 6 January

Chignell, Hugh (2013a) ‘The BBC, Radio Archives and the Role of the Academic Researcher’, Centre for Media History,

Bournemouth University

Chignell, Hugh (2013b) ‘The Top Twenty Project’, The British Library, Sound and Vision, Centre for Media History,

Bournemouth University, Centre for Media History, Macquarie University

Codd, James (2014) Email response to questions, 6 January


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Dickson, Kathleen (2013) Email response to questions, 4 December

Duguid, Mark (2013) Email response to questions, 19 December

The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act (2013), legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2013/24/contents/enacted

Fahmy, Sarah (2013) Interviewed by the author, 11 December

Franklin, Ieuan and Skoog, Kristin (2011) Listening to Learn and Learning to Listen: A Report on UK Radio Archives:

Policy, Practice and Potential, Centre for Broadcasting History, Bournemouth University

Gerhardt, Paul and Kaufman, Peter B. (2011) Film and Sound in Higher and Further Education: A Progress Report with

Ten Strategic Recommendations, Jisc, Film & Sound, Think Tank,

jisc.ac.uk/media/5/6/4/%7B564236F6-5E29-42C0-AE58-401E966147A2%7Dfstt_summary_final.pdf

Hargreaves, Ian (2011) Digital Opportunity: A Review of Intellectual Property and Growth, ipo.gov.uk/ipreview-finalreport.pdf

Hooper, Richard and Lynch, Ros (2012) Copyright Works: Streamlining Copyright Licensing for the Digital Age,

ipo.gov.uk/dce-report-phase2.pdf

Keating, Roly (2013) Interviewed by the author, 27 November

Keating, Roly (2010) ‘Henry Moore at the BBC’, About the BBC Blog, 15 February,

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Kelion, Leo (2012) ‘BBC Finished Radio Times Archive Digitisation Effort’, BBC News – Technology, 7 December,

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Kelt, Marion (2013) Email response to questions, 20 December

Kirkham, Rob (2013) Interviewed by the author, 11 November

Loup, Rick (2013) Email response to questions, 4 December

McKernan, Luke (2013) Interviewed by the author, 9 December

24

McKernan, Luke (2014) Email response to questions, 9 December

McRoberts, Mo (2013) Email response to questions, 4 December

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Poole, Nick (2010) The Cost of Digitising Europe’s Cultural Heritage: A Report for the Comite des Sages of the

European Commission, Collections Trust, November

Popple, Simon and Powell, Heather (2008) AHRC/BBC Open Archive Project - The Miners’ Strike: A Case Study in

Regional Content, bbc.co.uk/blogs/knowledgeexchange/leeds.pdf

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Stringer, Michael (2013) Email response to questions, 13 December

Thompson, Mark (2010) Putting Quality First: The BBC and the Public Space, 2 March,

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Bibliography

25

Appendix I: Outlets for access to BBC archive materials

Listed below are the various platforms by which BBC

Archive items are currently (or have been, in the case of

some of the BBC platforms) available; the BBC, the BFI, and

the British Library. Gauging actual usage is problematic, as

the statistics provided by many of the institutions canvassed

could not be filtered to the desired extent, i.e. while it was

possible in some (though not all) cases to remove post-1989

broadcast material, user numbers were not limited to FE and

HE, also including independent researchers and non-UK

users. The figures cited herein should therefore be read

as an approximate indication rather than an accurate

record of use made of BBC materials.

The BBC

Written Archives CentreBased at Caversham Park, Reading, the WAC holds

thousands of programme and people files, scripts, viewer

research reports and working papers from 1922 onwards,

available to view by appointment. Archival documents of

many types have historically been subject to a general

release date (1979 for some years). A new approach will be

introduced during 2014 by which documents may be

opened sooner, subject to restrictions on certain categories

of files and, as was previously the case, the usual vetting rules

governing access (Codd and Rooks 2013). 2011 saw 731 day

visits to Caversham, with 796 in 2012 and 826 in 2013 (Codd

2014). These figures include visits by returning researchers,

and are inclusive of non FE and HE researchers (ibid). In

2012, the WAC received 796 day visits (though this figure

is inclusive of returning researchers; at the time of writing,

only materials up to 1979 are available to view) (Codd 2014).

