The Hidden Histories of BBC Radio Adaptation: 1922-2015
Lead Research Organisation:
CARDIFF UNIVERSITY
Department Name: School of Modern Languages
Abstract
BBC Radio Drama is the most prolific user of literature in the world and yet, once aired, the radio works fade beyond the public reach. Despite their artistry and prevalence, for this reason, they have triggered little academic comment as writing on radio tends, by and large, to focus on the medium's technological or sociological import. Neither do such radio adaptations feature as they could on the syllabus in schools or universities. This project proposes to create the first accessible catalogue of all adaptations made on BBC radio since its birth in 1922. It will not only detail what was adapted but indeed how it was adapted, offering a stylistic analysis of trends and the evolution of adaptation over the years in a thesis. It will also explore the essential but often unconsidered interface between adaptation and history, making clear how these radio adaptations are at once reworkings of an earlier source text and mirrors of their own era and its cultural values.
In particular I wish to address the following questions:
In moving works of drama, literature and poetry back into the oral tradition (or rather into a new oral tradition of dramatic adaptation) was the BBC consciously seeking to democratise the public's access to the written word?
Has the educational background of writers, producers, commissioning editors and directors influenced trends in the dramatic output of BBC Radio?
With the advent of mass television ownership and the increase in the popularity of music radio stations did BBC Radio seek to redefine itself in terms of an altered demographic?
To what extent are the adapted works trying to create a coherent narrative of British history and character and to what extent does the dramatic output reflect changes in social attitudes to British identity and national values?
Supporting Documentation.
In particular I wish to address the following questions:
In moving works of drama, literature and poetry back into the oral tradition (or rather into a new oral tradition of dramatic adaptation) was the BBC consciously seeking to democratise the public's access to the written word?
Has the educational background of writers, producers, commissioning editors and directors influenced trends in the dramatic output of BBC Radio?
With the advent of mass television ownership and the increase in the popularity of music radio stations did BBC Radio seek to redefine itself in terms of an altered demographic?
To what extent are the adapted works trying to create a coherent narrative of British history and character and to what extent does the dramatic output reflect changes in social attitudes to British identity and national values?
Supporting Documentation.