The BBC Archive OnlineAvailable at bbc.co.uk/archive, this site was begun circa

2002 under the auspices of Tony Ageh as a way of

promoting and explaining the Archive to the public (Bishop

2013b). 61 collections relating to various themes (e.g.

broadcasting and performing arts, politics and government,

war and conflict) can be viewed online, featuring radio,

television and some non-broadcast content, such as a

limited amount of WAC documentation. Rights for all

material, pre- and post-1989, have been cleared for

permanent use (ibid). Although the site has not been

updated since around 2008/9 (Bishop 2013a), some

audiovisual content is currently in the process of being

extracted for use in other parts of the BBC (ibid).

The BBC Creative ArchiveSet up in 2005 by the BBC, BFI, Channel 4 and the Open

University, this pilot was designed to make archive content

available for public use under the Creative Archive Licence

Group (CALG). This single, shared user licence scheme

allowed for the downloading of moving image, audio and

stills for non-commercial use, and ended in 2006.

bbc.co.uk/creativearchive

Desert Island Discs Archive

Since 2011, hundreds of past episodes of the long-running

radio programme have been available to listen to via

iPlayer at bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs.

1014 episodes are available from between 1951 and July 1989.

BBC4 CollectionsBegun in 2011 as means ‘of thinking about the relationship

between the immediacy and ephemerality of broadcast TV

and the permanent, connected medium of the web’ (Keating

2011), this was limited to a single collection, Army: A Very

British Institution, available at bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/

collections/p00hl622/army-a-very-british-institution, which

features a mix of television documentaries relating to the

military (mainly pre-dating 1989) available to watch on iPlayer.

The SpaceLaunched in May 2012, to coincide with the Olympics,

thespace.org was a collaboration between the BBC and

Arts Council of England, featuring a mix of cultural materials

including archive recordings from the television

documentary strand Arena (BBC, 1975- ). Although the

pilot service came to an end on 31st October 2013, a

re-launch is currently planned for spring/summer 2014,

subject to BBC Trust Approval.



26

GenomeThis project to digitise 4,500 copies of the Radio Times

between 1923 and 2009 was completed in 2012 (Kelion

2012). Although only currently available internally to BBC

staff, it is planned to eventually be made accessible to

the public.

BBC Shakespeare ProjectAnnounced by BBC Director-General Tony Hall in October

2013 (‘BBC to Digitise and Make Available Its Shakespeare

Archive’), this project aims to make a significant amount

of BBC content relating to Shakespeare (including

documentation) available for the purposes of education

by 2016 (the 400th anniversary of the author’s death). A

researcher has been appointed to establish what items

exist that could be made available (e.g. audiovisual

content, documentation, stills, paperwork, Radio Times

entries), this process should be completed in March 2014,

after which the BBC will decide what further actions to

take (Bishop 2013b). The BBC is also working with

partners whose material was recorded by the BBC, such

as the RSC, to formulate collaborations (Bishop 2013b). No

work has yet been undertaken with regard to clearance

of rights issues (Kirkham 2013).

OtherVarious individual items have been digitised for short or

long-term access as part of museum exhibitions, e.g. John

Read’s documentaries on Henry Moore, which formed

part of a Tate Britain exhibition in 2010 (Keating 2010).

When archive programmes such as Arena are shown on

BBC Four, they are (briefly) available to view via iPlayer.

The BFI

BFI CollectionsContaining over 800,000 film, television and newsreel

titles collected by the BFI since 1933, this collection can be

searched at collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web. However,

less than 50% of the collections listed are actually

represented. These consist of film and video materials

held in the BFI National Archive, articles and books held

in the Reuben Library, scripts, documents and ephemera

in Special Collections, and digital moving images, stills

and posters. It is not known how much of this material is

made up of BBC items.

ScreenonlineLaunched in 2003, the screenonline.org.uk website offers

online access to over 700 hours of moving image

material, ranging from excerpts of broadcasts to complete

episodes. These are free for use by all UK schools, colleges,

universities and public libraries through the National

Education Network and JANET. 562 BBC titles (230 hours)

are accessible to watch via Media Player, of which 186 are

complete episodes (Duguid 2013). NB: this figure also

includes some post-1989 transmissions. In 2012 there were

14,933 views of material originally broadcast on BBC

channels (ibid).

MediathequeSince 2009 the BFI’s Mediatheque service has offered

access to 2,500 highlights from the BFI National Archive,

including 640 titles (547 hours) to which the BBC holds

the rights. As with screenonline, post-1989 material is also

included. Viewing booths are available at eight venues in

the UK: BFI Southbank; the Library of Birmingham; the

National Media Museum, Bradford; Central Library,

Cambridge; QUAD, Derby; Bridgeton Library, Glasgow;

Discovery Museum, Newcastle; and Wrexham Library

(‘BFI Mediatheques around the UK’). No information is

available on the number of views.



27

InviewFunded by the Jisc digitisation programme, bfi.org.uk/

inview/ features over 2000 non-fiction film and television

titles from the 20th and 21st centuries. BBC content

includes Panorama (BBC, 1953- ), Open Door (BBC,

1973-1978) and Parliamentary material dating back to

pre-television radio broadcasts. NB: any material from

BBC Parliament is owned by Parliament, and not the BBC;

the BFI acts as the archive for all BBC Parliamentary

material. Access is restricted to UK FE and HE institutions;

no statistics are available with regard to use.

Research Viewing ServicesThis provides non-commercial researchers and students

with access to moving image items from the BFI National

Archive for a set fee. These are viewable on either

Steenbeck tables (for film items) or VCRs at the BFI’s

Stephen Street site, though some digitised items can be

accessed at the Reuben Library. Where items are not held

in the National Archive, they can be requested by the BFI

directly from the BBC (Dickson 2013). Although precise

numbers for pre-1989 material are not available, the BFI

holds VHS or CDR copies of all surviving 2” and 1” tapes

transferred for preservation by the BBC; in addition, a

limited number of surviving film copies are held (Bryant

2014). There has been no systematic digitisation of

pre-1989 material, which is converted on demand (ibid). In

2012 a total of 424 BBC titles were viewed by researchers

and students; however, this figure includes programmes

broadcast later than 1989, and covers both HE/FE and

non-HE/FE requests (Dickson 2013).

The British Library

Listening and Viewing ServiceFree to British Library onsite users, this collection includes

both broadcast and non-broadcast recordings of music,

wildlife, drama and oral history, accessible via the walk-in

SoundServer system, which is available at reading room

terminals. Undigitised recordings, or those held on fragile

formats, are available by appointment only. BBC Sound

Archive radio material is also accessible via Listening and

Viewing Service on request. Of the circa 120,000 hours of

pre-1990 radio content which the Library holds onsite,

around 60% is currently not detailed in the electronic

catalogue; users are therefore often unaware of much of

what is actually available, and statistics for radio collection

use are not fully representative of potential demand

(Wilson 2013). On average there are 89 onsite Listening

and Viewing Service users per month, of which around

40% request some radio recordings (i.e. not necessarily

exclusively radio). The total average monthly duration of

all listening is approximately 397 hours. Of the circa 159

hours of audio accessed by users requesting some radio,

it is estimated that about 110 hours represents actual

radio recordings auditioned. These figures exclude users

accessing radio via the BBC Pilot Service (BBC Redux

content), and Broadcast News (in-house TV and radio

news recording system) which feature post-1989 content.

A small amount of pre-1989 content is available to HFE

users via the British Library Sounds website, but would

not add significantly to these statistics (Wilson 2013).

News and Moving ImageFollowing the closure of its Colindale newspaper archive

in November 2013, the British Library is opening a News

and Media room in March 2014, which will combine print

and online media (McKernan 2013). According to Luke

McKernan, lead curator of news and moving image, this

reflects a gradual shift in the way material is now used by

academics: ‘The news is inherently multimedia and we

have to follow where news is going to ensure a coherent

and valid news service’ (McKernan 2014). British Library

reading room statistics for 2012 show that 318,286

electronic items were accessed by researchers, of whom

68% are academics (ibid), compared with 4,196,015 print

items. However, these figures only represent clicks from

the ‘Explore the British Library’ catalogue through to

electronic resources; other routes to electronic content

exist which are not be included here, so in reality the

figures for electronic access overall would be higher

(Stringer 2013).



28

Appendix II: Funded projects

Listed chronologically.

1996-2000: The BBC Wednesday Play and Post-War British DramaFunded by the British Academy and the Arts and

Humanities Research Board (AHRB), and run by Jonathan

Bignell and Stephen Lacey at the Department of Film,

Theatre and Television, the University of Reading. This

project investigated and evaluated the drama strand The

Wednesday Play in terms of its place within the BBC as a

broadcasting institution, and involved archival research at

the WAC.

reading.ac.uk/ftt/research/ftt-BBC-Wednesday.aspx

2002-2005: Cultures of British Television Drama, 1960-82Funded by the British Academy and the Arts and

Humanities Research Board (AHRB), and run by Jonathan

Bignell at the Department of Film, Theatre and Television,

the University of Reading, Stephen Lacey at Manchester

Metropolitan University and John Ellis at Royal Holloway,

the University of London. This project combined archival

and analytical study of British TV drama programming.

reading.ac.uk/ftt/research/ftt-Cultures-of-British-TV.

aspx

2003-2014: The Spoken Word ProjectEvolved from the Jisc/NSF-funded Digital Libraries in the

Classroom project, by which Glasgow Caledonian

University may source audio and video from the BBC

archive and provide access to it for educational purposes.

User statistics will only become available when the site

closes in February 2014 (Kelt, 2013).

gcu.ac.uk/library/services/staffservices/

thedigitaldevelopmentteam/thespokenwordproject

2005-2008: British TV Drama and Acquired US Programmes, 1970-2000Funded by the AHRC, and run by Jonathan Bignell at the

Centre for Television Drama Studies, the University of

Reading. This project studied how the importation of US

programming into Britain in the period between 1970 and

2000 affected the planning, production and reception of

television drama in the UK.

reading.ac.uk/ftt/research/ftt-British-TV-US.aspx

2006-2009: Video Active: Creating Access to Europe’s Television HeritageFunded as part of the European Commission’s

eContentplus programme, and operated by a consortium

of European universities, broadcasters and archives,

including John Ellis at the Department of Media Arts,

Royal Holloway, University of London. This project

presented television material from audiovisual archives

across Europe, and featured over 1000 items, including a

large number of stills, contributed by the BBC (O’Dwyer

2014). This content was later migrated to the follow-up

EUscreen project between 2009 and 2012.

videoactive.eu/VideoActive/Home.do?menu_

page=menu-home&menu=m_home

euscreen.eu

2007: Research Development of the Jack Rosenthal Drama Scripts ArchiveFunded by the AHRC, and run by Sue Vice at the School

of English Literature, Language and Linguistics at the

University of Sheffield. This project made use of the Jack

Rosenthal Script Collection acquired by Sheffield University

Library, comprising 75 boxes of scripts and video recordings,

in preparation for the publication of the Television Series

entry Jack Rosenthal (Vice, 2009, Manchester University

Press) (Research Councils UK 2013).


Appendix II: Funded Projects

29

2007-2008: The BBC Open Archive: The Miners’ Strike – A Case Study in Regional ContentFunded by the AHRC and the BBC Knowledge Exchange

Programme, and run by Simon Popple and Heather

Powell at the Institute of Communication Studies, the

University of Leeds. This project made use of archive

material covering the 1984-85 miners’ strike as the basis

for a series of oral history films regarding how the dispute

was presented in the media.

bbc.co.uk/blogs/knowledgeexchange/leeds.pdf

2008: Behind the Mic: A Cultural and Oral History of Sports CommentaryFunded by the AHRC, and run by Richard Haynes in the

Department of Film Media and Journalism at the

University of Stirling. This project provided an oral and

cultural history of broadcasts and running commentary

from sport, drawing upon WAC materials, BBC radio and

television material at the British Library, and items from

the Spoken Word Project (Research Councils UK 2013).

2008-2010: ‘There’s No Such Thing as Society?’ A Study of Broadcasting and the Public Services under the Three Thatcher Governments, 1979-1990Funded by the AHRC, and run by Patricia Holland at the

Centre for Media History, Bournemouth University. This

project investigated the ways in which UK broadcast

media reflected and mediated the political, economic and

ideological climate during Margaret Thatcher’s

premiership, using radio current affairs, daily news, factual

television, drama and sitcom output (Research Councils

UK 2013).

bournemouth.ac.uk/imcr/cbhr/no-such-thing-as-

society.html

2009: Female Film Critics and Film Criticism in 1950s BritainFunded by the AHRC, and run by Melanie Jane Bell at the

School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics,

Newcastle University. This project made use of WAC

materials to examine the role played by women in 1950s

film criticism, in particular BBC radio broadcasters Freda

Bruce Lockhart and Catherine de la Roche (Research

Councils UK 2013).

2009-2010: Branding TelevisionFunded by the AHRC, and run by Catherine Johnson at

the Department of Media Arts, Royal Holloway, University

of London. This project examined changes in UK and US

television over the last 25 years, and resulted in the

publication Branding Television (Johnson, 2012,

Routledge) (Research Councils UK 2013).

2010-2011: Consolidated Moving Image and Sound Database FrameworkFunded by the AHRC, and run by John Ellis at the

Department of Media Arts, Royal Holloway, University of

London, in conjunction with the BUFVC. This project resulted

in the creation of a federated search environment, providing

FE and HE users with access to 13 million audiovisual

records from 1896 onwards (Research Councils UK 2013)

.

bufvc.ac.uk/federatedsearch

2010-2011: Radio Drama: Historical and Theoretical PerspectivesFunded by the AHRC, and run by Richard Hand at the

University of Glamorgan (now the University of South

Wales). This project provided the first full-length study of

horror radio and ‘spoken word’ horror performance in

Great Britain, from the 1920s to the present day. Research

conducted formed the basis for Listen in Terror: British

Horror Radio from the Advent of Broadcasting to the

iPod (Hand, 2013, Manchester University Press) (Research

Councils UK 2013).



30

2010-2014: A History of Television for Women in Britain, 1947-1989Funded by the AHRC, and run by Rachel Moseley at the

Department of Film and Television Studies, the University

of Warwick. This project investigates television made for

and by women, examining shifts in content, modes of

address, and representations of gender, making use of

WAC materials (Research Councils UK 2013).

warwick.ac.uk/knowledge/culture/womenstv

2010-2015: Spaces of Television: Production, Site and StyleFunded by the AHRC, and run by Jonathan Bignell at the

Department of Film, Theatre and Television, the University

of Reading, James Chapman at the University of Leicester,

and Stephen Lacey at the University of Glamorgan. This

project focuses on television fiction produced in the UK

between 1955 and 1994, analysing how spaces of

production (studio and location) conditioned the aesthetic

form of programmes. A range of BBC dramas from the

1960s to the 1980s will be featured at a BFI season in

February 2014 (Research Councils UK 2013).

blogs.reading.ac.uk/spaces-of-television/

2011: Freethinker: The Films and Career of Peter WatkinsFunded by the AHRC, and run by John Cook at the Glasgow

School for Business and Society, Glasgow Caledonian

University. Although focusing on director Watkins’

post-1968 career, this project also draws upon his earlier

BBC Wednesday Play works, including ‘Culloden’ (1964)

and ‘The War Game’ (1965) (Research Councils UK 2013).

2011: The Chronicle Northern Ireland Archive ProjectFunded by Jisc, and run by the BUFVC. This project

digitised approximately 300 hours of BBC Northern

Ireland news from the 1960s and 1970s.

chronicle.bufvc.ac.uk/content.php?view=what

2011-2012: The Off-Air Recording Union Catalogue TrialFunded by Jisc and run by the BUFVC. This project gathered

together the audiovisual collections of eight HE and FE

institutions, comprising off-air recordings from BBC1,

BBC2, Channel 4 and Channel 5 dating back to 1983,

cleansing data and adding metadata. No digitisation was

carried out as part of the project, which is only available

to view for contributing institutions. Of the 20,999 items

included, 49 are pre-August 1989 BBC broadcasts.

2011-2015: Screen Plays: British Theatre Plays on British Television.Funded by the AHRC and run by John Wyver at the

Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media,

University of Westminster. This project examines theatre

plays on British television from the 1930s to the present

day. Outputs include a database of productions with full

cast and crew listings, and BBC materials have been used

for seasons shown at the BFI in 2012 and 2013 (Research

Councils UK 2013).

screenplaystv.wordpress.com/



31

2013-2015: Pararchive: Open Access Community Storytelling and the Digital ArchiveFunded by the AHRC, and run by Simon Popple at the

Institute of Communication Studies, the University of

Leeds. This project is designed as digital platform to utilise

existing archival sources as a means of digital storytelling

and enabling community research. The BBC and the

Science Museum have agreed to provide access to archive

materials and staff expertise (Research Councils UK 2013).

discoverbutearchaeology.co.uk/?page_id=532

2013-2016: Earth in Vision: BBC Coverage of Environmental Change 1960-2010Funded by the AHRC, and run by Joe Smith of the Open

University. This project focuses on the archive of

environmental programming collected by the BBC since

the mid-1950s to examine their potential as a resource for

the making and debating of environmental histories in

the context of planning for environmental futures

(Research Councils UK 2013).

open.ac.uk/researchcentres/osrc/research/projects/

ahrc-project-earth-in-vision

2013-2016: The History of Forgotten Television Drama in the UKFunded by the AHRC, and run by John Hill in the

Department of Media Arts, Royal Holloway, University of

London. This project seeks to revise the ways in which

television’s past has been understood, reassessing the

output of the BBC and ITV during the early decades of

television. Particular emphasis will be placed upon

television drama made in the regions and nations of the

UK, covering the period from 1946 to 1982 (Research

Councils UK 2013).

rhul.ac.uk/mediaarts/research/

thehistoryofforgottentelevisiondrama/

historyofforgottentvdrama.aspx



32

Appendix III: Individual case study

Usage of BBC Written Archive files for academic research

leading to publications, talks at conferences, and expert

advice to industry:

» BBC Annual Report and Accounts, 1964-5 (London:

HMSO 1965)

» RCONT20. Samuel Beckett 1970-79

» R/9/7/52 Audience Research Report on Waiting for

Godot

» R9/7/63. Audience research report on Krapp’s Last Tape

» R9/1153/1 TV Audience Figures: BARB BBC reports 1990

» T5/782/3. Plays Department transmission diary

July-September 1966

» T5/1296/1. Eh Joe

» T5/2239/7. TV drama memos 1964

» T48/74/1. Drama writers file: Samuel Beckett file 1

» T51/350. The Lively Arts: Shades

» SCR1 RCONT1 Scriptwriter File 1: Terry Nation 1955-62

» RCONT1: Terry Nation, 1957-62

» RCONT20 Terry Nation 1970-74

» RCONT21 Terry Nation, 1975-79

» ART IV Waters, Elsie and Doris 1952-62

» T48/445 TV Script Unit: Terry Nation

» T5/2239/5 Drama Memos 1962

» T5/2239/6 Drama Memos 1963

» T5/2239/7 TV drama memos 1964

» T5/782/3 Drama Memos July-December, 1966

» T5/782/4 Drama Memos 1967-8

» T5/782/5 Drama Memos 1969-70

» T5/649/1 Doctor Who viewers’ letters

» R19/1582/1 Calling the Stars, Light Programme

» R19/1953/1 Variety Playhouse, Home Service 1953-56

» R19/1953/2 Variety Playhouse 1957-58, Home Service

» T5/647/1 Doctor Who, General A

» T5/648/1 Doctor Who General B

» T65/85/1 Incredible Robert Baldick, ‘Never Come Night’

» T5/1241/1 Doctor Who The Chase

» T5/1242/1 Doctor Who The Chase: ‘Flight Through

Eternity’, ‘Journey Into Terror’

» T5/1243/1 Doctor Who The Chase

» T5/1246/1 Doctor Who and the Daleks’ Master Plan

Professor Jonathan Bignell, University of Reading


Appendix III: Individual Case Study

33

» T5/1247/1 Doctor Who and the Daleks Master Plan

» T5/1248/1 Doctor Who and the Daleks Master Plan

» T65/29/1 Doctor Who Death To The Daleks

» T5/2569/1 Drama Serials: Doctor Who Genesis Of The

Daleks 1-6

» T65/10/1 Doctor Who Genesis Of The Daleks

» T65/31/1 Doctor Who The Android Invasion file one

» T5/2574/1 Doctor Who The Android Invasion

» T5/2575/1 Doctor Who The Android Invasion file 2

» T65/79/1 Destiny Of The Daleks

» T65/197/1 Doctor Who Destiny Of The Daleks

» R9/7/161 Audience Research Report, Doctor Who:

Destiny Of The Daleks

» T65/231/1 Survivors series 2, episode one and two

» T65/72/1 Blake’s 7 series 1, 2 and 3 copyright billings

» T65/90/1 Blake’s 7 General

» T65/91/1 Blake’s 7 ‘Space Fall’

» T65/89/1 Blake’s 7 ‘Duel’

» T65/242 Blake’s 7 ‘Redemption’

» R9/7/158 Audience Research Report on Blake’s 7, 9th

January 1979 to 3rd April 1979

» T51/369/1 The Lively Arts: Whose Doctor Who?

» T51/370/1 The Lively Arts: Whose Doctor Who?

Usage of BBC audio-visual archive material for teaching » The Family (BBC, 1974)

» Doctor Who (BBC, 1963, 1964)

» The Generation Game (BBC, 1974)

» Only Fools and Horses (BBC, 1981-2003)

» The Wednesday Play: Cathy Come Home (BBC, 1966)

» Culloden (BBC, 1964)

» Police (BBC, 1982)

» Z-Cars (BBC, 1962)

» Dixon of Dock Green (BBC, 1955)

» Law and Order (BBC, 1978)

» The Likely Lads (BBC, 1964)

» Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads (BBC, 1973)

» Butterflies (BBC, 1978)

» Boys from the Blackstuff (BBC, 1982)

» The Singing Detective (BBC, 1986)


Appendix III: Individual Case Study

34

Appendix IV: BBC items requested in the online survey

Listed alphabetically by programme title.

» Afternoon Play (BBC Radio 4, 1967-)

» Animal, Vegetable or Mineral? (BBC TV, 1952-1959)

» The Aphrodite Inheritance (BBC1, 1979)

» The Archers (BBC Radio 4, 1951- )

» Are You Being Served? (BBC, 1973-85)

» Arena (BBC2, 1975- )

» Bergerac (BBC1, 1981-1991)

» The Black and White Minstrel Show (BBC TV, 1958-1978)

» The Body in Question (BBC TV, 1980)

» Broadcasting the Barricades (BBC Radio, 1926)

» British Empire: Echoes of Britannia’s Rule (BBC1, 1972)

» Buried Treasure (BBC, 1959)

» Casualty (BBC1, 1986- )

» Children’s Hour (BBC Home Service, 1922-1964)

» Chronicle (BBC2, 1966-1991)

» Countryfile (BBC1, 1988- )

» The Critics (BBC Home Service, 1940s-1960s)

» The Dark Side of the Sun (BBC1, 1983)

» David Copperfield (BBC TV, 1964)

» Desert Islands Discs (BBC Radio 4, 1942)

» Dixon of Dock Green (BBC TV, 1955-1976)

» Doctor Who (BBC1, 1963- )

» Ebony (BBC2, 1982?-1990)

» Eye on Research (BBC, 1957-61)

» File on Four (BBC Radio 4, 1977- )

» Forty Minutes (BBC2, 1981-1994)

» Front Line Family (BBC Light Programme, 1941-1948)

» Gardener’s World (BBC, 1968- )

» The Goon Show (BBC Light Programme/Radio 4

Extra, 1951-1960)

» Great Expectations (BBC TV, 1959-1960)

» The Great Philosophers (BBC, 1987)

» Hancock’s Half Hour/Hancock (BBC TV, 1956-61)

» Hancock’s Half Hour (BBC Light Programme/BBC7,

1956-1960)

» The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (BBC Radio 4,

1978-2005)

» Horizon (BBC, 1964- )

» It’s That Man Again (ITMA) (Radio 4 Extra, 1939-1949.

On BBC7/Radio 4 Extra from 2006)

» Journey into Space (BBC Light Programme)

» Just a Minute (BBC Radio 4, 1953)

» Late Night Line-Up (BBC2, 1964-1972)



35

» Late Night Line-Up: George Orwell’s 1984 (BBC2,

27/11/1965)

» Look East (BBC1 East, 1959- )

» Meeting in Moscow (Svidanie v Moskve) (BBC Radio,

28/05/1905)

» The Million Pound Radio Show (BBC Radio 4/BBC7,

1985-1989)

» Monitor (BBC, 1958-1965)

» Music While You Work (BBC Radio, 1940-1967)

» Network East (BBC2, 1987-?)

» The Newcomers (BBC2, 1964)

» Newsnight (BBC2, 1980- )

» The Old Grey Whistle Test (BBC2, 1971-1987)

» One Man’s Week (BBC2, 1971)

» One Pair of Eyes: Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles

(BBC2, 1972)

» Open Door (BBC2, 1973-1983)

» Out of the Doll’s House (BBC2, 1988)

» Out of the Unknown (BBC2, 1965-1971)

» Out of the Unknown: To Lay a Ghost (BBC2,

28/04/1971)

» Panorama (BBC1, 1953- )

» Play for Today (BBC1, 1964-1970)

» Play for Today: Angels are so Few (BBC1, 05/11/1970)

» Play for Today: Double Dare (BBC1, 06/04/1976)

» Play for Today: Joe’s Ark (BBC1, 14/02/1974)

» Play for Today: Only Make Believe (BBC1, 12/02/1973)

» Play for Today: Schmoedipus (BBC1, 20/06/1974)

» Play for Today: Traitor (BBC1, 14/10/1971)

» Q.E.D. (BBC1, 1982-1999)

» Police (BBC1, 1982)

» Pride and Prejudice (BBC1, 1967)

» Question Time (BBC1, 1979- )

» Radio Rhythm Club (BBC Radio, 1941-1944)

» Regional News

» Reith Lectures (BBC Radio 4, 1948- )

» Round the Horne (BBC Light Programme/BBC Radio

2/BBC7, 1965-1968)

» Science Survey (BBC Home Service, 1950s-1960s?)

» Screen Two (BBC2, 1985-1988)

» Second City Firsts (BBC2, 1973-1978)

» Sense of Place (BBC North West, 1978-1979)

» The Shock of the New (BBC2, 1980)

» Sincerely Yours (BBC Radio, 1941-?)



36

» The Singing Detective (BBC1, 1986)

» Sunday Night Theatre: Nineteen Eighty-Four (BBC TV,

12/12/1954)

» Sutherland’s Law (BBC1, 1973-1976)

» That Was the Week That Was (BBC TV, 1962-1963)

» Theatre 625: The World of George Orwell - 1984

(BBC2, 28/11/1965)

» Threads (BBC, 23/09/1984)

» Till Death Us Do Part (BBC1, 1966-1975)

» Today (BBC Radio 4, 1957- )

» Tomorrow’s World (BBC1, 1965-2006)

» 30 Minute Theatre (BBC2, 1965-1973)

» Tribal Eye (BBC2, 1975)

» Tuesday Documentary: The Rank Charm School

(BBC1, 21/09/1982)

» The War Game (BBC2, 31/07/1985)

» Watchdog (BBC1, 1985- )

» The Wednesday Play: The Beast with Two Backs

(BBC1, 20/11/1968)

» The Wednesday Play: Son of Man (BBC1, 16/04/1969)

» The Wednesday Play:Where the Buffalo Roam (BBC1,

02/11/1966)

» Wogan (BBC1, 1982-1992)

» Woman’s Hour (BBC Radio 4, 1946- )

» The World About Us (BBC2, 1967-1987?)

» Wuthering Heights (BBC TV, 11/05/1962)

» You and Yours (BBC Radio 4, 1980- )

» Z-Cars (BBC1, 1962-1978)



37

Appendix V: The ‘Top Twenty’ radio list

Listed in original report order.

A. Denis Mitchell (producer) Eye to Eye 5: ‘Night in the

City (14/6/1957)

B. Denis Mitchell People Talking: The Talking Streets

(27/10/1958)

C. Denis Mitchell People Talking: The Prison (26/6/1957)

D. Olive Shapley and Joan Littlewood The Classic Soil

(06/07/1939)

E. Olive Shapley Miners Wives (1938?)

F. Michael Mason Rus (29/03/1968)

G. Cecil McGivern Bombers Over Germany (15/08/1940)

H. D.G. Bridson Wool (27/06/1938)

I. D.G. Bridson Johnny Miner (23/12/1947)

J. D.G. Bridson The Negro in America: Ten Years of

Integration (13/12/1964)

K. Laurence Gilliam Portrait of Chester Wilmot

(09/02/1954)

L. Giles Cooper (writer) and Donald McWhinnie

(producer) Mathry Beacon (18/06/1956)

M. Giles Cooper and Donal McWhinnie Under the

Loofah Tree (03/08/1958)

N. Giles Cooper and Donal McWhinnie Unman,

Wittering and Zigo (23/11/1958)

O. Sam Hanna Bell This is Northern Ireland: An Ulster

Journey 16/03/1950)

P. Sam Hanna Bell The Long Back Street (06/05/1959)

Q. W.R. Rogers and Hanna Bell The Return Room

(23/12/1955)

R. Louis MacNeice Christopher Columbus (02/10/1942)

S. Louis MacNeice Persons from Porlock (30/08/1963)

T. J.B. Priestley Postscripts to the News: Into the

Daylight (1940/1945)


Appendix V: The ‘Top Twenty’ radio list

Jisc

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